Introduction

Today, I bid farewell to A-B.Fit, a side project born out of my personal struggles with obesity and the desire to find innovative ways to encourage healthier eating habits. In this blog post, I’ll share the story of A-B.Fit, the lessons learned along the way, and why I’ve decided to end this project.

The Birth of A-B.Fit

A-B.Fit was conceived as a tool to employ A/B testing as a means to discover effective strategies for promoting healthier eating and increased physical activity. As someone who has always struggled with weight issues, I was initially inspired by a well-meaning doctor’s simplistic advice to “eat less and move more.” This sparked the idea of utilizing A/B testing to identify the most effective reminders and prompts to help individuals stick to a healthier lifestyle plan.

The A-B.Fit Journey

Over the past three years, A-B.Fit’s app has been used by over 100 people. The current version of A-B.Fit was fully built and deployed before starting my current company Cactus and our initial attempts to gain users through Google keywords were unsuccessful. We spent over $2,000 pushing people to the website without getting a single sign-up. A-B.Fit was even part of the impetus for leaving my old job as a data scientist at a large insurance company. However, by the end of the third month of working on Cactus, and our flagship product Marmalade, it was evident to me that building data ingestion software for (re)insurance companies was getting much more traction than we were getting with A-B.Fit. But a small part of me always believed I would return to the project someday. However, circumstances have changed, and I now believe that the problem A-B.Fit aimed to solve has been addressed in a different way.

The Ozempic Revelation

Three weeks ago, I began taking Ozempic, a medication that has completely transformed my relationship with food. Even at the low dose of 0.25mg, I can now experience the sensation of fullness after just a bite of a doughnut or a bowl of soup at a fancy dinner. I’ve even taken up eating Huel. The mental effort required to limit my food intake has all but disappeared, and the grocery bill savings alone would cover the cost of the drug even without health insurance.

Ozempic is typically prescribed as a chronic medication, but I hope I won’t need it indefinitely. I’m using it as a tool to help me adhere to the Fast800 diet, but either way, it’s clear that the issue of wanting to eat less has been resolved for me, thanks to this medication.

The End of A-B.Fit

Given my newfound ability to manage my eating habits with Ozempic, I’ve decided to close the chapter on A-B.Fit. My co-founder and I have agreed to shut down the website and disable the ABFoodtracker app on or after May 1, 2023. The domain will point to this blog post, serving as a testament to the journey and the lessons learned along the way.

Conclusion

While A-B.Fit may not have achieved the level of success I initially envisioned, it was an invaluable learning experience and a stepping stone in my personal journey towards launching a business and better health. Without it, I probably would never have left my job as a Data Scientist and enjoyed the thrilling highs and terrifying lows of my current startup. I’m grateful to everyone who supported and participated in the project, and I hope that sharing my story will inspire others to explore innovative ways to tackle their own health challenges.