Withings Body Scan Connected Health Station – Is the Newest Body Composition Scale Worth its Aggressive Price Tag, and how Does it Stack up Against DEXA and the Competition?

Withings Body Scan Connected Health Station – Is the Newest Body Composition Scale Worth its Aggressive Price Tag, and how Does it Stack up Against DEXA and the Competition?

Fabian
Health, Nutrition, Technology

I am a passionate self-quantifier and believe in the Quantified Self adaption of the Peter Drucker philosophy: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Therefore, I have tracked my body weight and composition almost daily with a non-connected body fat scale for the last decade.

The lack of connectivity of my old scale and the opportunity to upgrade to a newer device with more inbuilt functionality interested me when Withings announced the Body Scan during the 2022 Electronic Consumer Show. Body Scan is Withings most recent and most advanced body composition scale and the first with a handle. It is branded as Connect Health Station, and besides weight and body composition, it also analyses cardiovascular health and electrodermal activity and runs a full ECG during the weigh-in.

The device is not cheap, so after testing it for more than two months, it is about time to do a proper review and compare how it stacks up in terms of accuracy with competitors and a DEXA scan!

Does it Track my Every Move? Reviewing Kickstarter-backed Connected Chess Board Chessnut Air

Does it Track my Every Move? Reviewing Kickstarter-backed Connected Chess Board Chessnut Air

Fabian
Technology, Life

Life-Sparring is not a Chess website; it is a self-improvement project disguised as a blog and a podcast. However, I shared my love-hate relationship with Chess not so long ago in a blog post called "My Personal Queen’s Gambit," and Chess is for me not just a game but also a way to assess and challenge my mental capabilities.

If you follow Life-Sparring, you also know that I am a sucker for connected (smart) devices and have been multiple times dubbed into backing promising devices on Kickstarter with very mixed reviews.

My most recent Kickstarter acquisition was the Chessnut Air, a smart Chessboard connecting via Bluetooth to an iOS or Android device, and from to the two biggest online chess providers, Chess.com and Lichess.

After receiving my Chesssnut, I did a well-received spontaneous "dirty" unboxing video. The views and reactions encouraged me to follow up with a more thorough review. I try my best to cover as much ground as possible and answer any questions posed as a reaction to the unboxing video. Enjoy!

Food for Thought 2021 - The Life-Sparring Books of the Year (now also as a Podcast)

Food for Thought 2021 - The Life-Sparring Books of the Year (now also as a Podcast)

Fabian
Life

If 2020 was the year that turned life upside down, 2021 was probably the year where we settled into the new normal. At least for me, it sure feels that way.

2021 was a year of routines and consistency. And it is without saying that in a year of routines, I am not breaking with the tradition of the annual book review. After all, this is already the 7th consecutive edition of Foods for Thought.

Read about my top five Life-Sparring books of the year, or alternatively tune in to the first Food for Thought Podcast Special.

Why Settling For One Career, If You Can Have Two? How a Dual Career can Keep You Sane!

Why Settling For One Career, If You Can Have Two? How a Dual Career can Keep You Sane!

Fabian
Career, Happiness, Life

Follow your passion, and success will follow you! If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.

We have all heard it thousands of times! And every day we spend on LinkedIn or Instagram, we get bombarded with memes motivating us to leave our cushy corporate jobs to find and follow our one and true passion.

But guess what, it’s not that easy! Suppose you are 40 and you are a passionate triathlete training for the Ironman in Hawaii. Your chances of making a living following your heart are about as good as mine, turning my costly podcasting and blogging habit into a media empire of the likes of Tim Ferriss or Joe Rogan.

Luckily the world is not just black and white, and there is a smart alternative to tell your boss to love himself while storming out of your office to become a Yoga instructor in Bail.

Follow your passion AND keep your job! Basically, treat your hobby or passion project as a second career while maintaining your breadwinning job.

Read how a dual career can keep you sane and what you can learn from medical Rockstar Henrik Widegren.

Taking a Jab or Two – A Quantified Self Perspective on the Side-Effects of the BioNTech-Pfizer-Fosun Covid Vaccine

Taking a Jab or Two – A Quantified Self Perspective on the Side-Effects of the BioNTech-Pfizer-Fosun Covid Vaccine

Fabian
Health

It is an open secret that I am somewhat of a quantified self nut. For many years, I measure a lot of data using different wearables and devices. Currently, I wear a Garmin Fenix 6 Smartwatch, and in addition, I recently got an Oura Smart Ring. Health wearables have come a long way, and we are now at a point where they can provide valuable insights into our bodies and actionable advice to improve our health, not just gamified step challenges.

Recently my wife and I got the Comirnaty BioNTech - Pfizer - Fosun COVID Vaccine. Time to put our health wearables to a test and see what they recorded.

My Personal Queen's Gambit - How I Fell In and Out of Love with Chess and Needed 20 Years to Come Back

My Personal Queen's Gambit - How I Fell In and Out of Love with Chess and Needed 20 Years to Come Back

Fabian
Life

One of the surprise TV hits of Fall 2020 was Netflix’s miniseries series The Queen’s Gambit.

The show was (like most things on Netflix) well-produced and got a lot of things right about the “Game of Kings.” And it achieved something almost impossible; it made Chess look cool. I binge-watched the show, and it brought back a lot of memories of my own chess-playing youth.

Food for Thought 2020 - The Life-Sparring Books of the Year

Food for Thought 2020 - The Life-Sparring Books of the Year

Fabian
Life

In a year that brought a lot of changes and turned many things upside down, I wanted to uphold at least one little tradition: the annual "Food for Thought" blog post, reviewing the best books I read in the past year.

Please imagine a dramatic drumroll, as here come the five Life-Sparring books of 2020! Enjoy!

Walking Over Fire – How Getting Sacked for the First Time in My Career was Probably the Best that Could Have Happened to Me

Walking Over Fire – How Getting Sacked for the First Time in My Career was Probably the Best that Could Have Happened to Me

Fabian
Career

Almost exactly three years ago, I got fired for the first, and luckily so far also the only time in my management career. Without a doubt, getting terminated was one of the lowest points in my professional life and something I am not proud of. At the same time, there is no reason for being ashamed for getting the boot (given that it was not for disciplinary reasons). Stigmatizing people for getting their job terminated is not helping anyone, neither is beating yourself up over it. That’s why I wanted to write this article for a long time, to share my personal experience and tell those of you out there dealing with redundancy or termination that life and your career will go on, even if it does not feel like that right now.

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