Like most people, a new year brings some sort of fitness resolution. Mine is to get fit enough to play a good, injury free season of rugby this year. I’ve started watching my calorie intake and Running more. I’m also waiting to get my mountain bike back from a full service so that I can start to ride more often.

To count my Calories, I use an app called MyFitnessPal on my iPhone. You can track your calories on a desktop PC with their website, but what I like most about using the app on the phone is that you can scan barcodes on the food and enter your meals easily without the fuss of doing the maths!

I also use Runkeeper.com and Strava.com to track my running. These link in to MyFitnessPal and automatically calculate how many calories you have Burned doing the exercise.

At the end of the day, when you complete your entries, MyFitnessPal will indicate an approximate weight loss in a specific time. This helps you to see if you are on target.

I also use the MyDr website to check the calories burned by other exercises that don’t always appear in MyFitnessPal such as gardening or fishing. This calculator tends to be more accurate than most as it takes into account your weight, height, age and sex.

The most important thing about running (for me anyway), is the playlist! If I run without Music, I get bored really quickly. If I run with the wrong music (BPM), I tend to not pace myself correctly. Finding the right music is pretty personal, but this article is a good indicator of BPM for your pace – Lifehacker. It also has a link to an article about the effects of music on your running. Gizmodo has a similar article on “The Perfect Playlist”

I hope that this info is useful to you. See you on the road!