It's Health & Fitness Month at Mobile Nations!
With the Mobile Nations Fitness Month under way you are likely trying to find all the ways to utilize your BlackBerry smartphone to help keep yourself on the right path. Back at CES 2012 I found myself in a conversation with Adam and Kevin about getting healthier for the new year, devoting time to health and getting more fit, and it really struck home -- it was time to get my health back in my hands. Unfortunately now-a-days it is far easier (and cheaper) to grab a burger and fries from McDonalds after a long days work than it is to go home and make yourself a well balanced meal.
I knew that the convenience was just something I was telling myself to make myself feel better, and that there was really no excuse for me not to be healthier and in much better shape than I was. It was time for a change, and a big one at that. Since my BlackBerry device is almost always with me it was obvious that I should take advantage of that fact, and use it to my advantage, so I did just that.
Controlling my diet
I love food. Seriously. To me there is no better cure for a long busy work day than a nice hot meal that has lots of cheese and all the other amazing non-healthy things in it. Sure, eatting like this satisfies your immediate need to get food in you, but shortly after stuffing your face all you want to do is lay on the couch and then fall aslee, which is no good. So, I knew the diet needed to change, and it needed to change in a big way. This is the area I struggle the most in, and I have found a lot of help from a free BlackBerry application called MyFitnessPal.
MyFitnessPal is a calorie counter application that is available on nearly any smartphone, which makes it great for a variety of users. Once you download the application you are required to set up a free account which captures some personal information like your height, weight, daily activity level and desired weight loss goal. After the information is entered into the application it will give you a daily calorie goal of which you should be consuming in order to help you hit your goal. Since not everyone out there is trying to lose the pounds, some want to stay at their current weight, and others want to put on a few pounds, those are options that are available as well.
Once you have created your account, and are alloted a calorie goal, it is time to begin by entering your foods that you are consuming. This is one of the parts that I struggled with the most, signing up for the app was very easy, but actually using it is a whole other ball game. Luckily MyFitnessPal has a database of over 1.1 million foods already entered, so searching for what you are eatting is rather painless.
When heading to work for the day I tend to pack my breakfast, a snack or two and my lunch all at the same time, and for me it works best to add all this food to MyFitnessPal at that time verse when I am consuming it. Odds are that if you enter it in the beginning of the day it will be a lot easier than attempting to do it throughout the day as you consume the food.
Each food you enter into your food diary will deduct the corresponding calorie amount from the daily tracking, and will update to show how many calories you have left to consume for the day. Aside from entering food you can also enter your water intake, cardio activity and any other daily exercise you perform. Adding activities that you are performing, like your lunch walk, or morning jog will add additional calories to your goal for the day.
At the end of each day there is an option for you to complete your food entry for the day, and once you complete your entry for the day a screen will pop up telling you where you would be in five weeks if you continued the daily habit the same way. The projected weight loss / gain over the course of five weeks is usually motivating to help keep you on the right path, or to make you realize that more changes need to be made. There is also an option to enter your weight daily, which can also be used as motivation to keep the graph going in the prefered direction.
The account is free, the application is free, and the long term results from utilizing the application are priceless to your health. Dedication is a must, you have to be dedicated, and force yourself to use the application. Place the icon on your home screen, set it as a convenience key, do what it takes to make yourself use it. Get in the habit and stick with it.
