Interview with timo

Hi Timo, thanks for taking the time to chat with us! Why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself to kick things off?

My name is Timo Ekhart. I live in the Netherlands in the town of Amersfoort. I am 42 years old, happily married, and have four beautiful daughters aged between 8 and 17 years. So, a busy family life! What I really enjoy doing in my free time is running. Last year, I ran over 1300 km and achieved my personal record in the half marathon of 1h30m. That is also where I relax the most, being outside and having some time for myself while staying active.

In my daily life, I work as an office manager for 2 companies: a real estate agency and the second one is an independent mortgage advisor. Working smart with all systems, leading in technology, and helping our employees excel in there business activities are key points. So, it’s really an office job. That’s why running is truly the outlet I need. I also try to meditate from time to time (the custom meditation in Gyroscope is my favorite, and it gets better with every major update!), but consistently finding time for it is very challenging, especially due to the busy family life at home.

Sound great! We agree running is one of the best outputs to stay level headed with a busy workload and life, and glad the custom meditations are working for you! How did you find Gyroscope?

I love data and numbers and was looking for a way to view my health data in a clear manner and to establish connections. Somewhere in 2014, I was delving into 'Quantified Self' when I bought my first Jawbone tracker. Then I came across a blog post about Anand aka 'April Zero' and that he was building a personal dashboard and working on making a public version of it. I didn't have to think twice about signing up for the waitlist, and on February 8, 2015, I was able to activate my account. After that, I used the app non-stop and experienced the development of Gyroscope from day 0!

It's incredibly cool to see how this has evolved. I tried not using Gyroscope for a month, but that was totally not enjoyable, hahahah.

Awesome. How has Gyroscope helped you so far?

In the early days, it was finally possible for me to view all the different data on one uniform platform and to draw connections myself. Fast forward to today, Gyroscope does this automatically for me. I have experienced several times that I literally saw a flu coming. Sometimes I was even able to tackle it quite well. It’s very interesting to experience this.

A few years ago, thanks to logging food in Gyroscope, weighing with the Withings scale, and consistently following a low-carb diet, I lost a lot of weight and body fat. I have also been able to clearly observe the effects of drinking less coffee and alcohol thanks to Gyroscope. That was certainly confronting, but all the more motivating to keep it up. People can say it’s bad to drink coffee or alcohol, but when I literally see it in my stats, it really works for me.

Congrats on the weight loss! Sometimes we need hard data to keep us honest and aware. What is your favorite feature in the app?

An old classic I would call it: the mood score. This should really never disappear from the app :) Since this has been included, I do it daily and I get a little frustrated if I forget it.

Previously, I did it in the evening, now I do it right after I wake up. Why? Because I can see better what influence my mood score may have on the course of the day instead of recording it afterwards.

With a bad mood score, I try to take this into account when planning my day. Now I am being proactive, instead of just recording reactions. It’s remarkable to see that my mood score has become considerably more stable now. I really attribute this to planning my day. I am now considering using the new routine function to record my mood both in the morning and in the evening.

Since V8, I sometimes made calls with my coach, but since the beta of V9, I do this more often. It is a very nice and accessible way to talk about yourself.

What aspects of health do you struggle with the most right now?

Nutrition, without a doubt. Capturing it with the food camera works for me during some periods, but not always. Sometimes the (mental) barrier is too high. In terms of nutrition, I know that I need to eat more fiber and protein, but due to the busy family life, this is limited. I have managed to eliminate snacking in the evening quite well.

When I am tired or have little energy, this is a weak moment, and I now have my energy level much better under control. During some periods, my wife and I follow a separate diet menu, but maintaining this consistently with 4 kids is very difficult. Cooking double really takes too much time.

Finally, if you were to describe Gyroscope in a few sentences, what would you say?

If you really want to get started with your health and regain control over your physical and mental well-being, then Gyroscope is truly the easiest way to achieve this. During the periods when I am less engaged, I also see the stats deteriorate more quickly. The health score is a very good quick check for that.

But it starts with yourself, as I mentioned above: if you don't have intrinsic motivation, it won't work. You can really make a difference for your physical and mental health together with Gyroscope!

Thank you so much, Timo!