beige_alert | Weight? Time? Don't be a dick?

Both of these devices can produce a lot of numbers for you to record and graph and calculate exponentially-weighted moving averages of. The Garmin, in particular, can export numbers in bulk quantities to your computer, which you can then upload and plot and share on Facebook so your friends can "like" your workouts and so on. Neither of them can calculate your worth as a person. You need to look inside at other things. Are you filled with seething hatred for nearly everyone else? Do you drive people away from you with your burning desire to make others miserable? Those are things you might really need to work on.

Your weight, and if you have one of these Tanita bioelectrical impedance analysis scales, the approximate composition numbers, have their uses. It can be handy to have an early heads-up that the trend isn't going the way you expected before you get to the point that your pants don't fit anymore and realize that that might be a sign of something.

The heart rate data is endlessly interesting, for sure. Especially when you start turning into and older person and are happy to see you can still reach the upper-190s—in a good way, not the other way!

If you are the sort who enters races, the number that counts is the one on the stopwatch (or, you know, in the timing system). The number on the scale does not get you extra credit. Complying with weird and freakish notions that your thighs should be tiny won't get you a good time in a speed skating competition. (If you are a speed skater, having huge thighs will either intimidate the other skaters or cause them to have happy thoughts, or possibly both, depending...) You know what, though? You can still be an obnoxious jerk who has a really good time. The fast time can't compensate for that.