At the beginning of September 2013 I weighed about 205lbs (92kg). I decided to do something about my weight, for my health and for the sake of my family and of course I approached this plan as a scientist. For me that meant parameterizing my inputs and outputs so I could control what I was doing to my body.

I bought a FitBit, a pedometer that calculates many aspects of my activity and calorie burn, and also started to monitor the calorific content of my food intake.

我有几个计划涉及全天分发卡路里摄入量的不同，包括早餐时的卡路里更多，午餐和晚餐时更少。但是，主要是，我确保我总是燃烧的卡路里比吃的卡路里更多。在12周内，我跌入了40磅，正好赶上感恩节！

As a microbial ecologist, I know that aspects of this bodily change were significantly influenced or were influencing the microbial organisms that call me home.

确实，尽管我对微生物分析并不勤奋，但我肠道中的细菌群落确实改变了。但是，随着我对生活的许多事情如此迅速，无法确定这些变化中的哪些变化对我转移的微生物肠道影响最大。另外，我只有一个人！统计分析不能仅与一个人占上风；我们需要更多的参与者来确定观察到的相关性是否有意义。

人际比较的问题是由微生物组的个性加重的。这种个性使我着迷。我的微生物组与您的微生物组大不相同，并且我可以使用该信息来区分和识别您，这既有趣又具有一定的潜力。

Pioneering work by Eric Alm and colleagues at MIT,published today inGenome Biology, provides evidence that supports the individuality of the microbial signal, and more importantly points to its stability over time.

The aspect of this research that I find the most extraordinary is the data collection itself. Two individuals generated 10,000 observations of their diet, health, wellness, and behavior, comprising characterization of 349 different types of measurements a day, for a year! On top of that each individual also sampled their saliva and stool to characterize their microbial community.

任何研究都可以说服人们采取这种勤奋的方法来进行自我录制和监测的可能性有多大？可能极不可能。但是，就像我想减肥时所做的那样，世界各地的数百万人每天都会通过手机应用程序和在线程序来监控他们的饮食，运动和活动的各个方面。结果，我们可能会惊讶于有多少人想以这种方式参数化自己的生活。

Thestudy by Alm and colleaguesis still only a study of two individuals, therefore, peoples self-interest in parameterizing their life will be essential if we are to expand this study to determine if the observed trends are repeated over hundreds to thousands of participants.

当然，这项研究的时间序列方面是无价的，因为它使研究人员能够证明微生物组的显着稳定性，这在先前的研究中已显示Genome Biology(e.g.人类微生物组的动画).

But it also enabled the detection of key events in the lives of these participants, including a bout of food poisoning, and the impact of travel to a developing nation on the microbial community.

This is extremely useful information, suggesting that the human microbiome can act as a forensic or diagnostic element of our human condition, with the potential to be able to determine not just disease burden, but lifestyle changes and even geography.

One of the key findings from this study is that fiber intake has a profound influence on the microbial assemblages of these individuals on a day-to-day basis. I have managed to maintain my weight loss, keeping at a healthy 165lbs, probably due to significant shifts in my diet, including fiber, and by virtue of maintaining an active lifestyle.

要监视我身体微生物组合中的每日轮班肯定是一个有价值的指标，但我想为每个人都需要一个魔术厕纸和牙刷，并且会自动做到这一点。我愿意投资于这样的想法。

I am very excited by the prospect of a frame shift in our health monitoring through these technological developments, though I will still likely find it hard to monitor 349 different variables on a daily basis!