Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

I haven’t been this excited about an exercise iPhone app for a LONG time. It’s called ZOMBIES, RUN!. While you are running, whether it’s outside or even on a treadmill, it feeds you audio cues telling you when you need to run away from the zombies. The better you perform, the more supplies your base will get and the more likely your crew will survive. It works with your music playlist, so the audio cues will cut into your very own workout mix.

Here’s a video from the creators describing it:

I wish I could download it RIGHT NOW for today’s workout, but I’ll have to wait until the end of the month when it will be released for the iPhone. If you are an Android user, you’ll have to wait a little longer. It is available for preorder and I’ve paid my amount so I can start training for the zombie apocalypse now.

Via Zombies Running App For iPhone and Android

Update 02-25-12: The Zombies, Run! game went live for people who pre-ordered yesterday, but it was too late for me to take on my run, so I ran with it this morning. I haven’t gone running outside in the cold for MONTHS, so I was worried that this workout would be too intense for me. Fortunately, this app works with every fitness level. If you can barely walk, all you have to do is walk a little faster when the zombies are coming for you. Believe me, the story is captivating enough to make you WANT to walk a little faster.

My usual walks have been at about 3mph, but after I finished my workout today, I walked/ran an average of 4mph. Sure, it was hard, but it felt good to get away from the zombies, especially the previous Runner 5.

While this app works on the treadmill, you cannot enable Zombie Chase Mode unless you’re running with GPS. I ran outside in the cold wind today, but the unpleasant weather was hardly noticeable. I was planning on just doing a treadmill workout, but I really wanted to experience the zombie chases, so I dug into my workout drawer and found the winter sweatshirt and ear warmers to brave the chill.

I planned on doing a 20 minute walk, but when the game told me to make a detour to the hospital to pick up some first aid kits, I LITERALLY extended my planned workout and walked to the nearest InstaCare. I don’t believe the game could see that I was close to the local hospital, but it was an added bit of realism that extended my workout to 33 minutes without feeling like drudgery. In fact, I felt proud that I was able to pick up all those bandages and first aid kits on the way.

There is a robotic voice that breaks in during my music that tells me when I’ve picked up supplies. Most of the time, I can’t understand what it said, but I can see my complete inventory when I get back from my run. I guess just knowing that I picked up SOMETHING is enough for me.

I didn’t get caught by the zombies, but the game says that if I can’t run fast enough, I will have to drop supplies in order to distract them. Mostly, the sound of a zombie behind me was enough to keep me going faster. The idea of needing to run in order to survive is a great motivator. I’ve talked about this before:

• Starling Fitness – Fitness, diet, and health weblog » Primal Workout: Trick Your Body Into Getting Thin

Instead of a pack of rabid dogs, this time, I’m running away from the zombie apocalypse. This app is EXACTLY what I wanted from a primal workout. Strangely, I can’t wait to go running again tomorrow.

I originally downloaded Lose it! last May when I first started going low carb. I don’t think I used it for more than one or two days before abandoning it for two months.

The main reason I stopped using it was because their food list is kind of limited. I couldn’t find myzithria cheese (no matter how I spelled it) or a taco salad without the shell. There are other apps with far greater food lists and I used them.

The one thing those other apps don’t have, however, is support.

I’m not talking technical support. Quite honestly, Lose It! is so easy to use, I haven’t had to contact tech support. I use both the website and the iPhone app and they work seamlessly together (Hello, WW! Are you listening?! Your app sux!).

I’m talking about weight loss support. There are TONS of people using Lose It and if you make some of them your friends (and set up your privacy settings), they can see your workouts, your weight losses and your food log. They can give you kudos for getting out there and exercising. They be a shoulder to cry on if you show a gain on the scale. They can even be an inspiration to you when you see that they exercised their butts off when you sat on the couch yesterday.

It’s everything that WW promised me about their meetings, but I never got. That’s a bit of a lie. I had one friend at WW and seeing her every week was the only thing that kept me going that last year. I’ve kept in touch with her via email, but I really do miss seeing her in person every week. All the people on Lose It! have filled that void for me.

There are so many people using Lose It! that I have been able to find a whole group of friends that are eating low carb. It has been refreshing to have a group of people who eat the same way I do without the constant lecturing about the “benefits” of whole grains and fruit.

Lose It! isn’t a program for people following low carb. It tracks calories, but it also allows you to watch other macronutrients, so I have it tracking calories AND carbs. Lose It! isn’t about dictating a diet to you, it’s just a tool that allows you to formulate a diet of your own that works specifically for you.

