We have a look at some fitness trends and offer some advice on which ones you may wish to try, and some others that are best avoided. We also have some information on free fitness apps that might want to check out.
Do you use any tools to help with your fitness regime? We’d love to hear about them, share your comment below.
I am not on a fitness kick, just trying to improve my health into old age.
Diet - signed up to the CSIRO’s Total Wellbeing Diet - on-line - 12 week program fully refundable (got my money back, no hassles). You provide your own food; once you have learned the essentials (serves of veg, fruit, carbs, fats, protein, dairy) you can adapt it yourself. It is a healthy eating plan and most people lose weight and can maintain it. I lost 4kg and have kept it off. Exercise is part of the plan, but they don’t handle that side of it too well - they have a dietitian, but no exercise professional. As a result we have reduced our processed foods, red meat & treats, and now eat more fish, chook & alternatives, in addition to our love of fresh veg & fruit.
Exercise - I am a very active person anyway, but I bought a Garmin fitness band a couple of years ago. I deliberately avoided the GPS model as I didn’t want to add that data to Garmin’s trove, the battery would last longer, our farm didn’t have mobile coverage. The free android app was good for motivation (set goals for steps, stairs) and the app compares my usage with all other users (all or age range, sex) which says I am in the top 90% for most things. The Win 10 app isn’t as good as the Android. Band is robust, comfortable, but needs internet to fully download (goes so far then warns of no connection), summaries are only to 12 months - eg can’t compare 2 years. Fitness age estimate is way off for me - says I am poor for my age and tells me I am over 80yrs (I ignore it). Most useful was sleep - awake, light, deep, REM & movement. It helped me experiment with pre-bed habits to find the ones that promote the best sleep. Eg milk/water, rest & read before bed.
Android app Back Country Navigator I use to track my walking in the bush (our farm & public areas). Topo maps can be downloaded to hike without internet. Useful stats - speed, distance, track, elevation, compass, photos. Can display on Google Maps. Flattens the battery quicker if you have frequent fixes, less turns a circle into a straight line.
Things to avoid - tried Impromy - CSIRO’s shake replacement diet - the protein shakes got monotonous quickly, the consultant wasn’t available for weekly consults, the app chided me for not following the program exactly, the on-line forum was dead and at one stage was taken over by trolls flogging stuff for a week, it took 3 weeks for a response to a question. Gave up when I realised the calories in the shakes were more than the meal it replaced. Other diets to avoid (tried by the Dau-in-L who goes for weird fads) - paleo, cauli/broccoli (that all you eat for a week), high fat/no sugar, keto, blood type, egg & vinegar (14 eggs a day), alkaline (literature says lemon is alkaline, sadness is acidic). Each gets embraced with enthusiasm and then ditched for the next. Her health is steadily getting worse - I blame the weird eating.
You can now find the updated article here.
Has anyone set some new goals for 2020?
I’ve set new fitness goals on my smartwatch to keep me in check. I guess the millennial in me requires digital reminders haha.
