*Image Credit: Venimo* (*Getty Images)*

There are two things that are commonly believed to be the main ingredients to live a better life: financial freedom and a healthy body. This piece will focus on the latter ingredient, which I personally believe is slightly more important.

After 7 years of being active through playing sports, weight training, hiking, and running, I missed out on tracking my progress throughout those years. I decided to track my progress in my eighth year (2021) using three apps and I must say, it has changed my life. I hope this story serves you not only with information but also with a hint of motivation to get you going.

The following apps serve different purposes depending on the activity. I use Fitbod for weight training, MyFitnessPal for diet, and RunKeeper for cardiovascular activities. As someone who does weight training 3-4 times a week, I use Fitbod to log my workouts, use visual demonstrations, and track my physical gains such as muscle measurements and BMI. Secondly, as a runner, I keep track of my distance, time, and pace with RunKeeper. Lastly and most importantly, the famous MyFitnessPal is for my diet, which keeps me in shape by tracking my calories in, calories out, macronutrients, and more. After using these apps long enough, I have found a way to integrate them into my routine and made the process as effortlessly effective as possible.

Remember that these apps are only meant to supplement your health and fitness. It is all up to you to put in the work and get the results that you want.

Fitbod

I have been using Fitbod for about a year to build up my strength and physique. Like a personal trainer, Fitbod uses its algorithm to take into account factors such as your gym equipment, fitness goals, training experience, and workout duration in order to help you design your workout routine, mostly aiming at losing fat and gaining muscle. And just like working with a personal trainer, the more you workout using Fitbod, the better it gets at designing workouts that best suits you. It also provides bodyweight-only workouts for beginners and for those without proper access to gym and workout equipment.

• The best feature about Fitbod is that it will suggest you a muscle group to focus on after logging in at least 2 workouts. The percentage shown in the picture is the muscle recovery status. 100% means that the shown muscle group is completely recovered and you are ready to work on that muscle.
• If you set your goal to gain muscle, Fitbod will smartly set up the next workout to have more sets, reps, and weights. By varying intensity and volume, you are shocking your muscular system which will maximize your gains.

• If you are a beginner with no gym membership or equipment, you can still use this app to track your progress through bodyweight exercises.
• Fitbod lets you select the equipment you have available at home or just choose bodyweight-only workouts. It will give you a vast set of workouts that you can perform from the comfort of your home (all you need is a floor).
• Equipment or not, Fitbod has workout programs for everyone ranging from general fitness seekers to Olympic powerlifters.

Runkeeper

Running/Walking is potentially one of the simplest exercises that requires nothing but a pair of shoes. Just like anything other activity, it is also a skill that you can master with practice and consistency. Once you experience the endorphin rush on a daily basis, you’ll find yourself seeking that runner’s high more often than not.

RunKeeper is a free app that offers a wide array of features and is really easy to use. Whether you’re a beginner runner or a marathoner, this app is suitable for all abilities. RunKeeper’s GPS capability lets you track your distance, pace, and overall time. When you’re feeling it, you can also mix up your routine by following the guided workouts that the app has preinstalled.

• Runkeeper has a GPS mode for outdoor runs that tracks your location and maps out the tracks where you run.
• The Guided Workouts contain more than 20 programs that are pre-installed for you to choose from. These include mystery runs containing various obstacles, and runs with podcasts and a running coach.
• The Audio Stats feature updates you every 5 minutes (or any time of your choice) with your time, distance, and average pace so you don’t have to worry about checking your phone during the run.
• The aforementioned features also applies to different activities such as cycling and biking as well which you can change by clicking on Activity.

• After your run, make sure you check the summary of your run to see how well you performed, and the calories you burned (and then add it to MyFitnessPal).
• Runkeeper has its own ‘social media’ bubble which lets you access your contacts so if you have a running buddy that uses the app, you can share your progress with them and compete.
• You can also go to your profile and check your achievements such as the longest/fastest runs, weekly/monthly progress, the Shoe Tracker to see where you ran, and many more.

MyFitnessPal

In fitness, the 80/20 rule suggests that 80% of the results you want to achieve come from diet and the rest from exercise. I only implemented dieting into my routine around 5 to 6 years after I started exercising. The science turned out to be right after all. I started seeing significant results which prompted me to go even further by tracking the food I eat through MyFitnessPal.

The primary features that MyFitnessPal provides and that you will most likely use are tracking your weight, calories, and macro-nutrients (calories, protein, fats, & carbs).

• Once you set up a personal profile with information such as height, weight, age, and so on, you can set your goals depending on if you want to gain, lose, or maintain your weight. Depending on your activity level, MyFitnessPal calibrates a regimen that best fits your lifestyle.

• Tracking calories and the food you eat play a key role in achieving your goals. If your goal is to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume and if your goal is to gain weight, you need to consume more than you burn. Following this rule lets you create a blueprint for your diet, as well as your workout.
• The best feature of MyFitnessPal is the calorie tracker. You can add everything in this tracker from the food you have eaten throughout the day and the calories you have burned from exercising. Not only does it let you add food from restaurant menus, but it also lets you scan barcodes from packaged items.

• Now if you want to get even more serious, especially if you do weight training, MyFitnessPal can break down the macros from the food you previously recorded. Counting macros can help you maintain a proper caloric intake for your goals, understand where the calories you eat are coming from, and ultimately optimize your body physique.

It will take some time to create a habit of recording your diet and exercise in three apps. It took me a whole year to figure out a way to integrate them into my routine. But once you start, and take it one day at a time, it will become a fun journey that you will not regret. Do not feel overwhelmed and worry about using all of these apps every day; in fact, you don’t need to. Spread out your schedule and prioritize one over the other (like MyFitnessApp) and use the others only on the days that apply to your workout routine.

DISCLAIMER: I was not sponsored by any of these apps. This story is based totally on my personal experience.