LoseIt Fitness App Review Reach Your Fitness Goals!

By: In: Health and Fitness, Information Technology, Media, Non-Fiction, Off Season, Reviews, Writing

LoseIt the App

LoseIt the App

Every year many of us resolve to get our weight down and our fitness level up. To help with those goals we join gyms, subscribe to food services, and purchase equipment. One piece of gear I find indispensable is the phone app LoseIt. I find using this phone app makes it easier to achieve my fitness goals.

LoseIt — My Fitness Story

input your own data

Input your Particulars

I write this as a user of Loseit as well as having tried many other similar applications. Years ago I used the app Diet and Exercise Assistant with good results, but since that app is not ported to the Android system (PalmPilot and IPhones only) I had to leave it behind. When I used Diet and Exercise Assistant I lost about 15 pounds solely on watching my diet. If you have to choose between diet and exercise to lose weight, choose diet first.

When I was young weight loss was not a problem but gaining weight was. I could eat twice as much as my friends and not gain an ounce. While that is good when it lasts eventually that phase of one’s life ends and can lead to weight gain when your metabolism slows down. In the years my weight crept to above normal to entry-level obese. I reversed the trend once or twice but weight gain reasserted itself.

I am now about 35 pounds off of my top weight of 250 pounds last spring and would like to lose about 25 more pounds.

LoseIt — A Summary

your caloric budget

LoseIt Shows Your Caloric Budget

LoseIt is a standard diet and exercise tracker. You can obtain it for free and then you input your basic information (birth date, sex, height, etc) and your goals (what weight you want to attain and when) and LoseIt computes your daily calorie budget. You can also specify extra calories to remove from the budget, which I suggest doing.

Then whenever you eat you input the food and the amount you eat. Whenever you exercise you also input the type of exercise and the time and effort level. LoseIt then tracks the calories in and out and provides simple clear reporting on your caloric intake. You can easily view this data day by day and the app also provides simple reporting over a week. So if you break your budget one day it is easy to tell where you are over the week, think of your overage as caloric loan you have to pay back.
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Endomondo for Downhill Skiing

By: In: Information Technology, Media, Non-Fiction, Reviews, Skiing, Writing

Same as the old stats

Same as the old stats

I finally used Endomondo while skiing and the results are okay, but not great.

Endomondo for Downhill Skiing — Its Usual Strengths

In my recent review of the Endomondo app I expressed satisfaction with the app. Those satisfying points repeat with Endomondo while downhill skiing. The app did its things as usual, it sounded off miles, it recorded time in motion, it paused recording when I stopped, recorded my path, recorded distance, kept track of caloric expenditure and water consumption needs. It wrapped my phone up in a (Green Bay Packer) stocking cap and stuffed the package into my ski jacket and that did not seem to cause it any problems with keeping a lock on the GPS satellites.

In short, all was good.

Endomondo for Downhill Skiing — Its downhill Skiing Weaknesses

The line I skied

The line I skied

However, Endomondo is more for endurance activities and does not contain a number of the metrics I want to see while skiing. Namely, maximum speeds and pitch extremes. However, most of the users are using Endomondo for running, hiking, walking, biking, etc. None of those sports (maybe hiking excepted) have all of the metrics interesting to downhill skiers. Endomondo reported times in one mile intervals which is great for cross-country skiing but makes little sense while downhill skiing.

This is where I rely on MyTracks at least to cover those skiing metric gaps. Yes, I know there are applications dedicated ski tracking, but I am a bit slow in adopting those and am working on it (old phone had storage limitations I was up against and so I need to acquaint myself with applications such as AlpineReplay).

However, once your phone has the data uploaded to the website and you visit the website to view the ski trip, there are a few more bits of interesting information, too bad that is not on the phone application.

Same Trip on the Website

Same Trip on the Website

Endomondo for Downhill Skiing — Downhill Skiing Calorie Burn

While I have always known that downhill skiing is a significant burner of calories, I was pleasantly surprised to see the number Endomondo reports. Still, my official calorie counter differs by recording fewer calories burnt.

For those of you not familiar with downhill skiing, one must work their legs constantly to make sure they remain under control, that is, even though gravity is supplying us with speed, we need to fight gravity lest we fly down the runs at 80 mph into the lodge, with the expected result. Watch world cup skiing and see how the racers are when they cross the finish line, they are short of breath and tired.

Endomondo for Downhill Skiing — Do You Use It?

