I think like most girls out there I have never been completely happy with the shape of my body, but have never really did anything about it.
I suppose I should start with a background of my fitness and weight history. I am about 5.6 ft and fluctuate between a size 10 - 12 (UK).
As a kid I was always involved in different activities and dancing so was fit enough ! not an athlete by any means but normal I guess. I also worked in a pub for nearly 4 years so I was constantly walking around or on my feet for hours every night I worked.
Then as part of my degree in third year I needed to go on work placement, so I went from walking around for 8 hours a night to sitting on my bum at a desk for 8 hours with a 3 hour commute round trip. I was eating healthier with much more fruit in my daily diet and was drinking a LOT less so I wasn't having a pint or two of Bulmers after every shift but I still managed to put on over half a stone, making me weigh over 10 stone, which was my heaviest ever. I know I am not considered to be overweight by any means but I was not happy having put on 7 or 8 pounds in the matter of 5 months.
This was basically due to laziness, I was leaving my house before 8 in the morning to get the bus and was getting home after 7 in the evening, at that stage I just wanted to have my dinner, have a shower and watch TV and chill out before going to bed.
I went from 22 weeks on placement straight into my final year of college, where I was flat out in the library/ classes usually from 10 until 5/6 each night, and again was getting home usually about half 6 or 7, and would just want to eat,shower and relax. I had zero motivation to do any exercise except from walking to the train station, from the station to college and back home again.
This summer I decided that enough was enough. With the possibility of going to Sydney in the new year I am determined to be bikini ready for then. I have already lost a few pounds but my main goal in the journey is to not only lose a few more pounds but increase my fitness levels and gain muscle. My fitness stamina the the moment is pathetically low, if a zombie apocalypse happened right now I would definitely be caught and eaten...
That's where my Ipad comes in.
I downloaded a few different free apps to keep me motivated to stay on track with this journey and the first app I will discuss is MyFitnessPal.
MyFitnessPal
This is an on line calories counter which is also an app. I love this app!! It has a huge database of food and exercise types that you can search through to add your meal type, or you can scan the bar-code and the information will come up automatically. It also gives a breakdown of protein, carbohydrates, fat, sugar and saturated fat with a daily allowance for each so you can see exactly how much of each you are eating /overeating.
The website also gives a list of other apps that can be synced to MyFitnessPal which I love as it is so convenient.
Fitstar
Fitstar
The first exercise app that I love is FitStar, linked here. I have the free version of this so I am not able to access all of the different programs but they programs that I can access are great. It shows you people doing the workout in real time so you can see exactly how the exercise is supposed to be carried out correctly, along with a voice over who gives you tips on how to make the exercise easier or harder. When you have finished a session the amount of calories that you have burned are synced to MyFitnessPal.
The next exercise app that I use is Sworkit, linked here. This app is broken down into three sections, cardio and strength training, yoga and stretching and a section which you are able to customize. Each section is then broken up into subsection where you can pick what type of exercise you want to do eg light warm up, total body strength, pilates, yoga. once you have decided on the exercise type you want you can then decide how long you want to do with starting from 5 minutes to an hour. I love this as if you only have the time to do a quick 15 minute exercise you don't have to leave a session half way through. Again it is synced to MyFitnessPal.
Sworkit
Sworkit
Those are the three apps that I use an a regular basis. I recently purchased the Fitbug Orb which is an activity tracker that calculated how many steps where taken each day, how many calories where burned from those steps, the distance that you travelled as well as tracking your sleep and sleep patterns. I had it for about 2 week and as really liking it as every step was accounted for but I went shopping last Sunday, I had it clipped into the pocket of my jeans and noticed in the last shop that we were in that it was missing :(
I was so upset because it was working for me so well, I looked around and went into the shops that we were in but couldn't find it. It is so small anyone could have swept it up. €60 down the drain :(
Because of this I have been reusing two apps to track my movements.
When I am going out on a walk for exercise purposes, such as when I am bring my dog out on a walk where I also (try) jog I use the Runtastic app.
Both apps track distance, speed and time. The Runtastic app also displays the calories burned in a session as well as a map of where you have travelled using GPS.
The pedometer app shows the number of steps that are taken during a session.
The only draw back to this apps are that I tend to forget to stop a session once I have finished which messes up the timing of the sessions. Doh!
I was so upset because it was working for me so well, I looked around and went into the shops that we were in but couldn't find it. It is so small anyone could have swept it up. €60 down the drain :(
Because of this I have been reusing two apps to track my movements.
I use the pedometer app by Runtastic to track my steps when I am out and about eg. walking to bus stop, from bus to the office, walking around in town etc. any time that I am walking at a leisurely pace at basically.
Runtastic
Runtastic
When I am going out on a walk for exercise purposes, such as when I am bring my dog out on a walk where I also (try) jog I use the Runtastic app.
Both apps track distance, speed and time. The Runtastic app also displays the calories burned in a session as well as a map of where you have travelled using GPS.
The pedometer app shows the number of steps that are taken during a session.
The only draw back to this apps are that I tend to forget to stop a session once I have finished which messes up the timing of the sessions. Doh!
So that's it people of the Internet.
My Fitness History and my Favourite apps and websites and the moment that I am using to track my journey.
If you are also on this journey and have any tips/suggestions or websites that you think are good let me know.
Do you use any of these apps? What to you think of them?
Until next time
xoxo
I don`t use them, but they sound great, I will definitely download some of them. You should try an app by Cassey Ho. She is amazing, you`ll see :)
ReplyDeleteI will definitely look into that app. I'm really trying to get back into the swing of exercising 4 times a week, so any new things I can use/do to keep things interesting is great and really motivating.
Deletexoxo
Sounds interesting! Last week I signed up at the gym and I was also looking for some apps have some exercises at home. What may be interesting as well is the 'iDrinkWater' app for your phone because it's also important to drink enough water. This app helps me reminding to drink enough ^^
ReplyDeleteI haven#t been in a gym in a while, when I was in third year of college my timetable was lecture schedule only had me in 3 days but last ywar I was in 10-5 bewtenn classes and being in the library so there was no point in renewing my gym membership as I knew I wouldn't have the energy to go by the time I would get home.
DeleteI think those water drinking apps are good for people who wouldn't drink much water but I could easily drink 3 liters of water through out the day so there would be no need for me to use those sort of apps... thanks for the recommendation though :)
xoxo