baby making iphone app image
Christina
How do you stay fit? And what makes you stay fit?
Answer
I ride a road bicycle mostly. What motivates me is the ride itself, I can take myself places pretty far and every day I try to go a little bit farther. I can feel my muscles and lungs working hard and I know that I am getting stronger. I try to ride every day, I don't want to let go of any of the progress that I've made since I first started. Hills that killed me when I first started are now extremely easy to conquer and that makes me proud of myself. Going up an intense hill, feeling like you're going to pass out, feeling your heart jumping out of your chest, your lungs can't work any harder, then you're at the top and coming down the other side feels amazing at the end. Good old endorphins!
It's mostly a unwillingness to allow yourself to take steps back in your progress.
As for eating, I say this stupid phrase almost every day that irritates my boyfriend, "Making healthy choices every day." I eat vegetarian but I have a love of salty or spicy junk foods. On the occasion that I do indulge, instead of eating an entire bag of hot cheetos, I'll eat only one or two or ten, instead of an entire 99 cents bag, to satisfy the craving then put the bag out of sight or just give it to someone. I order water at sit-down restaurants 90% of the time, it's always unlimited and refreshing and costs nothing (saving money!). I never order dessert, and when I eat the main course, I'll ask for a half-portion or lunch-portion, it's usually a tiny bit cheaper, or offer my food to other people I'm with. I never take anything home unless it's not for me because I know I'll eat it as soon as I get home and as much as I hate leaving food on the plate that they're just going to throw away, I remember that it's better in the trash than in me and next time I'll order something smaller. If you live in an area where there are a lot of homeless, take the leftovers and give it to them.
I almost always say no to sweets. It's mainly the fact that they cause cavities that is the big motivator, calories second. I love my teeth!
There are a lot of meat-substitutes that are high in protein as well as low in fat and calories that are pretty close to the real thing. Look out for Morning Star or Boca vegetarian and vegan meat-substitutes in the frozen food section of your supermarket. Morning Star makes an awesome vegan Barbeque Riblet. There's also a brand called Amy's in the frozen foods that makes excellent stuff. Also, try Lean Cuisine or Smart Ones, frozen microwave meals. Some of the recipes are amazing. And drink a lot of water. It fills you up a bit and keeps you hydrated. I drink a lot of fruit-smoothies. I blend ice, fresh and frozen fruits together with juice at home. I also try to stay away from "diet" beverages with artificial sweeteners but that's just a personal preference. Plain old water never lets me down.
You have to know yourself and know your habits so you can break them. "Making healthy choices every day" refers to instead of getting a large popcorn at the movies, you make the choice to get the medium or small despite the fact that they next size up is only 50 cents more. Ignore the deals and focus on the money you're saving by not over-indulging, even if it's just 50 cents. It all adds up in the end. It also refers to, instead of eating a whole plate of pasta, you left a few bites behind and next time you know to order a smaller portion. I go with the "eat what you want and don't torture yourself" sort of way so it's all about moderation and portion size. Stop eating when you're satisfied. Baby steps. I used to count calories on an iphone app but I don't have the attention span for that any more.
Good luck!
Best way to track my fitness with iPhone apps?
philscalis
I have a degree in exercise science and am going to school for physical therapy now and really want to track my fitness now that I have an iPhone and I know the importance of health. However, after researching apps I'm not sure the best app or app combination to use. I want to get a heart rate monitor (wahoo or polar?) and many of the apps will sync with it. I want to track calories, GPS run mapping capabilities, nutritious intake, and I want to track my strength training regimen (sets, reps, etc). The my fitness pal app seems to do some of these things and you can also tie in other apps or sync them with it. However there are so many other ones and I want to know the best way to do this if anyone can help. So far I have downloaded: my fitness pal, endomondo, fitocracy, sportstracker, runkeeper, real intelligence fitness app, and digifit icardio. If someone can help me out it would be much appreciated. I would try them out but don't want to give my info and make an account for all of these apps if they aren't what I want.
