How Building My Own Activity Tracker Helped Me Lose 10kg and Take Control of My Life

A year-long experiment in tracking, self-awareness, and personal growth

From Faith Habit to Life Dashboard

Last year, I wrote a few articles about building a habit-tracking app inspired by my journey of monitoring my Bible reading — tracking the chapters I had read and measuring my progress.

But something unexpected happened.

That simple act of logging each chapter unlocked a new level of accountability and reflection. I began to notice patterns — not just in my reading, but in how I was living.

What started as a personal side project became one of the most transformational tools I’ve ever created.

Once the tracker was in place, I expanded it. First came gym workouts. Then, personal projects. Then blogging. Eventually, I started treating entire areas of my life as “projects” — each with its timeline, energy demands, and goals.

The real breakthrough came when I began integrating everything — faith, fitness, work, and personal life — into a single ecosystem.

Losing 10kg Without Dieting

By consistently tracking my gym attendance, I lost 10kg, dropping from 96kg to around 85–86kg. And I did it without changing my diet.

To get to that point, I learned that motivation wasn’t the right fuel — discipline was. And when discipline failed, I leaned on my past progress. That mindset shift wouldn’t have happened without my tracking system.

Here’s what I noticed:
After about 50 workouts — roughly 3 to 4 months of consistent training — I’d typically lose around 7kg.

That pattern gave me both clarity and confidence. I began to understand what results to expect, and when.

Now that my workouts are stable, I’m adjusting another variable: my diet. I’m testing how food choices affect my weight, aiming for a target of 77–80 kg. That range is ideal for my height and aligns with a healthy BMI.

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Gym activities: Pass A (Squat; Bench Press; Barbell bent-over; Cardio; Abs); and Pass B (Deadlift; Lats drag; Military Press; Cardio; Abs)

Running My Life Like a Portfolio of Projects

Inspired by the clarity my tracker gave me at the gym, I began applying the same structure elsewhere.

I’m someone full of ideas — and I love coding — but I often didn’t have a concrete goal attached to those activities. For example, I started building a budgeting system but never got around to publishing it. Similarly, when buying a car or researching something important, I never really tracked my progress or how far along I was.

So I created a unifying framework: I began grouping these efforts under a single concept — “Project.”

Simply classifying these scattered activities as projects brought immediate clarity. It helped me identify bottlenecks, measure the time spent, assess progress, and even gauge the energy required by each one.

From the images below, you can see some of the defined projects:

• Project: Buy a Property

• Project: Sell a Car

• Project: Buy a Car

I started to see a pattern — much like how the body manages its internal systems, allocating resources where they’re most needed. My brain seemed to process these projects the same way. Time and energy are the real costs of any undertaking, so understanding where they go is essential.

Most projects share two key components:

• Time

• Money

This structured approach has helped me determine whether taking on a new project is feasible within a given time frame or financially viable. In turn, my ability to strategically plan my life has significantly improved.

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various projects: Buy property; Sell vehicle; Buy vehicle; Moving house

The Core Structure of the App

Over time, I began to notice a clear structure emerging:

• Ideas → A space to capture any spark or inspiration

• Tasks → Concrete steps required to move an idea forward

• Activities → What I do, and when I do it

This framework mirrors how many creative and productive individuals operate. But embedding it into an app — and watching my life unfold as data — changed everything.

Experimenting

The application also serves as a sandbox for experimenting with new ideas. One recent feature I’ve added is the ability to structure tasks using the Eisenhower Matrix. This is an ongoing experiment — I’m testing whether organising tasks by urgency and importance will enhance my time management and improve my focus.

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Eisenhower matrix structure with different tasks associated with it.

Lessons That Stuck With Me

• Discipline > Motivation
  Motivation is fleeting. Discipline sustains momentum.

• Progress Is Fuel
  When I feel like giving up, I reflect on how far I’ve come.

• Clarity Reduces Overwhelm
  Knowing where my time and energy go helps me say “no” with confidence.

What’s Next?

This tracker began as a personal use tool. But I’m now seriously considering releasing a public version — something simple, flexible, and built for people who want to live with greater intention.

If you’re curious to try it — or want to follow along as the journey unfolds — drop a comment or get in touch.

Thanks for reading 🙏
Here’s to tracking progress, building discipline, and designing the life you want.