However, much of this exercise and eating business wouldn’t be even half as easy if I didn’t have my collection of apps behind me. They keep me on track and motivated which is all you need when you’re starting out. Like everyone says – the first step is always the hardest!
MyFitnessPal
MFP to those more acquainted with this beauty of an app, allows you to monitor your calorie intake as well as noting activity levels and weight progress. When you first sign up to MFP you are introduced to your new and improved calorie intake. This is based on a number of things including your weight, the amount of activity you do during the day etc, it doesn’t cut you down to ridiculously low amounts like 500 calories a day; it promotes a healthy approach to eating.
Food – this aspect of MFP is brilliant. With a huge database built up of products from every supermarket and brand in the world, you’ll struggle to come across a product that hasn’t already been listed for you. Within this it not only lists the calorie content, but the nutrition within the food too. So when you add your meal in, you’re informed of whether there’s too much fat in it or its low in sodium… which is great! You can also quickly review how much carbs, protein and fat you’ve eaten during the day. This part of the app really starts to make you think about what you are eating for each meal. I like to put in all of my food in the morning, it then shows me how many calories I can or can’t still eat, meaning that if I fancy a little bit of something extra (usually chocolate), I can account for it properly.
For the exercise part you can input the activity you have done with estimated or precise calories burned alongside it (which then automatically deducts from your food intake meaning more food for us hungry lot). Or you can sync your MFP with any compatible apps out there to record this activity too.
Best of all – When you’re done with the day and tick it off in the diary, it gives you an estimate of how much weight you’d lose if you ate that many calories for the next 5 weeks! Talk about motivating!
This app is free up to a certain point, then it’s £3.99 a month. I would give the free version a go first as I have been using this for months now and not felt the need to update yet.
MapMyRun
Which brings me on to MapMyRun, my second favourite app on my phone! This super responsive fitness app is brilliant! Running is something I have turned to, to lose weight since I was 16 and for the last 3 weeks I have well and truly fallen in love with it again.
This app allows you to record the type of activity you are doing, be it interval training like I have been doing or a brisk dog walk, it uses google maps to monitor how far you are going, your pace and the amount of calories you have burned in the process. And even better, now that it’s getting a bit darker and let’s face it, far riskier for running, the app can also connect you to your friends or family so that they know where you are too. Getting lost is near impossible with this app.
It also syncs with your music so that you can have a little more motivation when on the move and gives you an update throughout your run too, letting you know where you are at before you decide to give up and go home.
I love this app because it syncs with MyFitnessPal so easily. Before I know it, it’s there in MFP, having taken off the calories I have worked so hard to burn off!
Couch to 5K
Now let’s not kid myself too much. I am a couch potato and love pizza, so my fitness level is worse than that of a snail, however in the last 3 weeks I have seen a vast improvement in my running and it’s all down to C25K.
An interval training app that’s very user friendly, you are encouraged to run 3 times a week with rest days in the hope that in 9 weeks you’ll be able to run 5k. You are given a 5 minute warm up and cool down followed by various periods of jogging and walking that is all timed for you.
In my first week I struggled running nonstop for just a minute… where I’d be left really out of breath and sometimes not even being able to make 60 seconds. But now I can do 2 minutes of brisk jogging without even thinking about stopping. It’s promoting a healthy incline in activity no matter your fitness level! What’s great about the app is that when you feel that you’ve conquered one stage, you’re given a new challenge straight away. You’re not stuck in a rut just running at a the same level where you are comfortable, it really wants you to be out of breath so that when you do it next time, you aren’t.
I plan on doing the Colour Run next July in Manchester, so I have full faith that this app will get me where I need to be for that!
My Top Tips for Starting Out
* Don’t be too hard on yourself
I am a great advocate for the cheat day! If I didn’t have those days where I can eat pizza, chocolate and pasta without feeling guilty then I would have given up after a few days. I eat well during the week and let myself off on the weekend! I try to sneak in a dog walk with Elliot’s pooches too so that it’s not TOO crazy as well.
* Find a Fitness Buddy
I have been extremely lucky in that I have landed myself a job sitting next to a likeminded girl who is using the same apps as me to lose weight. We constantly keep on top of eachother and motivate eachother to go on our runs. There’s also nothing better than finding somebody who can appreciate a big bowl of pasta after a hard week of running and eating well.
* Plan Ahead
One thing that I’m finding difficult at the moment is finding the time to run now that it is dark at 5pm. So I now plan my runs in the morning, having early nights before hand with my running gear all lined up ready by the door. Before this, I planned my running between seeing my friends to make sure that I definitely did them and had good rest days.
Are there any fitness apps that you've been using?
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