Jawbone-UP

I got a new fitness gadget for Mother's Day!  The Jawbone UP and I love it!  So much fun information!  It goes along the free UP app on my iPhone and it syncs with other apps I use like MyFitnessPal and MapMyFitness.  It tracks my food, my sleep and how much I move each day.

This technology stuff is really taking off.  It blows my mind sometimes.  :)

You set goals for yourself.  You set a goal for how much you want to sleep (my goal is 7 hours a night) and how many steps you take during the day (my goal is 10,000 steps).  The bracelet you wear around your wrist holds all of this information and then you can plug it into your iPhone and you get all of this fabulous information.

It is addicting!  They recommend syncing it 2 times a day, but I do it A LOT more just to see where I am at any point during the day.

My Goals for the day

On the home screen, you can see an overview of my goals for sleep, activity and food.  Then it is broken down by goal.














This is an overview of my activity.  You can see the 2 huge spikes are when I worked out before work and again at lunch.  Then after work, I took the dog on a walk and it was logged as the little walking guy on the bar graph shows.

           

Information about my activity levels

 You can see my sleep patterns as well.  You can see when I was in light sleep and deep sleep.  It can even show you when I got out of bed to go to the restroom in the middle of the night (the orange line.)

                                                                    

                                                                                            My sleep patterns (how does it know??)

I highly recommend the Jawbone Up.  It keeps all of your fitness information in one app, which I LOVE!  The bracelet also comes in many color choices.  

As always, let me know if you have any questions!  I am happy to try to help in any way!

Fooducate

Fooducate is a free app available on iPhone and Android.  I even got the kids in on trying this one.  The bad news is that I was caught eating an Oreo and was scolded because it only got a B-.

Fooducate grades your groceries.  Each product is automatically graded (A-, B+, C, etc...) by a scientific algorithm based on it's nutrition facts and ingredient list. Fooducate recommends minimally processed, real foods, that are naturally rich in nutrients and antioxidants.

You can scan the barcode on your groceries while you are in the store to see which one is best.  You can learn about the foods' pros and cons and even choose healthier alternatives. 

I do love to go around the store scanning things and this one is definitely helpful in choosing foods that will help you reach your fitness goals.  Try it out!  Let me know what you think!

ShopWell

This is a pretty cool free app!  I am sad to say that it is only available for iPhones at the moment, but it is very cool.  If you don't have an iPhone, borrow a friend's and play with the app.  You can also go to the website, but you aren't able to scan the items.

This app is your "Personal Nutrition Expert."  You put your diet needs in the app such as weight management or lowering cholesterol etc. and it tells you which foods are a good match for you.  You can scan food items and it will give that food a score so you know if it matches your goals.  It lists quick facts on each item such as letting you know if it is a good source of protein and calcium, low saturated fat, good source of Iron, added sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, refined grains, and preservatives.  It also suggests alternatives that are better for you.  I have spent the last 30 minutes scanning things in my pantry.  It is so informative!

"ShopWell draws on trusted resources and guidelines set by the FDA, USDA, the Institute of Medicine, and the latest peer reviewed research."

SWORKIT PRO!

Earlier today, I posted about SWORKIT, a free workout app I came across.  Well, Ryan from SWORKIT contacted me about the awesome features that SWORKIT Pro has and even gave me a code to get SWORKIT Pro for FREE so I could try it.  Thank you, Ryan!

SWORKIT Pro is only $.99 and has these awesome additional features:

Audible Announcement of Exercises
Access to Videos During Workouts
Total Progress Training
Pause Between Exercise Options
Call Friends Out on Facebook and Twitter
Bonus Workout: Bootcamp-Inspired by US Army Fitness
Access to Future Feature Upgrades and Bonus Workouts

I LOVE IT!  I had received this free access after I had already worked out for the day, and I actually worked out AGAIN just so I could try it out.  I love that you can see a quick video tutorial on the move if you need them, that there is a pause button so you aren't using time on the clock to figure out what the next move is, and it has an Audio announcement that tells you what the next move is!  I highly recommend this App!!

SWORKIT

Here is a fun, free app that is available on iPhone, Android or on your computer.  It shuffles your exercises for your workouts and keeps things new and exciting for you!


You choose your workout time (up to one hour) and goal (back, core strength, full body, etc.). Sworkit then generates a series of randomized 30-second routines (none of which require equipment) for you to follow, along with handy pictures of what each task actually looks like. At the end of every 30 seconds, a whistle blows and you’re on to the next exercise.  


