Friday Five Apps/websites

Today I'm going to talk about five apps/websites that have been helpful with my fitness journey.

1. The first is Weight Watchers for tracking my food intake.  It's amazing how much mindless eating I did before I began tracking.  I still eat unhealthy things some times (pizza for dinner yesterday) but at least I do it knowingly and with intention.  Of course, weight watchers isn't the only app out there that will let you do this.  I have friends that use a free site called sparkpeople.com and they're very happy with it.

2.  The second is Runkeeper for tracking my running.  It's a free app though you can upgrade to the paid version.  I'm still using the free version though I may upgrade at some point.  The free version allows you to use your phone to track your running as far as miles and pace.  You can also dig deeper to see splits and elevation on your runs.  It allows you to put in intervals for your run and it has training plans available as well.  Some of the training plans are free and some have a cost.  But this is a great way to track progress.

My first runkeeper entry

3.  Next, I love my fitbit!  There is an initial investment as you have to buy the fitbit.  The fitbit syncs wirelessly with your mobile device and you can see your steps for the day.  Some models also track things like stairs or sleep as well.  This allows me to see how active my day is outside of exercise.  I try to get at least 5000 steps per day with just my daily activities, so I take extra walks at work, park further, etc.  My overall goal is 10000 steps a day which I generally make on days I run but struggle with on other days.  You can link up with friends and see who's winning on number of steps so it has a social element as well.

Almost hit the goal this day!

4. This is a new one for me so I'm not sure yet how I'll like it.  It's Fitocracy and it's an app which makes fitness into a game.  You get points and can level up for logging activities that you've done.  You can also engage in challenges, earn badges, etc.  The reason I joined is because I wanted a way to track my strength training activities, and this should work for that.

5.  Facebook doesn't technically have anything to do with fitness, but I find that a lot of people share interesting things on there, whether it's personal accomplishments, tips, motivations, or articles.  This definitely helps to keep me engaged and inspired!

Any apps/websites you would recommend?  I'd love to hear about it!

Homemade granola

So I've been working on losing weight and it's been a slow but steady journey with Weight Watchers.  I'm ok with slow because I'm hoping that means it will be sustainable in the long term.  I've used several Weight Watchers recipes to try to find a healthy way to make something that I used to eat.

I've always had a weakness for cereal and especially granola.  I looked at the calorie count on one of those single serving boxes of granola once and decided it wasn't too bad.  It was only after I ate the whole thing that I noticed it said that there were 2 servings in that little box!  Needless to say, it cannot be a normal part of my diet anymore.  However, I found a Weight Watchers recipe to make my own granola and it works pretty well.

The recipe can be found here.  It's essentially mixing the oats and rice krispies and letting them bake.  While that's happening, you mix the oil, honey, apple juice, vanilla and cinnamon.  Take out the oats/rice krispies, add in the apple juice mixture and almonds, and put back in the oven to bake some more.  It's very easy.  The recipe calls for adding some dried fruit but I opted out of that in order to be able to add my own fresh or frozen fruit.

My breakfasts for the week have been 1/3 cup of the granola, 1 1/2 teaspoons of chia seeds, 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt, 1/4 cup of almond milk just to thin it out, and top with whatever fruit and flavorings I want.  Apple and cinnamon is great at this time of year.  I've loved strawberry and vanilla in the summer.  I've had pineapple and coconut before when I've been in the mood for something tropical.  Sometimes I add splenda but if the fruit is sweet enough, the extra sweetener isn't even needed.

I'm always looking for more healthy breakfast ideas so feel free to share any of your favorites!