I absolutely LOVE Lose It!’s reports. I can analyze my nutrients so that I am sure that I’m eating a high fat, moderate protein and low carb diet. I’ve never been able to do that analysis before, so it gives me a piece of mind to know that I’m on the right track. There are many other reports for exercise trends, favorite foods, and calorie expenditures that give a visual reminder to keep on track or change course. I adore how they crunch my data for me so I don’t have to pull out a spreadsheet.

And the badges! I love getting little prizes for working toward goals and Lose It! badges are PERFECT for that. I’ve earned a couple of small badges, but seeing all the things I could earn on other people’s profiles makes me want to work harder. One of my friends had earned these badges and I am on a mission to earn them as well.

I love how they reward you for exercising regularly and tracking your food consistently. It’s so inspiring to me!

Once I’ve earned those badges, I can order a t-shirt with one of them on it. When I get that Die Hard badge, I’m definitely getting a t-shirt. Oh, and the Goal Achieved badge, too. In fact, I’ll have to order a t-shirt for the Exercise King badge, as well. I can’t wait until I can do that!

Of course, if you’re shy about sharing your information, Lose It! has privacy settings that allow you complete secrecy. Your friends can only see what you allow them to see, and the rest of the world is blind. Or the entire world can be blind to you. You have that option and I love Lose It! for it.

In the end, I have been extremely happy with Lose It! If you feel like your diet is getting a little stale, log onto their site and see if it helps you as much as it has helped me.

• Website: Lose it!
• iPhone App: Lose It! – iPhone
• Android App: Lose It! – Android
• Book in Paperback: Lose It!: The Personalized Weight Loss Revolution at Amazon.com
• Book at the Kindle Store: Lose It!: The Personalized Weight Loss Revolution at Amazon.com

Update 09-20-11: I’ve found two more badges that I’d like to earn: The Pool Shark and Om badges.

Of course, neither of them have gotten me to swim or do yoga yet, but they are even more badges that I can work toward.

Update 08-14-2011: Please read the comment from Benjamin Young, the CEO of Nexercise, below. The reason the app doesn’t multitask (and allow you to lock your screen) is because Apple doesn’t allow it with the current OS.

The new update of the app DOES allow unverified time, but it has crashed so many times on me that I’ve stopped using it. Perhaps the next update will fix those crashes.

I did win a $5 Amazon gift card while testing the app. That was a nice surprise and made me want to use Nexercise more, despite the bother it is to use it.

Update 08-31-2011: I’ve continued to try Nexercise with my workouts and I stand by my review. They do allow unverified time and it only beeps at me if I click away to take a picture or see my Runkeeper stats. The crashes, however, make it not worth the while. Just today, I had a 53 minute walk that failed to be submitted. It just sat there spinning, failed and then disappeared from my calendar.

NOT WORTH THE BOTHER.

I’ve been trying a free app on my iPhone called Nexercise. The premise is brilliant. It logs your physical activity and for every fifteen minutes you exercise, you get a chance to win prizes and badges.

Unfortunately, the execution isn’t as brilliant.

It’s easy enough to run the program and it doesn’t suck down my battery while it’s running, but it does NOT multitask. It’s kind enough to go into “sleep” mode so exercising with it doesn’t turn it off, but pushing the normal sleep button will pause the program.

Additionally, if I answer a call, it pauses the program. If I take a picture of something beautiful on my walk, it pauses the program. If I don’t run Runkeeper BEFORE I start Nexercise, it pauses the program. What is this? 2009? iPhones have been able to multitask for a while. Why doesn’t Nexercise?!

The lack of multitasking is irritating enough, but Nexercise also has the additional problem of pausing itself because it thinks you’re not moving enough.

I wouldn’t be bothered by this problem if it didn’t happen about once or twice each walk. Sometimes it’s because I have stopped to scoop doggie poo, but rather than waiting for me to let my dog do her business, it beeps me with an annoying sound with a reprimand.

Other times, it thinks I’m not moving enough for no reason whatsoever. Maybe I don’t jiggle enough when I walk or they’ve set the sensitivity wrong, but there have been times when it has paused for inactivity in the middle of a walk when I haven’t stopped moving. It’s the same irritating problem that Nike+ had without the benefits of tracking that Nike gave me.

Worst of all, when it has paused and I didn’t notice, sometimes it won’t give me any credit for my walk at all because it didn’t log fifteen minutes of activity while I was walking. Sure, my walk was an hour long, but the stupid thing paused itself and I didn’t happen to hear the irritating beeps.

To be fair, I’ve had a couple of walks with no pausing, but the added problem of loading up an additional app and dealing with the lack of multitasking just makes Nexercise not worth it.

As far as those rewards go, I haven’t won one. I HAVE earned a couple of badges and I have to tell you that it felt good to earn them.

