Using InsideTracker To Help You Reach Your Goals

Goals drive us to make progress, and goal-setting has been a strategy used in efforts from personal achievement to professional development and everything in between. You likely had a goal in mind when signing up for InsideTracker. So what role do goals have in the journey to advancing your health?

How do goals play into your InsideTracker experience?

InsideTracker lets you select certain goals (Heart Health, Cognition, etc.) based on the plan that you’ve purchased. Each goal corresponds with specific biomarkers related to that area of wellbeing and informs the recommendations that ultimately comprise your Action Plan. For example, cortisol is a hormone that measures stress levels. It’s included in the Stress goal but not the Energy goal. So if you select the Stress goal and have unoptimized cortisol levels, you may see that cortisol-lowering recommendations have a higher impact score in your Action Plan, depending on your current lifestyle habits. 

Goal-specific recommendations can also be included in your Action Plan. InsideTracker does have recommendations tied to the goal that isn’t directly related to optimizing biomarker levels. For example, eating collagen-rich foods may be a recommendation you see for the Gut Health goal that you wouldn't see otherwise. This difference accounts for what the science says—InsideTracker’s algorithm only shows you evidence-based solutions to help you reach your specific health goal.

In addition, the InsideTracker app syncs with several wearable devices like Apple Watch, Garmin smartwatches, and Fitbits to pull physiomarker data on resting heart rate and sleep. These physiomarkers in addition to metrics like body mass index (BMI) are also integrated into goals when scientifically relevant.

What goals can you choose from?

InsideTracker offers 13 unique goals that tailor your Action Plan to meet the health objectives that are most important to you. Let’s take a deeper dive into what each goal means and the biomarkers associated with them.

InnerAge 2.0

For those interested in living healthier longer, choose the InnerAge goal to improve your healthspan, the number of years spent in good health. You’ll create an Action Plan with recommendations that target specific biomarkers to lower your biological age—your internal age which reflects how efficiently your body functions. To see this goal as an option, you must purchase an InnerAge 2.0 analysis (either the InnerAge 2.0 blood plan or the Ultimate plan with the InnerAge 2.0 calculation). 

Key markers targeted: These markers analyzed differ based on biological sex. To read more about those differences and the InnerAge 2.0 algorithm, check out this article.

Males: Albumin, Calcium, GGT, glucose, Hematocrit, HbA1c, hsCRP, LDL, basophils (%), lymphocytes (%), MCH, MCHC, neutrophils (%), red blood cells, SHBG, triglycerides, free testosterone, testosterone

Females: Albumin, basophils (%), DHEAS, osinophils (%), GGT, Glucose, HbA1c, LDL, lymphocytes, monocytes, RDW, triglycerides, TIBC 

Healthy aging 

The Healthy aging goal prioritizes biomarkers and recommendations to maintain health as the years pass and improve longevity. This goal is available for the Ultimate, Blood Results Upload, and Immunity plans in the absence of an InnerAge 2.0 calculation. If you add InnerAge 2.0 onto any of those plans, you will see the InnerAge goal instead. 

Key markers targeted: hsCRP, white blood cells, vitamin D, ALT, DHEAS, testosterone, glucose, HbA1c, resting heart rate, and sleep.

Gut health

Perhaps you’ve experienced digestive issues or maybe you’ve heard the buzz about the health benefits that result from enriching the microorganisms that live within your digestive system. InsideTracker scientists have analyzed the scientific literature to identify the blood biomarkers and physiomarkers most indicative of a healthy gut microbiome. Choose the Gut Health goal to improve those associated biomarkers and maintain the right balance of these microorganisms, a critical component of your physical and mental health, immunity, and more.

Key markers targeted: Glucose, cortisol, HDL, triglycerides, HbA1c, hsCRP

Endurance

For those looking to build endurance, this goal prioritizes recommendations to help you sustain cardiovascular and muscular performance over long periods. This goal is not only a preferred choice for people training for upcoming races or events but for those seeking to build their aerobic capacity and lay the foundation for cardiovascular fitness for years to come. 

It is generally of interest to endurance athletes, or to those looking to improve their endurance capacity for an upcoming race or event.

Key markers targeted: Ferritin, Hemoglobin, Vitamin B12, Folate, Transferrin saturation, TIBC, Iron, Resting heart rate

Strength + power

Choose the Strength and power goal to help improve your muscular strength and performance. The benefits of strength training go beyond seeing gains in the weight room. Improving muscular strength also supports a healthy heart, metabolic health, and strong bones, all of which keep your mind and body sharp through the decades. 

Key markers targeted: hsCRP, testosterone, free testosterone, creatine kinase, ALT, AST, cortisol, SHBG, magnesium, RBC magnesium, testosterone: cortisol ratio, resting heart rate

Energy

Interested in improving your mood and alertness throughout the day? The Energy goal prioritizes recommendations that will help you improve or maintain energy to sustain and thrive in your favorite activities.

