LONDON — We all make the same promise to ourselves. I should exercise more. I should lose weight. Then comes the excuse. It's too hot outside. Work has been exhausting. Tomorrow seems to be a better day to work out. This one missed workout becomes two, a week and then a month. This reporter does that all the time. During nearly 15 years at The Korea Times, my weight steadily crept up. Every now and then, guilt pushed me out the door for a short run only to stop with gasping breath. That was usually enough to convince myself I had "worked out," often followed by an oversized meal. Things changed almost after buying a smartwatch almost by accident — a product I write about but never seriously considered buying. Since the beginning of this year, I have run at least 5 kilometers almost every day and have steadily lost weight. I can now proudly call myself a beginner runner, and I owe much of that change not to stronger willpower, but to the device. On the occasion of the Galaxy Unpacked 2026 event here, this reporter joined a running event on Thursday (local time) hosted by Samsung Elec