There are many ways you can use your computer or phone to help you lead a healthier lifestyle. You may have heard the phrase “wearable tech” in the media. This refers to items like the FitBit or Apple Watch. These are devices that you wear on your wrist (usually) that track how many steps you do as well as monitoring your heart rate, estimated calories burned, some even have GPS built in (to map your route with satellites). But, you can track your exercise without such an expensive device.
If you have a smart phone you can download a free app from the MapMy series which could be MapMyRide for cyclists, MapMyRun or MapMyWalk, all work in much the same way. You start them off when you head out for your walk and it uses satellites to track your position over time. At the end of your walk/ride you click finish and you get to know how far you have been, as well as breakdowns of how high you climbed and your speed per kilometre/mile. You can share this information with friends on Facebook or keep it private. The monthly/weekly summaries help to keep you motivated.
If you don’t have a smart phone then you can use www.mapmyrun.com website to draw your or plan your route so you can see how far you have been.
For those of you wanting to watch your food intake you can use MyFitnessPal which is free to download. On the phone app you can scan the barcode of the food you are eating and it will automatically calculate the nutritional information. The FitBit app has this built in. If you don’t have a smartphone you can sign up for free via the website www.myfitnesspal.com.
Happy healthy ‘Putering,
