I can speak more about how I exercised about two years ago. There was a time when I used a fitness watch to track my activity, but during the last three years that I exercised consistently, I stopped monitoring myself with devices or numbers. Instead, I learned to listen to my body and recognize my own limits, energy levels, and recovery needs.

I noticed that paying attention to how I felt physically and mentally before and after exercise helped me much more than focusing only on external measurements. It made exercise feel more sustainable, intuitive, and connected to my wellbeing rather than something stressful or overly controlled.