What My Fitness Tracker Taught Me About Stress, EFT Tapping, Weight Gain, and My Nervous System
In January this year, I stepped on the scale and got a bit of a shock…
99kg. (That’s 218 pounds.)
For most of my adult life, I hovered around 75kg. (Technically, that's underweight, but that story is for another time.)
So yeah, that was unexpected.
And I’m 6’3”, so I figured maybe it was still in a “healthy” range...
But nope.
It turns out that, for my height, the ideal weight range is 88–93kg.
I was over... and I felt it.
I was feeling a bit "puffy", and in Taekwondo, my jumps and kicks were feeling heavy and slow.
The extra weight had quietly crept on - most likely during my time back in Thailand.
So, I decided to figure it out. I was eating pretty healthy. I exercised most days.
Something wasn’t adding up.
So here’s what I changed—and how I dropped 8kg in a few months without dieting or obsessing.
1. I invested in a WHOOP band (and it changed everything)
The first real shift happened when I decided to get a WHOOP.
It’s not just a fitness tracker—it’s more like a personal health lab you wear on your wrist.
It tracks your heart rate variability (HRV), recovery rate, sleep quality, VO2 max, resting heart rate, and respiratory function and all the nerdy stuff that most GP doctors don’t even measure (I'm sure they would if they had the time and equipment).
Unlike a one-time trip to the doctor, WHOOP provides you with daily, weekly, monthly, and even yearly insights.
That means you can start seeing patterns—not just snapshots.
And that’s the real magic.
Because most of the time, people don’t get sick overnight.
Illness builds over time, quietly.
A little bit of stress here, a few late nights there, maybe some emotional stuff that never really got processed. Months go by. Years.
Then one day, the body says, “Enough,” and everything comes crashing down into some form of chronic illness or disease.
Trying to heal at that point?
It’s harder. It takes longer. It’s more disruptive. It's more complicated (because multiple systems are now involved), and, yes... a lot more expensive.
But when you catch the pattern early, you can shift things while they’re still small.
It’s like steering a ship—way easier to change course when you're cruising slow than when you’re speeding full throttle.
For me, seeing that data was like a gentle slap in the face. A wake-up call.
The numbers didn’t lie.
They showed me what was really going on under the surface—and that changed everything.
One of the first things I noticed?
Alcohol, even just one beer, would tank my recovery score by up to 50%.
That’s just from one drink.
I always thought a cheeky beer at night was harmless, but the numbers told a different story. So I dropped alcohol.
Not entirely at first, but pretty close.
The WHOOP also helped me see how small changes impacted my nervous system.
This means I can actually see my nervous system regulating itself on a daily basis.
It's no longer just a theory - it's real physiological feedback.
If I meditated, did Wim Hof breathing, went for a run or did EFT tapping?
My nervous system would recover better.
If I stayed up too late scrolling or watching action TV, or fell asleep with the light on?
My nervous system freaked, and my recovery tanked.
And get this, it can even detect subtle drops in your HRV and respiratory rate that show you're getting sick before you feel sick.
That kind of early warning system is gold.
I haven't been sick or had a cold for over a year now, even though I've been exposed to many sick people in the last 12 months (my wife, clients, lots of aeroplanes and to parties where sick people were).
So yeah, the WHOOP might seem a bit pricey upfront, but when you break it down, it’s less than $1 a day.
And if it helps you avoid doctor visits, meds, unnecessary stress, or just guessing whats goignon with your nervosu system?
It's worth every cent.
Stop guessing about what's going on inside your body and learn what's actually going on!
>> Click here if you want to try the WHOOP and get your first month free.
My tip?
Start collecting data now.
It takes time—months even—to see clear patterns and make real changes.
But once you do, it’s like switching on the lights in a room you didn’t realise was dark.
2. I dropped my evening meals
Years ago, I noticed I felt better when I skipped my evening meal. Lighter. Clearer. Less sluggish in the mornings.
So I went back to it—just two big meals a day.
Breakfast is around 10 am, and Dinner is around 4 or 5pm.
Then... nothing until the next day.
No strict “intermittent fasting” routine or hardcore rules.
Just simple. Intuitive.
Turns out, it wasn’t just helping my digestion and sleep—it was slashing my grocery bill too.
(Seriously, have you ever calculated how much you spend just on snacks or late-night meals?)
And when I checked my recovery data?
Boom—better sleep, better recovery scores, and way more energy.
Sometimes I’ll still have a bit of fruit or some nuts at night, but overall, I’ve found my rhythm.
And the simplicity is actually kind of freeing.
(I talk more about this in my Improve Your Digestion 30 Program, which will be open again in a few months)
3. I swapped coconut milk for oat milk
This one snuck under the radar for ages.
In Thailand, coconut milk is everywhere.
And I was having 2–3 teas a day with it.
Tastes great, but when I checked the calories?
Whoa—around 200 calories per cup of tea, so 600 calories a day just from my tea and coffee.
That’s a whole extra meal I didn’t even realise I was consuming.
So I switched to oat milk. Less than 50 calories per cup. Took me a few days to get used to the taste, but now I prefer it.
That one swap shaved off about 500 calories a day—with zero effort.
The result?
This morning, I jumped on the scales again.
92kg.
And the best part? No obsession. No weird dieting. No shame or self-punishment.
These 3 minor tweaks = better sleep, less booze, no late-night meals, and ditching heavy, "damp" milk.
Just a little more awareness and a few conscious swaps.
I'm much lighter on my feet these days, and my Taekwondo kicks are much faster than they used to be.
Sometimes, we don’t need more willpower; we just need better data and some honest reflection.
Blessings,
Michael Hetherington (BHlthSci)
