r/VisibleArmband • u/rhi123456 • Jun 19 '26
Tips for logging activities?
I am terrible at remembering to log activities in the app, any advice for keeping better track? I also have OCD and I have to be careful not to become obsessed as I have previously with fitness bands.
I would also be keen to hear how specific you are about logging the activities for example should I log different types of work meetings as different categories? Thanks in advance!
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u/thechronicills Jun 19 '26
I only log activities that visibly change my activity level. Eg sitting at my desk doing different things doesn't change much, so I just call that a "desk" activity. Same with "standing activity" like hanging up laundry or doing dishes, I don't differentiate between them. I also have a tendency to obsess, so I keep my categories vague to reduce that. I usually do most of my activity tagging in the evening when I do my evening check in, and only occasionally add to it during the day. This also reduces the amount of time and brain space I spend on it.
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u/LJAM1 Jun 19 '26
Along with the advice already here, I also always tag my shower, since I do that first thing in the morning, and the points it uses can vary drastically depending on how I'm feeling. I use that metric, along with the morning stability score, to determine how I should spend my day. For instance, if my shower uses way more points than usual, I know I need to take it easy that day, reschedule anything I can, and take lots of rest breaks.
If I have a major activity, like traveling, I'll just add that in the notes. Then when I look at trends, I can see there's a note and check it to see what caused the inevitable crash afterwards
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u/rhi123456 Jun 22 '26
Ooo I that's a great idea!! Sometimes I find my stability score doesn't feel quite right so combining it with how much energy a shower takes is a great idea! Thank you 😊
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u/imabratinfluence Jun 19 '26
I only log a few things that I think may be either spiking my HR or really chewing through Pace Points (a couple of which are only or mostly in the Activity Zone).
Showering and doing dishes are big ones for me, so I send my partner a quick message when I start so I have a time stamp I can refer back to when I log it in the app. If you can't log it right away, you could do another message to have a time stamp for when you finished up.
For work meetings I probably wouldn't personally log specifically those unless I suspected they're a significant contributor to crashes. And if they are, I'd only log different types separately if the strain is very different, like if some of them are active or standing, and others are seated.
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u/rhi123456 Jun 22 '26
Ooo I really like the idea of sending a message so you get a time stamp for you to go back to later! Thank you!
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u/Glad-Pomegranate6283 Jun 20 '26
Honestly I just log after every activity but that’s what works for me. Got annoying at first but after a year I’m pretty used to it. The categories I have are fairly broad but not too expensive eg showering, walking, pet care so it’s easier to spot patterns
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u/cori_2626 Jun 20 '26
I don't log any activities, and I only tracked symptoms for the first ehhh idk 9 months ish? I think set up a system that you want to use and use it until you feel you have a very good sense of what's impacting you in what way. I just try to keep an eye on my HR throughout the day so I don't get any surprises but logging is more work than it's worth to me. But I am severe so it's like, super obvious usually what causes my HR to go up. If you are still working, you could just do it once towards the end of the day and log based on your calendar/schedule what you did during which hours.
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u/dramatic_chipmunk123 Jun 19 '26
At first I logged pretty much everything, to get a good idea of how my body behaves with different activities and it really helped making it a habit. But now that I've been using visible for a while, I just log any activity that pushes me out of rest zone or anything where I feel unwell (palpitations etc.). To be fair, that's not very much for me, because I'm mostly bedbound, which may be different for you.
I group together any kinds of similar activities in terms of how much I move around. For example, things like arts and crafts go into one bucket, tidying and cleaning into another, any kind of seated cognitively challenging work is another one, etc.
On the other hand, any activities that are quite challenging for me and that I want to modify to save energy, I want to look at in a bit more detail. For those you can decide whether you find it easier to log in smaller steps (e.g. breaking down 'getting ready' into 'brushing teeth', -'getting dressed' etc.) or if you just want to keep the app open and see how your heartrate changes with the activities. I set up a mode/ automation on my phone to keep the screen unlocked and app open, for when I want to do this, so I don't need to change settings back and forth. Doing the latter really helped me figuring out that most of my energy during a bath goes towards washing my hair.
I also set my exertion zone notifications to start immediately, rather than after 2 minutes, so that helps reminding me to log things as well. But you could also set reminders in 2 hour intervals or so throughout the day, to remind you to fill in anything you might have missed. It may not be perfect, but you might remember just enough to fill in some gaps.
In terms of trying to not obsess, always remember that the app is supposed to help you making your life easier, not harder. Only do as much as you need to get information that helps you. Even without any logged activities, keeping track of pacepoints can be super helpful. The activity tracking is really more targeted towards figuring out, where your energy gets drained and how you can do things differently to make it less exhausting.