App-icted!

January has been a month of serious exercising! TheTidyBoy however sees the exercising but chooses to mostly comment on my addiction to the 'accessories'. I bought a new bike (post coming soon), I bought a new gym kit (thank you Auntie D), I hired a personal trainer and kitted my phone out as my fitness buddy! Never before have I become so obsessed with apps! 

My first app is Strava this tracks my walking, running and cycling. Recording your workout from the get-go it provides you with statistics, records personal bests of a repeated route and tracks your exact mileage and speed. 

Through Strava I came across MyFitnessPal. I wouldn't have started using this app if it hadn't been for my personal trainer who told me to start tracking what I ate and being aware of calories - especially as I do have a problem with sugar consumption! This app allows you to enter in your food for the day and see where your calories add up. It also has a pedometer which takes off the calories you burn throughout the day by working. When synced with Strava it also takes off your workout calories too. It is a real eye opener. 

I heard about WaterMinder through a blog. After trying (and failing TEGChallenge for water drinking) and simply trying to drink a lot of water throughout the day (and failing) I thought I would give this app a try. I am so glad I did. My drinking is becoming a lot better. At first it really shocked me how bad my water consumption was. Now when the buzzer goes to remind me to drink I do! It is great!

Breeze is a fun app pedometer. Everyday it sets you a goal to complete, adjusted based on the day before. I never really thought about walking and how many steps and how many calories are burnt from walking now I push to walk to hit those goals! 

Sleep Cycle is an app I bought a while ago to help me get up, but actually paying attention to my sleep and how much time I get in bed is interesting. Also the waking up is a really great tool as it monitors when you are near waking and wakes you up then. It makes getting up a lot easier. 

Finally I found yesterday Strong. This app allows you to write down your gym workouts and monitor when you are working out. It is great for me to monitor my four days a week! I love marking a dot on my workout book so now logging it on my phone makes me feel even better!

Give these a go! They are great fun and are really helping me meet my New Years Resolution! 

The Big Shake Up!