Answer
I track some of the same stuff you do, but not everything and I've tried some of the products you have, but not all. However, here's my take:
1. I use Runkeeper as my basic app. I'm primarily a runner and so are most of my friends. It links easily to facebook if you are interested in that. For me, this is how I communicate with my running community. It has some other basic cardio functions in it as well (elliptical, etc)
2. Runkeeper has a GPS function to be used with the iphone, it's generally accurate within 0.1-0.3 mile. However, when I want to be really accurate, I still default to my garmin which I can still link to my Runkeeper account. (ie, when I'm racing or want to track elevation)
3. Realize also that when you use GPS function on your phone, it will wear down the battery very quickly. I'll use the Runkeeper GPS function if I'm running or cycling an hour or less, but it's not ideal for long distances.
4. Runkeeper and probably most fitness apps will link to a heart rate monitor. However, I'd first ask why you intend to use one? As a PT, myself, I've come to the realization that unless you have a medical condition that warrants it, tracking heart rate is overly burdensome for little pay off. Just used your rate of Rate of Perceived Exertion. Whether you are doing intervals or tempo workouts, it's your exertional effort that's the real issue. Most of the established "guidelines" for heart rate during exercise were established for patients recovering from cardiac events, not necessarily for healthy adult fitness. So, unless you want to get into research about cardiac effort, I'd say don't bother. I suppose you can use it if you want to get a MORE accurate idea of your caloric burn, but I have better options for that (more later). I DIDN"T use one for years, mostly because I take a beta blocker which throws the whole target heart rate out the window anyway. I'm using one now (more on that in a minute) only because I'm pregnant and NEED to make sure my heart rate doesn't go over a certain amount (and I have arguements about that anyway). I use the iphone app with it, but haven't linked it to my RK. It does record it on the wahoo site, but I never go back and look at it. The wahoo site also does GPS and if you get the hardware, you can link it with your bike or a foot pod.
5. If you do want to use a HR monitor, I use the wahoo. My husband and I both have Garmin 910XT's and even though he got the heart rate monitor for it, he's happier with the wahoo. Again, he's not even using it anymore and I am. However, I don't even bother logging my heart rate...I use it only as a warning system. I do think I can link it with RK, but haven't bothered. Once I have the baby, I'll stop using it. Not sure why hubby doesn't like the garmin monitor...I just took his word for it.
6. Now, onto strength. RK doesn't really have a place to log this. I used MapMyRun for awhile which at least gave me an idea of how long I was weight lifting and an approximation of calories. In my opinion, if you are looking for an app that does everything, I'd say be prepared for a really complicated app. I found that the more features it has, the less user friendly it becomes. This is how I felt about MMR. For strength training, I'd consider a separate app. Same thing goes for nutrition. There are probably apps out there designed just for that which are much more user friendly.
7. Back to calorie counting. All the apps give you a basic ESTIMATION of your calories burned based on your weight and work out parameters. Even if you are using a heart rate monitor, again, this is only an ESTIMATE. Unless you are in a lab, all these tools provide estimates only. However, if you really want to know what your body is using and burning, I'd recommend the Body Media System. It's about as accurate as you can get with calorie count without having to be in a lab. The web app also has a nutritional log.
So here's my take in a nutshell:
1. Use a basic app for your cardio. Runkeeper is my personal favorite. Only use the GPS for shorter workouts
2. Use a separate GPS (I've only used garmins) if you want to be really accurate with your distance or if you are doing a long work out and simply sync it to your cardio app (like RK) from the garmin site.
3. Don't bother with a HR monitor unless you have a medical reason to do so
4. Use a separate app for your weight lifting and nutrition.
5. Consider a body media system if you REALLY want an accurate calorie count. It's expensive new, but I got a Core basic system used on ebay for $32. (myself, I'm content using the basic estimates from my cardio app).
Maybe there's an app that does everything, but I find that it gets too complicated....I don't want to spend 30 minutes logging my info.
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