Harnessing the
Competitive
Spirit
The Gameification of
Quantified Self
My Name is Chris and I Am…
 Impatient
 Competitive
 OCD
 Detail
focussed
 Obsessive/addictive
 A lover of habit
December 31, 2013
 139
Kg (21 St 12 Lbs; 306 Lbs)
 High
blood pressure
 Type
2 diabetes
 Low
energy, motivation & mood
 Nothing
to wear!
A Better Way?
 What
factors promote the fastest weight
loss in my body?
 Can
tracking yield data that supports
accurate prediction of weight loss based
on known inputs?
 Can
data stop the cycle of loss and
regain?
Quantified Chris
 Fitbit
 Omron
body composition scale
 Omron BP cuff
 NutraCheck
 Google spread sheet
 Polar HR monitor
 Tableau public
 My clothes!
The Spread Sheet













Weight (incl. variance to previous day)
BMI
Body fat %
Skeletal muscle %
Calories in
Calories burned in exercise
Visceral fat level
Three daily goals
Daily gratitude
For interest only – no
Movies
effect on the goal
Books
New music
Music purchases
Ritual

Tracking became a ritual almost immediately

An activity which gives me comfort, joy and,
sometimes, dismay

The need for something to record began to
drive physical activity

My competitive nature drives achievement so
that measurements are improving
Gameification Takes Hold
 Tiny
rewards of tracking began to mean
a great deal





FitBit badges
NutraCheck rosettes
Increasing Kcal burn through exercise
Tweets favourited by family and friends
Encouraging charts made from my data
The Numbers (1 Jan to 17 Apr)
 182,613
Kcal consumed
 66,141 Kcal burned through exercise
 618 average daily Kcal exercise burn
 0.26 Kg average daily weight loss
 12% reduction in % of body mass
composed of fat
 6.3% increase in skeletal muscle mass
April 17, 2014
 111
Kg (17 St 7 Lbs; 244.7 Lbs)
 High
blood pressure
 Type
2 diabetes
 High
energy, motivation & mood
 Lots
to wear!
What Did I Learn?
 The
game has become the objective
I
enjoy both the game and the ritual of
playing it
 Weight
loss comes as a result of the game
and harnessing my competitive nature
 No
magic formula – yet!
Contact Details
 [email protected]

@QuantifiedChris
 chris-angel-blog.tumblr.com