Numbers

I love numbers. Mind you, I'm rubbish at math. But I love numbers all the same. Being able to quantify the world allows it to fit into wonderful parameters that allow for minor tweeks here and there just to see what would happen. I love being constantly aware what speed I'm traveling at and being able to work out in my head how long it will take me to get where I'm going. Or better yet, figure out the optimal speed to travel in order to arrive in a set number of minutes. Granted, that makes me apt to break certain traffic laws, but it's still fun none the less. And I love numbers when it comes to fitness. I love breaking my fitness into easily digestible and easily manageable numbers. My diet should consist of so many calories, broken up into this much protein, this many carbohydrates, etc. I love watching the number of calories that I've burned slowly creep up during my workouts. I also love weighing foods against workouts. If I burn 600 calories, that earns me a burger. Or something like that. But, as I mentioned before, my mathing skills are utter garbage. So who do I turn to in my hour of need? Science of course! Well, the internet really. But last I checked, science invented the internet. In conjunction with Al Gore, of course. So here are some great apps I use to help me numerize (that's word, mostly because I say so) my fitness:

My Fitness Pal: Honestly, this is my go to app for everything. For food, it tracks food and nutrition based off of a massive database of entries. It allows to you to adjust the serving sizes of your food and how much of your food there is. If you eat one particular meal a lot (like my smoothies for example) you can create your own recipes that streamlines the input process. Also, it will help you in reaching your goals. You input your current weight and your goal weight, and it will calculate the amount of calories you should be consuming every day. And as your weight changes, the app will adjust with it. It also syncs with a ton (I do mean a metric ton) of apps, which leads me to my second favorite app.

Map My Run: Map my run is a lot of fun. It uses GPS to track your running progress real time. It will give you a breakdown of where you traveled (including distance), how long it took you to get there, and the speed at which you traveled during each leg of the journey. For me this is great because I can see how long each mile (or kilometer) took me to run. It also can be formated to track bike rides. If you so choose (I know I do), you can have it give you audible updates on your progress. For me that's very motivating to speed up or keep the pace. 

Fitbit: If you have  some extra money to burn (I have the $99 base model) then this is a great app to get. By setting a goal and having instantaneous updates on your progress, this little baby can be very motivating. If I'm having a particularly lazy day and I tap my Flex to see that I've hit maybe two thousand steps, then I decide to put on my shoes and hit the pavement. Anything to get some extra steps in. And if you have friends who also have a fitbit, then you can challenge each other to step offs (I'm assuming that's what kids are calling them these days). Whoever has the most steps at the end of the day, week, weekend, what-have-you, is the winner. If you really want to make it interesting, I'd put money on it. It also has a nifty feature that particularly appeals to me. I'm an absolute achievement junkie. Gotta catch 'em all. The app has tons of badges based on your level of activity. There are badges for sleeping (seriously!), badges for steps in a day, and badges for lifetime distances. I'm sure there are others, and I can't wait to find them. This also syncs with My Fitness Pal to update your calorie burn progress. 

Google Fit: So, I don't have a lot to say about Google Fit, except that it primarily is an app that I have downloaded. And it syncs with Map My Run. Honestly, I'm not one hundred percent sure how to use it. What I can say is that it looks good. It's very aesthetically pleasing. It gives you some kind of... data presented in a very beautiful... chart. Yes. In all seriousness, I think that if I were just going for a bike ride for the sake of a bike ride, or hiking, but no real objective (like trying to shave minutes off of my 5k time) then this seems like a pretty good choice. It basically just tracks you via GPS (without a map, I think) and tells you how many minutes you have been active. I think I accidentally tricked it once by turning it on right before getting into the car. So for you graphic design nerds (more power to you) that just want a simple yet pretty app, then this is the one for you.

So, hopefully this is helpful to anyone reading. I know it's not a huge list, but it is a list. Maybe I should title it something like "4 apps that will change your life!" I'm sure I'll get tons of hits based on that. And ultimately, isn't that what the internet is really about?