Recently, I have become more determined to get fit and healthy this summer. The moment that kind of inspired this was when I weighed myself and realized that I weigh 10 pounds more than I thought I did. While I am by no means fat, it is still a shocker to weigh yourself and see the number to be higher than you expected.
This is when some of you say: "But Raaaayveeeen, that number doesn't define youuuuu!!" To which I respond: You're right. But, I am letting this number define me right now. I am going to let it define me because I KNOW it is not weight from eating healthy and working out regularly. It is weight from eating poorly and making poor health choices. I swear that if I start eating well and working out and still weigh this amount, I'll be happy, however, it's just KNOWING that it is from poor habits that bothers me.
Along with my weight, like every person on the planet, I am not as pleased with my body as I could be. Don't get me wrong - I don't put myself down, I just believe that if I had Jen Selter's ass and abs and everything in my life would be a hell of a lot easier. (Don't worry - I am realistic in knowing the ass thing may never happen....I was not as fortunately touched by an angel in the ass genetics area). What I want is to be the best me I can be (even though we all die in the end anyway...at least I'll look good doing it).
Upon becoming inspired to look like a VS model, I started looking at the App Store, to which I came across these two wonderful apps that made me wish I would have freaking thought of them:
Pact
Price: Free
Pros: Easy to use, profitable, motivates you, works with other popular fitness apps
Cons: Can cost money, may not always track motions, may not log things
My Review: Pact is an app thats goal is to motivate you to work out/eat your veggies/log your meals. How it works is that you set up how many days/how much you'd be willing to lose if the task isn't completed ($5 min, $50 max). You then choose what tasks you would like to do (gym, veggies/fruit, logging meals - however, you are not required to do all 3!).
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| Note: You can adjust your goals weekly on the first day of your Pact week! |
BONUS: You can make money through Pact!! For every workout/veggie/food log you will get anywhere from .35 to $5 a week, depending on the amount of activities committed to. I can't confirm this, but I have a hunch that the more you wager, the more you make each week...just a guess though. You get money from the people that don't complete their tasks, which really is just icing on the healthy cake. All payments/withdrawals are through PayPal.
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| Note: I did not lose money for my "uncounted" because I still completed my tasks! |
The meals are logged through MyFitnessPal (below) and are done when you finish logging at the end of the day (MAKE SURE you hit the logging button!!! It does not do it automatically!)
The workouts are tracked via GPS or movement. Your activity/workout has to be at least 30 minutes long and you can only log one a day. I have yet to have a problem with it finding my gym, but if you live in the middle of nowhere, you may. If you don't have a gym, you can also track your workout through your movements (an arm band is suggested). I also know that you can get your gym registered if it is not on there, all you have to do is contact Pact and prove that it is a gym/yoga studio/whatever. YES, yoga/dance/whatever studios are also accepted as your workout!!
The veggies/fruits are documented via your camera. You have to make it apparent that you are planning on consuming them and then the Pact community votes if you are eating them or not (it's pretty simple to get them logged). You will get a notification on whether or not your fruit/veggie counted. But, I do suggest you return the favor and rate (it is a thumbs up/down rating system) some other peoples' pictures so they get their points - karma :)
Example of a week:
Examples of veggies/fruit pictures:
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| All you have to do is show that you are eating it! |
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| I laughed pretty hard at this one. |
MyFitnessPal
Price: Free
Pros: Easy to use, allows you to log all meals/snacks, calorie counter, links to Pact
Cons: May not have all food options
My Review: I am growing to love this app more and more. I have been using it daily and am noticing that I am really focusing on what I eat and how many calories I am intaking. To work this app, all you do is "add to diary" to log your meals. At the end of the day you can finish logging and it will give you your calorie total for the day, your percentage of carbs/fat/protein and what your weight would be in 5 weeks from now if you ate like that day every day. This app is also nice because you can adjust your portions, maybe you only had half of that pepperoni pizza with extra cheese and mushrooms instead of the whole thing (hehe), this app allows you to log that and will do the math for you (YAY!).
I have found this app useful when I am out to eat as well. Many restaurants and their food are on here and have all the info you need to make healthy decisions while dining out. The only negative I have about this app is that not EVERYTHING is on here, BUT you can add the food! It is pretty straight-forward to do and allows you to adjust things to your liking.
Examples of your nutrition breakdown (don't judge me):
Until next time,
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