Okay, so this is the post where I'm going to get a little personal and concoct a testimony for you regarding how smartphones have changed my life for the better. First and foremost I have to thank the people that made and advanced smartphones to the point of where they are now, because as negative as I can be about what smartphones do to us socially sometimes, there's other times where they can really help us out. For example, when it comes to watching what I eat and encouraging me to work out.
Aside from being an avid tech fan, as many of you know I'm also a mother. During my pregnancy I treated the world as my burrito and I ate just about everything, and naturally in the process I gained a lot of unwanted and unexpected weight. After all, I was pregnant. This was normal, right? Surely I'll lose it all after I have the baby. Nope. Not really. After I had my son I never really did lose the weight, in turn becoming miserable with myself and continuously feeding my emotions with food, which (surprise!) was not helping my problem.
A little off topic - but on topic at the same time - the phone I was carrying at the time was a simple flip phone with internet that barely worked.
A few months later I picked up my very first real smartphone - the Samsung Vibrant. The phone was an amazing piece of work and there was just so many apps. I could download things to read, download apps to help be a better parent, to stay organized, and of course... to help encourage weight loss. I had known at this point that there was a problem and I wasn't happy the way I used to be because of my physical state. The problem was finding a solution. I found a couple of apps at some point after getting my Vibrant that helped kickstart my motivation to get fit.
I can't even remember the names of the apps right now, but I know they're not the apps I use currently. One of them helped me with daily workout routines, one of them helped me watch my calorie count, and the third wasn't an app, but a bookmark to a site I frequented that had success stories of weight loss and muscle toning. Even though the bookmark wasn't an "app", it was a website I wouldn't have dared to try and read through my tiny flip device I owned previously.
Now I use a different set of apps (possibly because of the platform change, but I couldn't tell you exactly when I switched) for helping me to continue my weight loss as I haven't met my goals quite yet. As of right now I use apps like C25K, which helps shape you up into being able to run a 5K marathon at some point through various warm-ups and runs. I also use MyFitnessPal to track my calories and to see how others using the same diet and exercises are doing as well. It's like a Facebook for weight loss! Recipes that are friendly for my diet are also convenient and at the touch of a finger with my phone. Much easier than going to a computer, researching, and printing the recipe. Just simply find it, bookmark it on my phone, and reference it throughout the cooking process. Voila!
And of course, this wouldn't be an all-in-one exercise machine if it wasn't for the built-in mp3 player that smartphones have. Honestly, I wouldn't be anywhere without music. Even if I didn't have my phone, though, I could always use a regular mp3 player. But really what helped me get started was literally having the information I needed at my fingertips. Now I'm almost at my goal weight, and I'm happier than I have been in a while.
So readers, do any of you use your phone for weightloss, muscle toning, or dieting? If you do, what are some of your favorite apps to use? Let me know what you think in the comments!