Key markers targeted: Glucose, hemoglobin, ferritin, cortisol, testosterone, DHEAS, resting heart rate, sleep

Injury prevention/recovery

This goal helps you reduce your risk of injury and promote recovery from workouts or existing injuries, and it may be a good choice if you're prone to injuries from physical activity or you find that it takes you a long time to recover. 

Key markers targeted: Vitamin D, hsCRP, white blood cells, testosterone, creatine kinase, ALT, AST, cortisol, magnesium, RBC magnesium, testosterone: cortisol ratio, sleep

Heart health

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and a predominant contributor to death globally. This cardiovascular-related health goal prioritizes recommendations that will help you improve or maintain a healthy heart and blood vessels.

Key markers targeted: hsCRP, HbA1c, total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, ApoB, resting heart rate

Metabolism

Your metabolism manages how your body utilizes calories to produce energy for functions like breathing and digestion. Selecting the Metabolism goal will help you target and optimize key markers associated with energy production.

Key markers targeted: Glucose, HbA1c, total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, resting heart rate, sleep

Cognition

If you’re particularly interested in improving your ability to preserve your cognitive functions including information processing, reasoning, memory, and learning new information, the Cognition goal will help you get there. Certain blood biomarkers are correlated to improved measures of cognition.  

Key markers targeted: Glucose, HbA1c, ApoB, vitamin B12, folate, cortisol, sleep

Sleep

Having trouble sleeping or looking to optimize sleep quality? The Sleep goal focuses on helping you improve and maintain the length and quality of your sleep.

Kay markers targeted: Glucose, testosterone, vitamin D, magnesium, RBC magnesium, hsCRP, cortisol, sleep

Immunity

The Immunity goal prioritizes recommendations to help strengthen your immune system’s defense against pathogens. This goal may be of interest to you if you feel that you get sick often or stay ill for longer periods when you’re sick.

Key markers targeted: hsCRP, White blood cells (monocytes, neutrophils, lymphocytes, eosinophils, basophils), vitamin D, Magnesium, RBC magnesium, sleep

Stress

Stress is a necessary biological response, but chronic or long-term stress can be detrimental to your health. Choosing the Stress goal will prioritize recommendations that help you reduce anxiety and manage stress levels. 

Key markers targeted: Cortisol, hsCRP, white blood cells, magnesium, RBC magnesium, sleep

Lose fat

This goal prioritizes recommendations to improve body composition by promoting fat loss while maintaining lean muscle mass. Having a low BMI may exclude you from seeing this goal, even if it’s offered with the plan that you purchased. For more information on how InsideTracker accounts for BMI, check out this article.  

Key markers targeted: Glucose, cholesterol, LDL, HDL triglycerides, HbA1c, sleep, RHR, BMI  

Overall health

For those interested in improving general wellness, the Overall Health goal focuses on helping you live a healthier life. It’s a popular starting point for those interested in improving general health rather than targeting markers associated with a specific health goal.

Key markers targeted: Biomarkers are prioritized in order of importance to general health and wellness, targeting those markers most notably outside of your optimal zones.

How do you pick which goal is best for you?

Some people come to InsideTracker with a specific area of health they want to improve. 

If you’re physically active or want support on  the Endurance or Strength + power goals may be better suited as your goals. Or perhaps you haven’t been sleeping well and know that you want to focus on improving your sleep quality and quantity, then the Sleep goal may be exactly what you’re looking for.

But if you don’t have a particular health interest that you want to improve, the Overall health goal is a great option to start with, allowing you to focus on optimizing the biomarkers that are most significantly suboptimal.

What happens if all the biomarkers of a goal are optimized? 

To see a goal in your queue, a minimum of three recommendations would need to be relevant for you (based on bloodwork, your Health Profile, or goal-specific outcomes) and at least one goal-associated biomarker would need to be unoptimized.

If all the biomarkers of a certain focus area are completely optimized, you won’t be able to select that goal—although this can change after each new blood draw. 

Can you change your goal?

You can change your goal at any time. Simply navigate to your Action Plan and select “Change goal”. InsideTracker’s algorithm will regenerate your recommendations based on your newly selected goal, allowing you to craft a brand new plan that meets your updated objectives. Keep in mind, when you change your goal, you may lose your prior check-in data.

You can also customize your recommendations within the same goal. The recommendations evaluated to have the most impact for you, are automatically added to your Action Plan. But if you hit Edit Action Plan, you can scroll through the full list of recommendations and toggle your preferred ones on or off. 

You’ll also notice that the start and end dates of your Action Plan reset. Your Action Plan will always be about three months long—the amount of time it’s likely to take for the recommendations you’ve implemented to reflect biomarker changes. But keep in mind that the best recommendations come from recent blood work, so it’s important to get retested every 3-6 months to keep your Action Plan relevant.

Key takeaways

• The goal you select (along with bloodwork, DNA, physiomarkers, characteristics, and preferences) drives the recommendations provided in your Action Plan.
• The Ultimate plan allows you to choose from 13 goals. You can change your goal at any time, but you may lose check-in data when your Action Plan resets. 
• Each goal targets specific markers to optimize, and these markers have been significantly associated with health outcomes related to that goal.
• Keep your Action Plan relevant through routine blood testing every three to six months.