An Easy Way to Track Your Bites

Akrasia
1

As a follow-up to @shepheb wonderful blog post about counting bites I just wanted to provide people a nifty way to count their bites.

At first I used a bluetooth button that was connected to my Android phone via Tasker but that failed for a few reasons:

  1. Sometimes the button did not register my push
  2. Your phone has to be somewhat near you
  3. I cannot quickly check how many bites I had already taken for the day.

Solution:
The perfect tool that I found was an abacus bracelet. Typically an abacus bracelet has 2 row, one for counting by one and one for counting by ten.

Here is a video demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN6Mdi2erIQ

I have used it for a couple of days and it solves all of the issues that I had with using a bluetooth button:

  1. I do not have to worry about button pushes registering since I move the beads
  2. I do not have to have my phone near me
  3. I can glance down at the bracelet and quickly see how many bites I have taken

I personally bought mine from here: https://knittingabacus.com/
It looks like the owner also has an Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/KnittingAbacus

5 Likes
2

Clever. Makes you wonder if there’s an even easier, reliable counter you can wear on your wrist. This is smart and low tech. The only thing I didn’t like was the “reset” when you overflow the 1’s counter. Seemed like a lot of work to get all the beads back to starting point.

But I guess if you’re messing with beads, you aren’t eating :slight_smile:

After a google search, here’s some more:

https://tallycounterstore.com/a-guide-to-choosing-the-right-tally-counter/

2 Likes
3

I actually bought this counter ring in blue a few years ago, to count pomodoros (I really enjoy tactile things, so just moving the ring forward was a nice reward for completing another pom): http://www.critsuccess.com/index.php/lcr-counter-ring.html

It had a nice clicking counter action, was pretty comfortable, and didn’t show any wear after about a year of daily use. It seems like it would be perfect for your purpose!

(and jhoger, that page of tally counters is glorious!)

4 Likes
4

Awesome! I’ve had the counter ring on my list for years, but never pulled the trigger.

1 Like
5

Some of these tally counters look amazing. I will certainly be picking one of them up. When it comes to the bracelet it is super easy to reset the beads without looking after 2 days or so of doing it.

1 Like
6

I love the ring idea. I will probably grab one to use for a do-less goal. My favorite thing about these low-tech options is that I can always know my buffer before I hit the do-less ceiling.

2 Likes
7

Thanks everyone for these ideas! I’m collecting them at http://doc.bmndr.com/ablet