Life is crazy. This means that sometimes I can’t always take the best care of myself. It doesn’t mean that I’m just giving zero back to myself, it just means I’m distracted. The body though, has a way of forcing you back into caring. If you listen and reset your sails, you can refocus on your priorities before you get too lost.
I used to not listen to myself. I would drink a lot (more than I drink now), and wake up hungover and still get my workout in because I need to stay lean you know, then I would eat processed foods that were really horrible for my body and well… repeat.
Then my body started to malfunction. I got inflammation everywhere. I went to doctors and specialists, acupuncturists and herbalists. Nothing worked! Until I changed my diet and changed my environment. I slept more, I worked less. I read more and took more walks and let my life slow down a bit. I got better and I kept going.
This was about 6 or 7 years ago and I went through a three year battle with my immune system. Then once I dug myself out of that, my financial challenge piled on top of it and well I had to dig myself out of that. Things were going well. Really well. Until recently, I started to see the inflammation sneak up again. Around my eyes, hands and legs.
So my body was telling me again, (probably yelling) for me to slow down and take care of myself. Not in the eat a basket of fries and drink a bottle of wine kind of way.
So since almost a year ago, I have been slowly trying to bring myself back to that place of willpower and discipline but boy has it been tough. I have had constant unending disappointment in myself because I kept making excuses.
So I decided to keep myself accountable by telling the world. I have specific goals I want to meet. Body fat% and diet (regular meals). I created a list of goals I am actively working towards and you can access that here.
I am really good at reaching my goals when my shame is on the line. I think the accountability of sharing it on here will help motivate me to take it pretty seriously. So here goes… well everything.
The reason this is not your mama’s self-care is because I use technology to help keep my on track. Below are the following apps I used and what I use them for. None of them have paid me or sponsored me or this post or my blog in any way. I found them through research and reading others feedback.
Health Mate: This is an app for a scale. The scale I use with it is branded Withings from Amazon. This app tells your weight, body fat%, muscle/bone mass and more. It can connect to your other health apps to provide a bigger picture. It can even tell you the weather. Like other standard electrical impedance machines, there are more accurate tools out there but none that is easy to keep in your home like this one. I did a body scan through Body Spec in Seattle before, it is much more accurate (and quite detailed) and this Withings home scale is pretty close on my weight and body fat %. So I actually hate it but I’ll take it.
My Fitness Pal: This is a food app that I have been using for years. You can set goals on here. Also, their food/meal library is fantastic. They have a paid version that I only a month ago upgraded too. I’m not sure what the benefits are. I use it on weekdays and skip it on weekends.
Health App: The more information the better. I think this is a default app that comes with the iPhone. I use an LTE Apple Watch 4th Series and the Health App has access to all the steps I take, my heart rate and more. I don’t check this often but I feel like it is a roll up of all my info that I’ve worked my ass of doing for the day.
SleepWatch: If I don’t sleep at least 6 hours, I suffer and in turn create pain for those around me. I can’t take in too much caffeine so that isn’t an option for me on those sleepless nights. Luckily, it doesn’t happen often. I typically sleep really well. I downloaded this app recently (about a month ago) because I was having a hard time going into deep sleep for no obvious reason. I usually start my downtime around 8pm and go to bed around 10-11pm. I used to not wear my smart watch to bed but I’ll charge it between 8pm – 10pm and wear it to bed. I do not have the paid version of this app. This app does tell me how much rest I’ve gotten, how much of it was Disrupted, Light and Restful. I made minor adjustments when I had more disruptions like stop drinking water past a certain time etc… It also checks my heart rate thanks to my app. If I get a decent amount of a restful sleep, I wake up pretty easily. The benefit of wearing my watch to bed is that I set my watch alarm to a few different times and it will buzz my wrist instead of making a traumatic beeping noise like my Google thing does and it wakes me up more organically. So far so good. Knowledge is power!
Flo: I’m a girl and I have my period. Tracking my period which is all I use this app for is the best way to not have any accidents where I forget to carry my supplies. It shows me how consistent my period is and I know how to answer the question at the doctors office when they ask the first day of my last period. Easy! Create an account to back up the info in case you have to reset your phone. I’ve been using this long enough now that it is important to me.
Insight Timer: Want to meditate but have challenges because of distractions or you do not know how to do it. This is a simple tool. I only use the timer and I use it on my watch but my boyfriend and I have used this to meditate together. There are guided meditations and you can even turn on background noise to play (like white noise) while you meditate. I have a medium to high level of anxiety at any given time and meditation has been the key to keeping everything pretty chill. Try it. It also saves the meditation so you can track when you have been practicing. You can set the time for as short as 3 minutes to I think longer than 60 (not sure exactly).
Zero: This is an intermittent fasting timing app. It keeps track of it for you so you don’t have to do the math (thank goodness). I am not on a keto diet. All the times I’ve been able to lose weight and keep it off as been when I stuck to a routine and didn’t eat late at night. Somewhere though, my schedule has really been thrown around and I need a timer to tell myself it is not time to eat yet. It also reminds you to fast. You can choose different types of fasts so a 16/8, 18/6 and I think custom.
Activity: This is just the app for my Apple watch. Seeing how little I move during the day has motivated me to commute via public transportation. I get more movement from this. Stairs, streets and also, I get more Vitamin D honestly. You can also compete with friends and see their progress. When I finish a workout, it shares this update with those that I am friends with on my activity app (they must also have an apple watch to do this).
Any apps I’m missing that I totally need? Please share with me below!
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