Frugal Finance: Top 3 Internet Fitness Tools By Christie O.

Contributed by Christie O., author of Average Moms Wear Capes and Owner of Christie O. Media.

This is the causeway. It is my zen place.

I went over to Daily Mile where I haven’t been in a while and I looked at the last time I posted.

It was my last run on the beautiful Dunedin Causeway and it was a great 8 mile run. I was getting ready for the beat-down that was supposed to be my marathon training. Ahhh memories.

That was the last post and then after that post, nothing.

Crickets.

And I realized I miss Daily Mile! I also realized how important Daily Mile was to my training!

After that last post, it became no running on account of what happened just days later which was a massive tweak to my IT band during the Suncoast Sprint Triathlon(blah blah blah) and pain on any runs I had well through December. (blah blah) The marathon went out the window and I did some working out with Tiffany Mondays and some spinning but then business took off and my time stood still for my workouts, a sporatic workout here and there and OH you know the story!

Long story short, I AM PUFFY, PEOPLES! I am running again but I’M PUFFY! And I want to lose 10 pounds by St. Anthony’s!

Totally doable, right?

Seeing my Daily Mile realized how much the online world helps me. Sites like Daily Mile, My Fitness Pal, The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. Literally, those are my big three. TOOLS I NEED to keep me going.

Daily Mile helps me keep track of my workouts and I get to see other people rock and we send each other virtual motivation.

My Fitness Pal helps me keep track of my FOOD. And how what I eat is drastically different from what I think I eat.

I began contributing at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans a few years ago and I LOVE EVERYONE THERE. The Sisterhood is made up of a support network of awesome women who lift each other up and support each other through the weight-loss and fitness journey by doing fitness challenges, workouts on Twitter (#tworkout) and all sorts of fun fitnessy stuff. Because let’s face it, you’re never really off the journey, you’re always ever in just another stage of it. Once you’ve lost most of what you were hoping to lose, it becomes a daily struggle to keep it that way, and the need for support and accountability never really goes away.

Weight-loss takes a village. Fitness takes a village. (Dontcha think?)

And I need my village back!

You don’t always have the encouragement and motivation within yourself, sometimes you need to look to your online buddies for help and one thing I’ve learned from that is that THEY WILL ALWAYS BE THERE. ALWAYS. In just one tweet or status update, BOOM. They are there. I can count on it.

So the internet is very important to my fitness. Other people are very important to my fitness.

I may get the initial drive and fuel from myself when the computer is off but I know I can find the fuel reserve when the computer is on. In fact when I announced to the world that I was back on Daily Mile I immediately got messages from my friends on there: “I miss following your training!” is what they said. You and me both, sisters. I miss following my training too.

And it made me realize how much I count on my virtual friends to keep me in check and keep my motivation fuel tank FULL.

So I am back on Daily Mile, friend me there if you’re on it! If you’re not on it, it’s a great place to track your workouts! And also I’m weighing in on Wednesdays again with the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. I will be starting again with my Wednesday Workout posts next week and my goals for the rest of my St. Anthony’s Triathlon training.

What tools (sites or friends) can YOU not live without?
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