runtastic Can Help in the Fight Against Obesity
Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen the print, online and broadcast media in the U.S. tackle a fairly weighty topic: the obesity epidemic. Starting with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity’s “Weight of the Nation” conference in Washington, D.C., May 7th through 9th, and continuing through this past Monday and Tuesday with HBO’s documentary of the same name, the statistics are hard to avoid – or ignore:
- More than two-thirds of American adults over 20 are overweight and one-third are obese.
- One-third of U.S. children and adolescents are overweight and 18 percent are obese.
- Five of the 10 leading causes of death in America can be linked in some way to obesity, including heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, stroke, and kidney disease.
- Obesity is costing U.S. businesses more than $73 billion per year—and adds $150 billion to health costs today, a number that is expected to grow to $300 billion by 2018.
America is out of shape and obesity is the biggest health problem in the country today. The prevalence of unhealthy, inexpensive, packaged food is one factor contributing to the obesity epidemic; inactivity and the lack of physical exercise are equally to blame.
This is where runtastic can help in the fight against obesity. Once you’ve made the decision to lose weight, eat better, and increase your physical activity, runtastic apps can help motivate you to set goals, track your results, and stick with your exercise program long enough to see a difference.
External motivation is a big part of continuing with any exercise program, and using Runtastic apps on iOS or Android can help you see your improvement, whether your goal is distance, length of time, target heart rate, or weight loss-related.
Take Steffen Wegerer, for example. In one year, Steffen went from weighing 380 lbs. to just under 200 lbs. and he attributes a lot of his success to the motivation he received from using runtastic. Says Steffen, runtastic “gave me the ability to monitor my pulse and stay in the optimum zone of fat burning. I always had my smartphone with me; so the app was the perfect solution. I got addicted to reviewing all the great details of my activities including maps, calories burned and pulse zones. These were fun to look at and made me want to work harder and do more.” (You can read more about Steffen and his phenomenal achievement here).
Another new runtastic app that can provide motivation to lose weight is the newly released Ideal Weight 2.0. Available for the Apple iPhone, Ideal Weight 2.0 is a simple BMI calculator that helps you determine and reach a healthy weight. The app graphs weight history, provides diet and fitness tips, and lets you see how your weight compares to averages based on age, gender and country. Pretty cool! Plus, you can post your successes online and get encouragement from others in your social network, via Facebook and/or Twitter.
Making the decision to lose weight is hard, but sticking with your exercise program just got easier, thanks to runtastic. Download runtastic and Ideal Weight today…and keep us posted on how YOU’RE going to beat the obesity epidemic.
