Happy Winter Olympics! This week, I’m trading in my video games to keep my eyes glued to the events in Sochi.
Athletic events such as this one can’t help but make you want to get your butt off the couch and get moving. Although I’m probably not the best person to write about fitness, I have found a couple of apps that make it easy to see how your daily life could be healthier.
One of my new favorite apps is Move. Available for Apple and Android devices, it works as a pedometer with a ton of extra features. It’s a free app, and it was featured in the Apple Store’s Best Apps of 2013.
It constantly tracks your steps throughout the day. You don’t have to worry about turning it on or off. It shows your step count, distance and amount of time spent active. It’s also extremely simple to check your activity from previous days.
If you keep your GPS service turned on, it also keeps track of where you go throughout the day and will even give you a map route of your day.
The version of the app for iPhone seems much more developed. It has a calorie tracker to see how many calories you burn throughout the day and allows you to easily add other activities such as walking or biking.
According to Move’s website, the app is more complex than workout gadgets such as Fitbit and Nike+ Fuelband. Since it’s just in your cellphone, you don’t need to tote around an extra device. It’s easy to check and doesn’t require that you fiddle with it throughout the day.
Even if you aren’t a workout buff, it’s fun to see how much you walk a day. I find myself taking longer routes when I have the time to up my step count.
My other fitness app pick is My Fitness Pal, also available for free for Apple and Android. When you first download it, you answer questions about your weight, daily activity and fitness goals.
Each day, you enter your food consumption. Almost every food I’ve tried is easy to find. It also adds its nutritional facts. If not, you can “quick add” calories. You also enter your daily activities. You can count the time you spend walking to class. It works really well with Move and makes it easy to add your daily activities at the end of the day.
I downloaded this app in an attempt to eat healthier. I’ve noticed it makes you think a lot more about what you’re eating when you have to enter it every day. It’s easy to track how you’ve been eating throughout the day, too.
Even though you aren’t going to see me jogging around campus, I think these apps are the perfect way for people like me to stay healthy.
Sophie Kruse is a sophomore studying journalism and a writer for The Post. What are some of your favorite fitness apps? Email her at sk139011@ohiou.edu.
