To make your life a little easier, I’d like to tell you about a couple of apps I use: LoseIt! and Motra.

LoseIt!

LoseIt! is an app that helps track macros (calories, proteins, nutrients, etc.) and it also lets you log your exercise calories so you can get an accurate estimate of how many net calories you are burning and taking in in a given day. It has a huge database of almost any kind and brand of food you ever thought about eating, but you can also photo your plate and it will give a pretty estimate of what is in front of you as well as scan the barcode for even more accurate macro estimates.

You can also create custom recipes (i.e. Paul’s Protein Oatmeal), custom exercises (i.e. Treadmill 15% inc 3.5 mph, 1080 kcal/hr), and custom foods (1/2 ear corn on the cob). You can set your weight and nutrition goals, budgets, and deadlines.

Custom foods, recipes, exercises

IMPORTANT: One thing one “my Boys” (YouTube fitness gurus) said that really stuck with me: “If you don’t adjust your diet/macros, why even bother tracking them?” The point is to adapt your habits to achieve results. Track every bite. Adapt your eating. Common wisdom: “You can’t OUTWORK a bad diet.” 70% of weight loss starts on your plate.

Neither of these are free. They do annual subscriptions and are NOT too expensive, but I am using them 7 days a week so I get my money’s worth.

Motra (formerly Training)

Apple Watch with Motra automatically counts your reps as you do them.

I don’t even know how I found this app. I was using an app called Strong, but Motra does quite a bit more. Truthfully, it does everything but lift the weights.

  1. Create your own templates or have the AI generate one for you. You can create your templates (For example: I have one for Mon & Thurs Arm Day (biceps, triceps, abs, & shoulders). You can set up custom rest times, reps, weights, yoga, stretches, exercises, and create your own.
  2. You can also customize your gym set up, telling it what equipment your gym has. When Motra suggests exercises, it only recommends exercises for equipment you have access to. Handy. I have a set of day-templates for the workout room at San Benito and a set for Planet Fitness.
  3. You can also tell it if you have injuries to watch out for (my left wrist for example).

Now comes the cool part: When I start the day’s template…

  1. It counts down 3,2,1 to start your workout. (All audio comes through your earbuds, like a personal trainer. Your watch and phone sync continuously.)
  2. It tells you how long till a particular muscle is recovered fully based on it remembering what exercises you  did and how that affects that muscle. For example, it may graphically report “3 days till BICEPS are recovered. You worked them 2 days ago.”
  3. It automatically counts the reps of each exercise based on the movement of my arm via my Apple Watch. Automatically COUNTS. Cool.
  4. It auto-progresses (if you say it can). Progressive overload is slowly adding weight or reps to a set to increase your strength and muscle mass.
  5. It automatically times your rest period between sets and notifies you through your earbuds (“30 seconds”, “15 seconds”, “Get Ready,3,2,1, GO!”)
  6. It automatically enters the calories burned during your workout to LoseIt! when finished with your Motra workout. Automatically.

Other features:

  1. Videos to demonstrate how to do the exercise (on Apple Watch and iPhone – I’m sure it does other brands, but I don’t)
  2. Able to customize routines on the fly – i.e. add sets, reps, weights, exercises, swap exercises, etc.)
  3. You can pause the routine timer on your watch (to take phone calls, etc). I think it calculates calories burned by the amount of overall time.

Some Downsides:

  1. Some exercises are hard for it to count because it tracks ARM movements, i.e. calf raises. So you may need to edit the number of reps on your watch or phone.

 


Upon advice from my lawyer, I am officially telling you that any fitness mentions in this blog are "for entertainment purposes alone." That being said, I am NOT a health guru, fitness trainer, nutrition specialist, or medical professional of any kind. Before doing anything even remotely health related, consult a medical professional or your family physician. I am just relating information about my journey from morbidly obese to old and wrinkly. DO NOT DO IT THE WAY I DID. I will say my only regret is not doing it 30 years sooner. On a side note, I am not sponsored by anyone or any company, so the opinions expressed here do not benefit me (or you probably) in any way.