So here I am, once again, vowing to get in better
shape. But this time, I MEAN IT. I just had a huge health scare, and have been
having a ton of not-so-fun health problems and I know I have got to do
something. I just don’t have any other
option anymore. If you’ve never done a
BMI calculator on your body, I highly recommend doing it. BMI stands for Body Mass Index. I recently calculated mine (for free, online)
and it was a huge eye opener. BMI is how
doctors tell whether a person is underweight, normal, overweight, obese,
etc. Go give it a try- you’ve got
nothing to lose!
After learning my BMI, and already knowing what I weigh and
my height, I instantly started searching the internet for fitness blogs and
diets online. I’ve watched Netflix
documentaries, and I’ve found apps for my iPod that I can use to help me track
my progress along the way. While I’m
still developing my new exercise system – a lot of it will have to be developed
and fine tuned as I go - I have decided
to use two apps/online communities to track my progress and keep me motivated.
The first one that I’ll be using is myfitnesspal.com and can
also be found in an app. If you are one
a journey similar to mine, or just want to use this app to become more aware of
your body, feel free to ‘friend’ me on this app! (username is below) This is an app that I used a few years ago,
but eventually lost interest, or just forgot about it. But not this time. This app uses your current and goal weight,
height, gender, lifestyle (active, sedentary, etc), and workout plan to set a
calorie limit for your daily food intake.
It breaks this down further to carbs, fat, and protein. This app also uses that information to set a
goal of calories you must burn per week to reach your goal weight by a set date,
and can also be used to track your day’s exercises along with your meals and
snacks. Overall, while it is an extreme
challenge to stay within the calorie limits each day, it does help me think
about each and every thing that I am putting into my body. It makes me think “do I really need those cookies?”
And if I am hungry, I’ll trade the junk food for something more
nutritious, like an applie instead.
See? It’s all about making the
healthier choice.
The second one that I’ll be using is fitocracy.com and can
also be found in an app. If you are on a
journey similar to mine, or just want to use this app to become more aware of
your body, feel free to ‘follow’ me on this app! (username is below) Fitocracy is an online community of people
who want to get fit, stay in shape, and live healthy lives. It is filled with people from all walks of
life- from super healthy and in shape people, to beginners just like me. It is all based on a points system. You start at level one (duh) and as you
complete more workouts of your choice, and complete special ‘quests,’ you earn
points, and increase your level. And
other members of Fitocracy can give you ‘props’ and comment on your activity as
it is posted to encourage and motivate you to continue on your journey to
getting healthier. This is a newer thing
to me, but so far I’m liking it. I like the idea of being able to meet people
with similar goals to myself and being able to encourage each other to stick
with them even when it gets tough to the point of wanting to quit. That is always something I’ve struggled with
when it comes to working out so hopefully this new site will help change that
for me.
On another note, I did Jillian Michaels’ 3 Day Shred DVD
yesterday, thinking hey, why not start now that I’ve got my fancy new running
shoes, and just jump right in. I managed
to get through the workout without too too much pain. I honestly thought I would be struggling a
lot more than I was. But overall, it
wasn’t too bad. But at the end of the
workout, I tracked my exercises into MyFitnessPal and Fitocracy and guess what
I found? You know the workout that just
caused me to sweat bullets? Well it only
burned 113 calories!!! How am I supposed
to lose a significant amount of weight doing workouts like that?
To clarify my anger, I am by no means a fitness expert. I have little to no knowledge of
fitness. But, I know that I can burn
more than that running on the elliptical machine for longer periods of
time. Is this the amount of calories I
should have expected to burn from the workout DVD? Or were the calculators off? For the calculator to work I had to enter
each specific move individually, not the DVD as a whole, so perhaps this was a
factor. If you have any knowledge in
this area, please let me know!
APP USERNAMES (Come
connect with me!)
MyFitnessPal: allisonlag
Fitocracy:
amlagonigro
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