Inspiration
The maths and logic of kilojoule-counting and energy expenditure which helped me lose 35 kg, run marathons and an ultramarathon at age 50, and keep running and keep the weight off over 4 years so far.
What it does
Facebook adds an "Activity" option to the default Posts field, "What's on your mind?", making cardio-vascular fitness and exercising as integral a part of life as media and communication are.
How to build it
Add a list of mostly non-competitive exercises to an Activity post, and the option to add photos, video, comments. There are future possibilities of more complicated integration with synced recorded activities from Strava, Garmin, Apple iWatch, Under Armor, Fitbit, Runtsstic; also purchase/sharing of YouTube workouts.
Challenges I ran into
Because I'd overcome my own fears by being fit and healthy, I was not depressed by lack of vision from people paralysed by fear of change.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
Being the founding Secretary of Hamilton Running Club Inc. 2018; IT for Hamilton Courthouse 8 years; IT for CG Wealth Financial Planners 9 years; helping friends lose weight and quit alcohol; doing 5 km parkrun 199 times and in 5 countries over 4 years; always using Public Transport; Being friends via Facebook with more of "the smartest people in the world" than anyone else (Hans Rosling, Factfulness, on The Amazing Meeting).
What I learned
Psychologists, neuroscientists, doctors, runners - all of around 20 I discussed it with agree with me. Inactivity is against our natural Fight and Flight fear-based response to events. (The parasympathetic nervous system.) The science shows that our minds malfunction when we don't use our minds to move around to keep alive and healthy.
What's next for Facebook Active
Facebook coders add the Activity button to the default Post feature, and within it, a selection of exercises and make adding the usual range of post media features available to add when posting an Activity. Facebook contact me about discussing integration with Strava (I'm a registered Beta Tester at Strava) and adding data from recorded activities and syncing from Garmin and Fitbit sports watches.
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