Highlighted Service/App: MyFitnessPal

Are you looking for a way to keep track of things like:
-What you eat?
-The nutritional information for what you eat?
-Log your exercise sessions.
-Track your caloric intake for the day.
-And so much more?

If so, then there are a several of these apps/services available.  If you have read my review on LoseIt by Fitnow than you'll know that I like to use these apps as well.  The one that I will be covering today is: MyFitnessPal. The point of MyFitnessPal is to act as a calorie counter.  MyFitnessPal has an app available for both Android and iPhone.  The app is identical on both platforms, you can setup an account right on your mobile device.  Then as you go through the day, you simply log what you have eaten into the calorie counter.  The app has a pretty good database that includes most foods and chain-restaurant foods.  If you like, you can also use the barcode scanner built into the app to capture a shot of a particular food item's barcode and it will find that food's nutritional information and import it into your diary for that particular meal.  The app will generate a daily calorie allotment that is will count towards as you log consumed food during the day, obviously to loose weight the thought is you want to stay under that calorie allotment each day.  This allotment is based off of several criteria that you entered when setting up your account, like:
-Age
-Height
-Current Weight
-Weight Goal
-How many pounds you'd like to loose per week.
-What is your estimated activity level during the day (work)?

But it doesn't stop with just food, you also track your physical exercise as well.  After all, exercising helps you burn calories, and since the app is counting calories for you, it needs to know what is being burnt off during workouts.  As you weigh in, you also need to update your weight in the app or on their website.  This will also affect your daily calorie allotments that the app helps you meet or stay underneath that limit.

One thing I really like about MyFitnessPal, is once you closeout a day's "diary" or log of food & exercise, the app will pop up a screen that says "If everyday were like today, it would take you X weeks to be at XX goal."  That helps me keep things in perspective.  I mean after all, for most of us, being healthy isn't a whole lot of "fun".  So some of us need a little further inspiration to get things going.

You can also visit their website at: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/
Their website has even more features available too.  You can follow their forums, track the same info you track using the mobile app, you also get a little widget that you can post on your website or social network that display's your current weightloss.

The service and app are free of charge.  So what do you have to loose?  Swing by their website for more information on both the website service and their mobile app: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

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Fitocracy: A Social Network for Health & Fitness

Fitocracy.com

I stumbled across this site the other night, and have actually just joined it.  It's a free, social networking site for those looking to get fit.  Unlike some sites, Fitocracy is aimed for pretty much everybody.  If you are just getting into a fitness routine or trying to gain a healthier lifestyle you can feel right at home.  But on the other hand, if you are someone who has been in the fitness game for a long time and are doing great when it comes to things like diet and nutrition, and you love visiting the gym; then don't shy away because there is plenty going on here for you too.

So here is the deal.  It is a social network much in the same vein of Facebook.  It features you're run of the mill social networking goodies like a Feed (a place where all of the stuff you want to see from people you follow show up i.e.: Facebook's Wall), Friend's List, Group's List, etc.  You can share pictures and media and such.  But where it is different is that it uses "gamification" help people attain their fitness, diet, or exercising goals.  And as an avid gamer, this is an idea that I like a lot.  As some days, I just lack the desire to get out and do something healthy.

It breaks goals down into "quests" much like an RPG game.  Completion of these quests gives you points.  These points add up much like experience points (or XP) in a role playing game.  Once you fill up your point bar for your current level; you level up.  As you level up and complete certain "quests" you get achievement badges to share on your Feed for bragging rights.

Sounds pretty cool, doesn't it?  I signed up this afternoon.  And one of the most daunting things to do once you join a social network is to get friends to follow.  If you don't know someone who is currently using the site, then it can be pretty lonely.  The Fitocracy solution: not only recommend a few friends for you, but actually connect you with new friends to get your feet wet.  The site will also set you up as a member of several groups based on what interests you picked during sign up (Cardio, Strength Building, etc.)  So when you first get to your feed, you actually have some stuff to look at.  From that point forward it's up to you to continue to build your friends list, add exercises (remember to be honest), and have fun reaching your goals!

There are two tier's of membership on the site.  You can join and use the site for free (I'm a free member), or you can sign up as a Fitocracy Hero which gives you some extra features on the site and let's you challenge other user's to duels.  A Hero account will set you back $4.99/month or $44.99/per year.  There is also an app for the service but it currently only supports iOS (Apple's iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad).  Supposedly an Android app is in the works.  For Android user's, you can visit the site via your device's web browser and use the mobile version of the site (which coincidentally is just a mobile version of the sign on screen, but loads the full browser version of the site after login).

So get out and meet some people with similar goals as you, and let's work together to encourage each other!  Follow this link and sign up and hit me up: Fitocracy Sign Up

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Guess Who's Back??!!

I know, I know, you probably thought I disappeared right?  Like so many others who seem to start off strong after a short while they start to fizzle out when it comes to fitness.  And yes, that is exactly what happened to me.  After all, one of my points to this blog was to try and be as transparent as possible with you guys when it comes to my fitness and my health habits.

Here is essentially what happened to me in a nutshell.  Earlier this year, we had just booked a Cruise to the beautiful Western Caribbean for May.  By the way, we had a blast.  But this trip basically became inspiration for both myself and my wife to try to get into better shape.  We both started off strong, working out regularly (as I was regularly tracking walking routines of at least 3 to 4 miles at a time) leading up to our trip.

When we returned from vacation, personally it felt as if I lost a huge amount of inspiration to get up and work out.  I didn't stop altogether at first, but my workouts started happening less often.  I found I was making time for gaming sessions, watching television, or just plain being lazy.  All the while I kept telling myself I needed to get back out there and start exercising again.  A few weeks after the trip, I started to get the drive to go back out and hit the trails again.  Then the unavoidable happened.  Work picked up and started to require late evenings.

I am a field service technician in the IT Industry, so a lot of my job requires daily travel to customer locations across my territory.  So I have a lot of time when I am sitting behind the steering wheel and driving during the course of a week's time.  I found myself in situations where I was coming home late most nights of during the week.  Then when I got home, I would lack all drive to get out and exercise.  Once again, I was was just being lazy.

All the while, my wife has been doing great watching her diet and exercising.  And she has been trying to push me back into being active as well.  And it has worked.  She joined a Zumba class the other night and is loving it.  I will not be joining her Zumba class (I'm not that big on dancing), but I have decided to put all of my excuses, complaints, and laziness aside and not let her out do me. Call it pride, arrogance, or whatever. lol

This is not a post about my belly-aching about life being busy.  Instead, I hope you can read this as a letter from someone who has let life's events take control of my everyday routine and I am trying hard to regain that control.  So without any more delay.  Let's go exercise!

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