Tech and Apps

This is a new addition to the blog, the series being called “BEST…” and will be a collection of the best things for walkers, whether it be new apps, clothing, tech or anything else that may be interesting to walkers.  This will be a monthly feature where I will be giving my opinion and reviews of these items.

Today’s post looks at tech and apps that are available for you to wear and use via your phone or computer.

Fitness Tracker

There are many different styles of tracker, some look like watches, some smart watches, some look like jewellery, and as much as the style varies so can the types of things the tracker monitors and records.  This can be a bit baffling as some of these trackers record everything from sleep and movement to heart rate and track your food and mood.  My favorite tracker available to buy at the moment, and the one I’m really coveting is the Fitbit Charge 2. I like that it has a buckle closure, it monitors your heart rate (meaning you can see where you have exerted yourself), it recognizes when you are taking part in different sports (via the app) and includes swimming where other trackers don’t and is user friendly and fairly simple to set up and start using.  You can buy the tracker in a few different colours as well, which I like as it means you can choose the color to suit you. Its not too expensive either, coming in at around £130.00 (Price from Argos 03/01/2017)

App

Apps can vary from device to device, but my all time favorite app is Map My Run, and is one I keep coming back to time and time again.  I use it in conjunction with my Jawbone app when out walking.  My Jawbone predominantly tracks my steps but links with Map My Run to become a bit more accurate and record my effort levels a bit better.  The app may be called Map My Run but it has the functionality to record several different types of run and walk which I find useful as I tend to walk more than run!  I like that the app will save your walking route and you can see where you walked quicker or slower, the gradient of your walk, where you have struggled and what you found easiest.  The great thing about saving your walk is that you can compare data from one walk to the next (if you stick to the same route) so you can see where you have improved and what you need to work on.  The only thing I dislike about this app (as with a lot of other apps) there are functions available only if you pay for them, however, the free functions have been enough for me up until now.  map My Run is available to download to your mobile device via the App Store, Google Play or via internet browsers.

Website

The best website I have found to use when mapping out possible walking routes is mapometer.com.  This site lets you plan a “sports” route, whether it be walking, running, cycling or even skiing.  The site is fairly simple to use, you just find your start point and click on the “start” button then find your finish point, the map will calculate the distance of the route and average energy burned.  It is a really interesting site to look at whether you are walking the same trusted route day in, day out or you are going somewhere and want to take in all the sights!  You can find the website here.

Walking, Weight Loss and Fitness

Weight loss seems to be written about everywhere right now along with people sharing the latest fad diets which can get a little boring to see and read, personally I am becoming super numbed to the whole diet and weight loss obsession which is probably not a good thing.  I believe that weight loss is not just linked to diet but to fitness levels too.

More and more people are leading lives that involve little to no exercise and more and more people are getting diagnosed as being obese or with Type 2 Diabetes (that is linked to diet and lifestyle) and I believe we can help to combat this epidemic by looking at our movement and fitness levels, not just what we eat.  To me it’s like movement, weight loss and fitness are all interlinked and one benefits the other.

There are lots of different exercise regimes out there, and lots of different types of exercise from resistance training, running, swimming and all manner of classes and gym activities you can take part in.  As you may know I started off with running which worked for me for a while until I developed knee problems which I think was down to the impact of my feet hitting the path and sending shock waves up my leg.  Running is not for everyone, I also didn’t consider my fitness levels which probably didn’t help.  Walking for me turned into the perfect substitute.

Walking is a low impact activity, and despite your fitness levels, nearly anyone can take part in walking.  And you can walk as fast or slow as you want, swing your arms to burn more calories and cover as much or as little ground as you want.  The main thing with walking for fitness and weight loss is to move more and burn more calories than you eat, or as the famous saying goes “move more, eat less”.  One really good way of making sure you move more and eat less is to log all that you consume*, from the moment you get up to the second you get to bed, log your food intake, use a pretty note pad, an app or any other means, but keep a tally.  At the same time log all of your activities*, including walking (aim for at least half an hour of brisk walking per day if you can), in the day and the timescale that they took, use this website to determine the calories burned and total them up.  Compare the two totals, is the figure for calories you have consumed higher than those burned? if so then you need to go for a longer walk, or take a further walk at a different time of the day.  If the figure for calories consumed is lower than calories burned you are on your way to starting to loose weight, now all you need to do is expand the difference between the numbers either by eating less and getting out more or doing both and try and maintain this as much as possible!  (*if you have a Fitbit or Jawbone or any of the new trackers you can log all of this through the tracker and the app for your phone).

And now for yesterdays stats, how did I do?

I didn’t hit 10,000 steps like I normally would on a monday, I had a hair appointment in the evening which meant I didn’t get out and about on my evening walks like I normally would have.