This open-source fasting app really helped me hit my health targets

I used to be by no means an athletic child, and that continued by way of most of my 20s. That’s, till I made a decision to vary issues up, drop some weight, and focus extra on my well being. Intermittent fasting was a giant a part of that journey, and I’ve been following it for a number of years now. Actually, it’s the one fixed in my wellness journey that has really caught with me. A lot as I’ve dabbled with exercise plans, picked up the greatest health trackers, tracked macros with obsessive element, and even experimented with sleep optimization, it’s the 16:8 fasting strategy that has been probably the most sustainable factor I’ve achieved for my well being. Satirically, what hasn’t been sustainable is discovering a fasting app that doesn’t finally go down the standard rabbit gap of adverts and subscriptions. Belief me, I’ve tried all of them.

Whereas most fasting and health apps begin out useful, the core expertise in a short time will get buried beneath microtransactions and primary options locked behind paywalls. Inquisitive about what fasting zone you’re in? You’d higher be ready to pony up some money. Every part from customized fasting home windows to easy insights that was free is instantly a premium function. And don’t get me began on the notification spam each time I open the app. Look, I simply want a glorified stopwatch. I don’t want your app to assist a full-fledged wellness program and the accompanying charges. So I did what any self-respecting tech fanatic would do: I checked out open-source options to the issue.

That’s how I discovered FastTrack, a minimal, open-source, self-hosted, and fairly wonderful fasting tracker on GitHub. What it lacks in flash, it makes up for in substance. Whereas it may not have devoted apps on the Play Retailer or gamification components to maintain you on observe, it has all of the options you really need. That simplicity is precisely why I’ve caught with all of it this time, and why you would possibly too.

After I first began intermittent fasting, I used to be already deep into my health journey. Between monitoring exercises, counting energy, and making an attempt to shed pounds with out dropping an excessive amount of muscle mass, intermittent fasting was a vital a part of the equation. However I wanted this achieved with out pointless friction. Only a timer and a strategy to examine how lengthy I’d fasted, with out being given recommendation about reaching a zen way of thinking.

FastTrack, however, is, for probably the most half, only a easy timer app. It opens rapidly within the browser as a bookmark and offers me a single button to start out or cease a quick. Yay for simplicity. The onboarding course of is simply as easy, with no wizards or welcome screens speaking me by way of the advantages of fasting. I already know what I’m moving into. Simply make an account, log in, faucet a button, and get on together with your day. Actually, I want extra apps labored like that.

This simplicity impacted me in additional methods than one. With out the friction of fixed upselling, notifications, or convoluted interfaces, I began monitoring extra constantly. It’s the identical strategy critical health fans take. A spreadsheet with reps, or a notepad, in the event you’re old-school, wins out over a flashy app each single time. That lack of friction helped me attain, and even exceed, my each day targets as a result of it’s straightforward to lose observe of time whenever you’re not being bombarded by hourly notifications geared toward cheering you on. In my case, they simply gave me anxiousness over how a lot time was nonetheless left in my quick. Over the previous few months, I haven’t missed a single quick, and my feeding home windows have grow to be tighter and extra constant. This has translated instantly into noticeable outcomes. My physique fats share is decrease, I’ve extra power throughout exercises, and most significantly, I’ve constructed a routine that I keep on with diligently.

For all its simplicity, FastTrack isn’t only a stopwatch with a shiny coat of paint. It maintains a correct log of all my fasts and lets me add feedback, which has helped me spot patterns in my health journey. All information is retained regionally, and I can simply look at after I’m more likely to lower a quick quick or push for longer fasting home windows. It’s been extraordinarily helpful in optimizing my vitamin consumption as nicely. If I’m constantly working on fumes by the tip of a quick with out important bodily exercise, it’s clear that my calorie consumption is considerably decrease than it ought to be. After notably heavy exercises, I’d typically eat sooner than deliberate. All of that’s apparent, certain, however having that information available helps me see broader patterns and the larger image. Actually, I’d say the data-driven suggestions loop has labored much better for me than any motivation I derived from business apps.

As somebody who prefers purpose-built instruments and gadgets, I get an odd form of motivation from utilizing one thing that doesn’t attempt to preserve nudging me. FastTrack serves no notifications. It simply runs as a instrument. And due to that, I opened it extra typically and used it extra actually. Missing gamification parameters, I had no incentive to spherical off an additional half-hour in my each day quick. Nor was I involved about breaking a streak or unlocking a collectible. I simply stay targeted on monitoring my progress, which, for somebody making an attempt to hit particular targets and keep a coaching plan, is precisely what I want.

Look, I’m nicely conscious that self-hosted instruments aren’t for everybody. As straightforward as FastTrack is to arrange, the dearth of Play Retailer or App Retailer availability, or a one-click setup, undoubtedly will increase the issue stage. You’ve obtained to hit the command line, set up Docker, after which get it up and working. You’ve additionally obtained to take care of — shudder — what a localhost is. If you wish to entry it remotely, you’ll wish to configure a reverse proxy. However as soon as put in, I haven’t needed to contact it once more. Given the simplistic function set, the app is gentle on assets, so I simply popped it onto my NAS. On the flip facet, as I discussed earlier, there’s no cloud sync or devoted app, so a distant proxy is a necessity if you end up on the transfer typically. That mentioned, it’s simply circumvented by working a service like Tailscale.

If that seems like quite a lot of work to trace fasts, I’ll be trustworthy, the preliminary setup is. Particularly when there’s no dearth of apps like Zero on the Play Retailer. However as I delve extra into information possession and take care of subscription fatigue, I’m okay with the one-time effort of organising open-source options. All these different apps include strings hooked up, be it dodgy information retention insurance policies, hidden microtransactions, or fixed advert and notification spam. A few of them merely gained’t work in the event you deny web entry or need one thing as primary as including private notes to your log. That’s a no-go for me. FastTrack does none of that. It provides me full management over the expertise, in alternate for a bit extra effort throughout the setup course of.

Why I’m sticking with FastTrack

I’ve tried all the favored fasting apps over time. Most had lovely, well-polished interfaces in comparison with FastTrack’s extra utilitarian providing. Others tried to mix fasting with neighborhood options, sleep monitoring, or holistic wellness. However none of them helped me construct the form of consistency I’ve managed over the previous few months with FastTrack. Not as a result of they weren’t succesful, however as a result of all of them tried to do an excessive amount of. FastTrack’s greatest power is that it doesn’t attempt to be something apart from what it’s. And on the finish of the day, consistency is all that issues, whether or not you’re focusing in your well being or making an attempt to stay to utilizing an app each day.

FastTrack has additionally given me helpful, distraction-free insights into my routine. I’ve obtained it saved as a shortcut on my residence display, permitting it to combine seamlessly into my day with none points. And better of all, it has helped me keep on with my fasting window, which in flip helped me hit the physique composition targets I’d been chasing for over a yr.

There are extra handy apps on the market, certain — and the perfect app is the one which works for you. FastTrack is probably not for everybody, however for anybody critical about fasting who’s uninterested in cluttered experiences, it would simply be the final fasting app you ever want.