Are the badges and the promise of gift cards worth the extra hassle? No, they’re not. If they get multitasking to work or if they change the sensitivity of the app so that it won’t pause itself, maybe Nexercise will be worth it. Until then, I’m not going to bother with it.

Weight Watchers is launching a new program. In the UK, it’s called ProPoints, but in the States, they are calling it PointsPlus. The old Points system has been completely changed, which will change how you’ll calculate the new points on your Edibles program.

According to Wikipedia, the new PointsPlus formula is as follows:

Where pp is the PointsPlus value, p is the amount of protein, c is the amount of carbohydrates, f is the amount of total fat and b is the amount of fiber, all in grams. This formula is an empirical match to the Weight Watchers calculators and may not be exact; Weight Watchers has not published their actual formula.

This formula is pretty convoluted and very difficult to enter into the Edibles Calculator, so Mike converted it for me. This is how I entered it into my Edibles Calculator:

Even if you’re using the Weight Watchers iPhone app, there may be a few days WEEKS when you won’t be able to track using your phone because the app won’t be available as soon as the program starts.

• Weight Watchers: The new program and your iPhone App

The App may not be available for a day or two after the new program launches. We appreciate your patience during this time. You can use the website for tracking, and everything else you usually do on your phone.

You might just want to try out Edibles to see if it works better than the official Weight Watcher app.

• Edibles – Diet Journal

Update 12-02-10: Due to differences in food labeling in the US vs. the UK, the PointsPlus formula is vastly different than the ProPoints formula. I changed this entry to reflect the proper formula for the United States.

This advertisement for Skechers Resistance running shoes in one of my fitness magazines puzzles me:

It reads:

Helps increase postural muscle activation up to 85%

Helps increase gluteus medius muscle activation up to 71%

Helps increase calf muscle activation up to 68%

Helps burn up to 13.2% more calories

That all looks technical and scientific to me. So many numbers and percentages means they MUST have research studies proving that, right? I looked at the Skechers Resistance Runner website and videos, but there were no links to any studies. The video features the designer, a runner and the founder of the company, but not a doctor among them. They show people running on treadmills hooked up to machines and computers, but WHERE is the research data?!

Without access to the actual data, I’m not believing it and I’m CERTAINLY not going to pay a hundred and fifty bucks for a shoe that might be no better than the twenty dollar trainers at Payless Shoe Source.

Shoe companies have been promising a workout in a shoe for a LONG time. Dr. Scholl’s Exercise Sandals promised beautiful legs to my grandma and she never once saw results from them, even after YEARS of wearing them.

I’m not going to believe that the Skechers Resistance Runner is any more able to “increase muscle activation” than the Dr. Scholl’s Exercise Sandal unless they actually SHOW ME THE DATA.

As excellent as the Cool Running Couch to 5K Podcast [iTunes Link] is, I have to admit that I would MUCH rather listen to my own music. I dreamed of an iPhone app that would let me program intervals that would break into my workout playlist and tell me when it was time for me to run.

I got my wish with UltraTimer.

• UltraTimer [iTunes Link]

With UltraTimer, I was able to program in the Cool Running Couch-to-5K Running Plan so that it would tell me when to run. I could even record my own voice saying, “Increase speed to 5.0 mph.” This has been so helpful to me because I don’t have to look at the iPhone screen while I’m doing my workout. I just listen to the prompts that I recorded for myself.

I was worried that it might be difficult to use, but I found it incredibly easy and I was running with a program that only took me about five minutes to program, and that included recording the voice prompts. At the end of the workout, I even have a voice prompt that tells me that I did a good job and that I’m proud of myself.

There is even a way for me to export my workouts, so soon, I will share my running plan with you (since the Couch to 5K basically leaves you wondering what the heck to do if you’re a REAL beginner). If you own an iPhone, creating and downloading a running program just got a lot easier. Try out UltraTimer today!

I don’t usually write running shoe reviews because they all feel the same to me. I don’t have the foot problems that a lot of people have, so pretty much any shoe works for me. With that, I don’t end up LOVING my shoes the way other people do. Since the shoes from anywhere would work for me, I rarely fall in LOVE with shoes, not even enough to clean them.

That was until I got my Nike Zoom Sister One Limited Editions.

You are looking at my beloved running shoes. Not since my ill-fated Nike Air Zoom Moire+, who only lasted one year at the Nike Store, have I found a pair of shoes I love enough to CLEAN.

I like them because they are light-weight. They feel really good on my feet and don’t do that annoying thing other shoes do that make my socks fall off my feet and bunch up around my arch. Even though they are quite plastic, they allow my feet to breathe. They even look good when I’m just tooling around town with jeans and a sweater, but since I’ve cleaned them, they aren’t allowed to go outdoors anymore.

I love them that much.

