My Favorite Healthy Living Tools of 2012

As I was walking Harley on my neighborhood trail and practicing yoga yesterday, I thought about the factors that play into my healthy lifestyle. There’s my crazy dog, who forces me to walk with her a few miles a day whether I’m in the mood to or not. Dogs are great healthy living tools! And then there are those innate things – my desire to feed my body with foods that fuel it well and the motivation that drives me to exercise on a daily basis. There are also material things that better enable me to live healthily, things I rely on every day. As 2012 is drawing to a close in just a few weeks, I thought I’d do a post on my favorite healthy living tools of the year. Here goes!

1.) My Brooks Sneakers – I think we can all agree that good sneakers make a big difference when it comes to working out. My past 2 pairs have been the Brooks brand, and they are so comfortable! My sneakers before these 2 didn’t fit me perfectly, and one foot used to get blisters and be sore when I exercised. Foot discomfort can discourage you from giving your all during a workout huh? I’ll be picking out a new pair for Christmas very soon and I’m excited about it. Yes, a rockin’ pair of sneakers makes me happy!

2.) My FitBit – I wear this small gadget on my waist every day, primarily to let me know how many steps I’ve taken for the day. I aim to walk at least 10,000 steps daily, and know that if I’m below that goal for a couple of days, I need to find a way to sneak in more movement. I also use it as a timer for walks with Harley and sometimes wear it around my wrist to sleep at night, when it monitors how many times I wake up and how long I’m actually sleeping for. For a complete overview of the FitBit, read my post about it here.

3.) MyFitnessPal –  I adore this app, which syncs my eats from my iPhone to my FitBit and computer. When it comes to managing your weight, it’s all about calories in verse calories burned. I use MyFitnessPal to log everything I eat. It also syncs my workouts and activity through my FitBit and adjusts the calories I have left to consume for the day based off of that info. The app is also very useful for calculating the nutrition facts for my recipes. Bonus: it’s free!

4.) Calf Compression Sleeve – I wear a compression band around my bad calf when I exercise. The sleeves work by increasing blood flow to the muscles, therefore getting more oxygen to the area and boosting performance. I definitely feel a difference when I wear it, and experience less soreness after a workout than if I don’t have it on.  I  recommend compression bands to anyone who exercises and has sore areas!

5.) My Sport Watch – Though I love my FitBit, it’s not so great at measuring calories burned for activities other than walking, jogging, or running. When I do anything else – yoga, biking, strength training, the barre method, kickboxing, and so on – I use my heart rate monitor watch. It’s a direct measure of how hard I’m working, and if my heart rate is  lower than what I want it to be,  I know to kick it up a notch to get my heart pumping more. I also like wearing the watch because it tells me how many calories I’ve burned during a workout, and can also be utilized as a timer. My watch has gotten beaten up recently, so this is another healthy living item that I’m looking to get a new one for as a gift for the holidays. (Side note: I’m currently researching heart rate monitor watches to pick a good one out – if you have any recommendations, please share!)

Question: What do you rely on to help you live a healthy lifestyle?