Last week I shared with you five of my favorite fitness Iphone apps. Fitness is a huge part of living a healthy lifestyle; however, so is nutrition and eating healthy. We all know how super confusing eating the right foods can be so these five nutrition iphone apps should help to keep you on track so you can better plan your meals and make healthier choices when it's time to fuel that body of yours.
1. Foodily
Do you have chicken in your fridge, but not sure how to cook it up for dinner since you are also on a gluten free diet? Well this app will definitely help you out. Just click the ingredients you have at hand and a list of recipes will pop up instantly. Furthermore, you can even select any type of dietary restrictions such as gluten free, dairy free, or even sugar free to be sure those recipes don’t contain any ingredients that you can’t eat on your special diet or just don’t want to eat. It's a great way to have a recipe in seconds that fits your preferences.
When it came to getting a smart phone that actually supported apps, I was a late bloomer. It took me until a little over a year ago to finally purchase an Iphone. Mostly because my old phone broke and well I needed to replace it. I knew that it was going to make keeping up with things much easier and well just way more awesome, but I really had no idea how much it would effect my fitness (and yes all for the better).
So what I'm trying to say is that there are some amazing fitness apps out there designed to help keep you on track, motivate you, and actually make working out a little more fun. I'm sure there's thousands of fitness apps, but I'm going to stick with five of the best Iphone fitness apps that I personally use and enjoy! So here goes:
1. MyFitnessPal
This app is a great way to track your meals, workouts, and progress! As I've mentioned in the past, keeping a food journal can be a huge part of successfully losing weight. This app makes it super easy. You can search foods or even scan barcodes to input food data and the app will calculate your calories and other nutrition facts for the day. In addition, you can log your exercise, track your progress, and even add friends so that you can see their progress and updates. Here's a quick screenshot from my phone in the afternoon yesterday:
Do you know what's in your junk food? While you probably know junk food is not so good for you, do you really have any idea just how bad it is? I'm not just talking about extra calories, fats, or sugars that add to the waistline, but also the plethora of chemicals and food additives that are harming your health. Yeah I know it's kind of scary, but we all want to and should indulge in a treat every now and then, so why not make that treat just a little bit better for our health (trust me your body will thank you in the long run).
When I received the book Unjunk Your Junk Food: Healthy Alternatives To Conventional Snacks from the creators Andrea Donsky and Randy Boyer over at NaturallySavy.com I was rather excited. For the past few years, I've been making an effort to read labels on anything and everything I bring into my house. It's not easy to do and can get rather confusing, so that's where this book is a huge help. This book is packed full of helpful tips about cutting the junk out of your food, what exactly all that junk is, what to look out for, and gives plenty of healthier alternatives to your favorite snacks such as Doritos, Chips Ahoy, Snickers, Duncan Hines, Pop Tarts, Twizzlers, and Coke.
So what exactly is considered "junk"? Good question. The book does a great job of breaking down and describing these toxic ingredients which include: Read the rest of Unjunk Your Junk Food Review
So I recently tried out Power Systems Infinity Weighted Vest for my workouts. I wanted to see if it would give me an extra boost to take my workouts up a notch. So check out the workout first and then I’ll give you the juicy details:
It doesn’t take much to start a home gym. Really! As a Knoxville Personal Trainer I often train inside people’s homes or outdoors with little to no exercise equipment. The good news is there are so many things out there you can get relatively cheap without breaking the bank. Let me show you some of these great pieces of home exercise equipment:
You’ve probably seen it on TV or at the store, but are you wondering, “Does that Shape Weight really work? Is it worth the money?”
Well first, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s one of the latest exercise contraptions designed to tone your arms so you can look sexy in your summer bikini, dress, or tank top.
Everyone keeps asking me, “Do Shape Up Shoes really work?” Well if you’re curious whether or not it’s worth the $100 to purchase them read this first.
The claim: Due to the technology of the shoe muscles in your calves, thighs, and buttocks will be stimulated that you don’t normally use and since the shoes tend to throw you off balance your core will be more actively be engaged. In addition, these shoes promote a healthy weight loss, reduce cellulite, and promote good posture, all without having to go to the gym. And not to mention they are also very stylish.
So is it worth it?
Can I really forgo the gym?
First, of all even if these Shape up Shoes do tone parts of your legs, it is definitely not going to be as effective as a regular resistance training program will be. Do you really think a pair of shoes can give you the same sexy legs as lunges or squats? While granted they will work your muscles a bit more than a regular pair or walking shoes, you definitely wouldn’t want to forgo a regular weight training routine. And hello what about your upper body? Those arms need a workout too!
Will I have improved posture?
This is probably true. These shoes will throw you off balance so you’ll have to get used to it, and it’ll be more important to stand upright. In doing so you will activate your core muscles at least while you’re walking. Sitting at your desk, slouched over a computer is a whole different story.
Will I really burn more calories?
Any cardio training is going to help you burn calories and drop the pounds. And while this may help you to burn slightly more calories I would have to guess the difference isn’t very significant. Just like using hand weights in aerobics class was popular for awhile, in the end we just found you burned a few insignificant extra calories and the risk of injury wasn’t worth those extra few calories burned.
Can I really lose weight?
As for weight loss, no shoe is ever going to be the ultimate weight loss solution. If you’re sitting around on your butt all day or not eating a healthy diet, you’ll never lose weight. And even if you walk miles in your Shape Up Shoes every day it’s still going to be important to include a healthy, well-balanced diet.
Is it safe?
Also, according to Mike Seril, of Mike Seril Fitness and Excellence Through Exercise of Whittier California, if you have any kind of low back issues or foot problems, wearing these shoes may exacerbate your problems because of the extra pressure on the joints since it’s trying to compensate for the new movement. So do be careful if you have low back pain or other foot and back issues before using a shoe like this. And if you’re wearing them and notice they start to cause pain anywhere, I would suggest you stop using them.
Lastly, are these shoesstylish?
Hmm…Let’s just say I’m not expecting them to be showing up on the fashion runways anytime soon. Ultimately, the key is to really toning up and losing weight is to start incorporating cardio, strength training, and proper diet into your life and then you can achieve your fitness goals not matter what shoe you’re wearing. Although, Shape Up Shoes may have some benefits, I would say save your pennies and instead focus on a more well-rounded fitness and nutrition plan!
