My Favs on Thursday is a weekly link up with my best bloggy buddies Katy and Nicole and share our favorite thing of the week.
As much as I wish I could just call up my fairy godmother and have her bippity boppity boo me into a life full of healthy habits, real life doesn’t work that way. (Incase you can’t tell, I’m already in the fairy tale mood.) It takes hard work to develop healthy habits. Since I’m not a gym member, I have to find other ways to exercise and keep focused on healthy habits. These are my favorite free apps I’ve found most helpful for keeping me motivated to get healthy.

My Fitness Pal:: Hands down I keep coming back to this app when I need to refocus on my goals. I take a minute after each meal to log what I eat. You may have to spend time measuring your food, but I think that helps with portion control– or at least it has helped me scale down my portions. You can also access it online and your friends can also link up with you. (You can find me under the user name affableolive.) Best of all, my fitness pal links up with my two other favorite free apps and it enters the calories I burn during exercise for me.
RunKeeper:: Unfortunately running isn’t the
best activity considering how hard it is on the knees and lower back, but I LOVE it. I feel like I’m getting so much done physically in so little time. I can do it where ever I’m at, 30 minutes at a time, and feel like I accomplished so much. It’s not the most accurate app at GPS tracking, but it’s close and I love seeing the little map that tracks where I’ve been. It also plays my music, lets me know how long I’ve been running, how far I’ve gone– all by just looking at the screen. You can also log other activities like walking, cycling, and strength training or start a workout plan. When I’m not jogging, I’m using the third of my favorite free apps that also happens to sync up with my fitness pal…
Sworkit:: This app has become even more of a favorite since it’s last update. Sworkit has customized workouts that you can do anywhere. There are strength and cardio workouts, yoga and stretching, or you can build your own work out. After you choose the type of work out, you can choose the part of your body you want to focus on, how long you want to work out and it prompts you with exercises, when to switch, when to rest, and shows you a little video of how to do the exercise that plays for you to follow. I can do pilates on my off days and Sworkit switches it up for me so it’s not like doing the same workout video every day.
These are my three free favorite health and fitness apps. How do you keep focused on making healthy habits?
What’s your favorite thing this week? Don’t forget to link up and share below!
I used to use My Fitness Pal when I had the motivation to calculate everything! I do use Runkeeper for my runs and walks with the pup. Thanks for having the link up as always! đ
ohh i want to try My Fitness Pal! xo jillian – cornflake dreams
If you do find me and we can cheer each other on!
See right now, I'm still HIGHLY motivated to calucate everything. If I don't, I'll eat too much because I just loooooove food. French fries are my weakness. Thank you so much for always linking up with us Karen! Makes it feel cozier. đ
I've had MFP for forever but lately I've been trying to focus less on calories and more about eating less crap. It's a struggle. I like cookies and beer a lot. I'm totally looking up Sworkit though. I have the 30 Day Fit app that I've been using (for the last 11 days) and it'd be nice to have more things like that.
Sworkit sounds pretty cool! I'm downloading it now. I have been using MFP for awhile. I like it, but it always tells me I will lost like 20lbs in 5 weeks if every day is like today, and yet, I never lose weight. I think it is giving me too much credit for my workouts, because I'm pretty sure I'm logging food right.
Let me know how you like it and how you use it! My boss showed me all kinds of neat things to do with it after I thought i had it all figured out. Maybe sworkit will help you loose again! When I plateau usually it's because it's time to switch up my work out.
Me too!!! And Corey makes these super soft chocolate chip cake cookies. I love them so much. Let me know how you like Sworkit!
i am the worst at running! i can't run straight–i run horizontally. even on a treadmill. it's kinda hilarious.
So sworkit might be more your speed. I run in a zig zag pattern. Not on purpose. I just do.
I've heard great things about my fitness pal. SO helpful!
I use My Fitness Pal on and off, and I also like to track my bike rides through Map My Run. I've never heard of Sworkit, but that sounds great! I just started a 90 day fitness challenge through a group I'm a part of on Facebook, and it's been AWESOME. Everyone is divided into teams with a coach, and we have little weekly challenges that we provide updates on, and each participant has non-scale related goals for the whole 90 days that we try to accomplish as well. It's been such an amazing thing for me so far. The accountability and encouragement from my coach and teammates has been fantastic đ