Once I realized that they were the perfect pair of shoes for me, I immediately ordered two more pair from the Nike Store. Since the Air Moire+ were canceled so quickly, I refuse to be left hanging like I was last time. I’ll have two pair in waiting so that I can keep happily running for the next few years.

Now, if I could only get Nike to realize that fat people need workout CLOTHES as well as shoes, then I wouldn’t have to hate them…

One of the most surprisingly good apps for me has been iPeriod for the iPhone. You can download it here:

• iPeriod at iTunes

It’s a program meant to track your menstrual cycle, but I have been using it for tracking my weight, my moods and how often I exercise and stay on my eating program. You can add four of your own items to track (I added exercise, eating healthy and some work items). Additionally, it allows you to track your mood, so you can see if that affects your eating.

Tracking the weight is the best of any other app I’ve tried (including Edibles, sorry to say). Here is screen shot of my weight over the last month.

As you can see I have had some lows and highs. Once I get more data, I’ll be able to see if the trend is that I’m losing or maintaining. I’d LIKE it to be losing, so I can alter my program to match my goals.

I really didn’t think iPeriod would be that good for me, but what was meant to be a menstrual tracker has become so much more for me. Fortunately, they have MANY privacy features, including turning OFF its name so that no one knows that it has anything to do with my monthly cycle.

If you are looking for a good app to track your weight, try iPeriod and see how it works for you!

Hands down, the best exercise equipment store is the thrift store. In Utah, the best thrift store (or second-hand store) is Deseret Industries, or The DI for short. If you are looking for some exercise equipment, whether it’s a treadmill, exercise bike, elliptical trainer or even an Ab-Doer, you will eventually find a GOOD one at the thrift store if you go there every week and really look.

Just last week, here is what I saw at the 4500 South DI:

So many Ab-Doers and Cardio Glides that I had my pick of the litter. Of course, I wasn’t looking for either of those, but if I had, it would have been perfect. Fortunately, I found exactly what I was looking for at the Redwood Road DI. I had wanted a recumbent exercise bike with magnetic resistance so that it would be quiet and I found it for only twenty five bucks.

I had seen a brand new version of this exact bike at Sears for over 250 dollars, so I saved over two hundred bucks just by biding my time and looking at every thrift store in town once a week for about a month. Sure, that’s a pain in the butt to wait and meticulously look, but it was worth the money.

If you want some exercise equipment, here is how to get it on the cheap:

• Go to the “real” sports stores and department stores to find out what you want. Use the demo units so you can know how they are supposed to feel when they are new. Determine the features that you are looking for. Also, check the prices to make sure that you aren’t paying full price for a used item.

• Make a list of the features you NEED, the features you’d LIKE and what you’re willing to live with. For example, on the bike I bought, the seat and back were falling apart and had been taped together with black tape. I didn’t care that the seat was damaged because what I wanted was magnetic resistance on a recumbent bike.

• Make a list of all the thrift shops and second hand stores in your area. With my list, I was able to hit a bunch of them on my way home from downtown each week, so it wasn’t difficult for me to look in so many stores.

• Visit the shops about once a week, preferably on the day that they receive new merchandise. Some stores get deliveries of second hand items on a regular basis from a central donation center. Others put new items out each day. Find out the rhythms of each store.

• In each store, go to the exercise equipment section and make a quick search. Don’t get distracted by the other goodies you might see there. This is supposed to be a quick search.

• Try out the equipment at the thrift store. If it’s a treadmill, insist that they allow you to plug it in and see if it works. Try it at every intensity level that you plan on using it. Some equipment works fine at lower levels, but when you crank up the speed or incline, they conk out. Make sure you test it thoroughly before buying it, so wear your jogging bra and running shoes on your outings.

• Make sure you can get it home. It’s not a deal if you have to rent a truck to haul the thing home. Make sure it will fit in your car or that you have a friend with a pickup to help you get the equipment home.

Believe me, there were plenty of exercise bikes at the thrift stores, but I wanted a very specific kind, so it took me a while to get what I wanted. You’ll have to do the same when you are looking for exercise equipment at thrift stores, but it will be worth it when you finally find it.

“My Nike+ is dead.” Mike was trying to start his workout, but the iPhone couldn’t find his sensor. It just sat there, spinning it’s wheel and searching helplessly.

“I’m going downtown tomorrow. I’ll pick you up a new sensor.”

So I did, but the next day when he tried to start his workout, it sat spinning again.

“Maybe you should reboot.”

When he turned off his iPhone and turned it back on, it worked just fine with his old sensor. “I guess we didn’t need to buy a new one.”

This happened to me just yesterday, but because it had happened to Mike last month, I knew what to do. Before you assume your Nike+ sensor is dead, try rebooting your iPhone. It might save you twenty bucks.