An article in last month’s The Atlantic covered on line apps that help people to lose weight, exercise, manage their blood sugars, blood pressures, etc. I’m betting that this won’t be too much news for many of the readers out there who track their blood sugars on apps. I’ve been tracking mine for awhile now, and recently started using the LiveStrong app to track calories. I find it keeps me a little more honest when I have to write down what I eat.
But what has really impressed me has been how the LiveStrong app has changed my exercise habits. I’m a regular exerciser who logs an hour a day on the stationary bike five times a week and an hour at a killer weight workout class twice a week. I’ve promised myself that I was going to try to vary this routine at some point, but it wasn’t until I used the app that I had a breakthrough. The ability to actually see that every exercise calorie spent meant extra calories to consume during the day was extremely motivating. So much so that in addition to my usual routine, last week I managed to finally make it to a yoga class, a stretch class, and swim two sets of 20 laps at an outdoor pool.
Would I have managed this extra exercise without the trusty app? Perhaps. But in a year, I hadn’t come close to my goal of mixing up my workouts. That little visual boost pushed me to do just a little bit more.
Sure, it’s a little creepy being thinking that my behavior is being controlled by my i-Phone, but hey, whatever works, right?