My only complaint is that it moves immediately from move to move.  By the time I see the next move to do, 3 seconds have passed.  Perhaps I will get quicker with it the more I do it.  I love 
the variety of it all though and time goes very quickly.

Health Calculators

I came across this app available on iPhone and Android.  You can also access it via it's website as well www.healthstatus.com.  It has a VERY extensive calories burned calculator.  Calories burned calculators aren't the most accurate things in the world, but this gives you a good estimate on how many calories you have burned doing various activities.  It also has calculators to determine your Ideal Weight and it also has a calculator that uses your weight and age and tells you how long you have to complete various activities in order to burn so many calories.  It is a pretty neat app.  Check it out!

Couch to 5K

Do you want to start running, but aren't sure where to start?

I know a lot of people that have used this conditioning plan and have been very successful.  Honestly, when I first started working out again, I dismissed this program because it seemed too complicated since, with every workout, you had to run so fast for so many minutes and then walk for so many minutes.  That isn't so easy when you are running outdoors.

With this application (available on Android and iPhone) it tells you when to run and when to start walking.  You don't need to time anything.  You can even listen to your own playlists and the application will voiceover or beep when it is time to run or walk.  It takes the guesswork out of trying to time the walk/runs.

This program is only 3 days a week for 35 minutes a day for 8 weeks.  It is no secret that running burns a serious amount of calories and this gets you on your way to becoming a running machine!  I wish I had this application when I first started.  I feel like I started running the hard way and this app would have been so helpful.

Planning Meals Ahead

I have always been a planner, someone who has lists for everything. I LOVE post its and the whole idea of color coding and leaving myself reminders. I know, you wouldn't be the first person to call me strange. I go to the grocery store EVERY Friday and I shop for the whole week. I am not a fan of going to the grocery store, so the fewer times a week I go, the happier I am. Since I only go once a week, I have to plan the menu for the week ahead on Thursday night. I know what we are going to eat every day. This way I can make good meal decisions and we aren't desperate to eat just anything.

I use a grocery list app on my iPhone religiously (also available for droid). If I realize we are out of storage bags, I add it immediately to my GroceryGadget App. This way I never forget anything at the store and I can make better use of my time.

GroceryGadget allows for you to check things you need at the store and as you check them, it organizes them in categories so you make better use of your time while in the store ie: deli, produce, dairy, frozen foods etc. Once you put an item in your cart, you can check it and it will disappear off of your list. This also helps me to not put extra things in my shopping cart. If it isn't on my list, I am not buying it. I use this app religiously, even when I wasn't eating healthy

Calorie Burn Calculator

Since I use the Myfitnesspal App on my smartphone it also calculates the number of calories I burned during my workouts and adds them to my total so I can eat more during the day. Sometimes it is hard to determine how many calories I have burned, so I found this Calorie Burn Calculator and it has A LOT of different activities listed. All you do is put your weight in and how many minutes you performed any of the activities listed, and it gives you the amount of calories you burned during that activity. Pretty Sweet!

iMapMyRun

IMapMyRun is so incredibly handy! When you run with this app running you can keep track of your pace, the live route map, your distance, and calories burned. While listing to the tunes on your smart phone it will give you voice prompts that will update you on your progress as you go. You can also post your runs on facebook. This is a fabulous way to keep track of your goals and get the most out of your workout.

All-In Yoga

I found this App called All-In Yoga and loaded it on my iPhone. There are 300 poses and the how-to's are modeled by an actual, easy to follow person. It separates poses by level and types and you can easily customize your favorite routine. LOVE IT!!

My Best Friend: Myfitnesspal

For the last 3 months, I have been using the Myfitnesspal App on my iPhone (also available for Android phones). It is my electronic food journal. In the app, you add in all of your information like your current weight, how much you want to lose, how often you plan on working out and it gives you a target caloric intake. If you try it out, don't panic because it factors in that you will 'earn' calories back by working out.

I love that I can scan the barcodes on foods and it adds it with all of the calories and nutritional info automatically. It is so fast and easy. If, for some reason, it doesn't find the food, you can always search for it or enter it in manually. You can also use it online here. It is a calorie counter and has a huge database of foods. It even has a place where you can add your workouts (which adds more calories for you to consume in the day).

Yes, there are days that I workout so that I can consume more calories. I am not going to lie, I can't be on a completely strict diet. My husband has been on this weight loss journey with me since the new year and we have one diet cheat day a week. Most of the time, we still work out that day so that we don't blow it too huge, but nonetheless, it is a day we look forward to. The cheat day is great because you really feel like you earned it and that one day does not really throw your weight loss off.