In short, Endomondo can help you understand how much time and effort you expend while downhill skiing, but it does fall short of being everything in terms of measurement a downhill skier wants.

How about you? Do you use Endomondo while downhill skiing?


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Ski TrailMaps by Todd Schmalhurst &mdash A Mobile App Review

By: In: Equipment, Information Technology, Non-Fiction, Reviews, Skiing, Writing

Ski TrailMaps

Ski TrailMaps

I have reviewed a couple of mobile device apps already here, both having incidental relevance to skiing. Today’s review is the first one on an app dedicated to skiing and snowboarding. This app is Todd Schmalhurst’s Ski TrailMaps. Not only do I have the app and use it regularly I also have upgraded to the paid version.

FYI, the title says Ski but there is nothing ski specific about this application, snowboarders can get value from this application too!

Ski TrailMaps by Todd Schmalhurst — What?

welcome to ski trailmapsSki TrailMaps is an application you can download and install on your mobile device, quite simply it is an application you can use to locate nearby snow resorts and retrieve and view their trailmaps. However, that is not all, you can also get current resort conditions (snow and weather), available trailcam imagery, and satellite imagery of the resort. This means, you can pull up any map of any snow resort pretty much at your whim. Bored while waiting for the doctor? Pull out your phone and daydream about skiing a resort or become familiar with the resort you are going to this coming February.

The opening screen welcomes you with five options, since the app’s organizes the data well I have not had to use the search the search functionality nor the favorites. I fiddled with the settings early and I have not touched it in a long time.

Ski TrailMaps by Todd Schmalhurst — Getting to the Trails!

TrailMaps of the World!

TrailMaps of the World!

T The neat thing about this app is does not restrict you to a resort group, a region, a state, or even a single nation. Nope Ski TrailMaps gets you the whole world! I have not spent too much time looking at the other nations but the USA is further broken down by state. The other nations I have seen the app does not subdivide maybe I need to look at some more.

The app lists only those states and nations with ski resorts, so that cuts down on your scrolling.

Todd does not leave a single operating ski resort out and that is impressive. He does not turn his nose up at the small farm field resort where I first learned skiing!

Ski TrailMaps — A Map

So what do the maps look like? They appear they are the resort provided maps converted into a format that allows for a lot of zooming in and out. Furthermore, the app allows you to download all of a resorts’s maps on request as the app loads resort’s main map by default.

a ski trailmap

A Map!

You can zoom in quite a bit and the detail continues for sometime. However, there is a point after which zooming does no good.

the application does not store the maps on the phone but pulls them from the cloud, and that means the use of this application can cost you against your data plan. However, once the application loads a map they reside on your phone for sometime and the app brings the map quickly. Many of the features also require data from the internet regardless of when you last retrieved that data (weather & snow conditions for example).

Ski TrailMaps — Final words

Pros

  • Comprehensive in terms of resort coverage
  • Maps download quickly
  • Stores the maps on your device

No cons but I offer one suggestion. the application is location aware but it would be great if it could pinpoint your location on a trail map.

In summary, Ski TrailMaps is a great application I suggest to you to make your snowsports more enjoyable. Go get it and tell Todd The Wisconsin Skier sent you!


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The Klout Uncertainity Principle

By: In: Information Technology, Off Season

I am set up on and periodically check my Klout score. While I think the score is reasonable I found something odd about it.

I first became aware of and started following my Klout score sometime last winter. Even then, I found an odd pattern to the rise and fall of my Klout score.

What pattern is that? Seemingly the less I pay attention to my Klout score, the higher it runs. In fact, the less interaction I carry on the higher my Klout score is. When I started waking this ski site up again from its summer content and doldrums I noticed I had a surprisingly high Klout score, but after I started to monitor my Klout score I noticed it started to fall. I know some of you jokers out there will point the implication of that, but I ignore that! Yes, even though my Klout is higher the less I publish, I will continue to publish and interact! Ha-ha-HA!

However, when I hardly put out any material here, when I hardly tweet or interact with Twitter, when I completely ignore Klout, and keep my FB to strictly personal matters my Klout score rises. When I start to pay attention to Klout and other Social Media and outlets my Klout Score goes down. I wonder if this is like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle — I will call the Observed Klout Principle:

The more you pay attention to your Klout Score the Lower it Goes!

The lesson, don’t pay attention to your Klout score and go on as normal!


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Android for the Skier — MyTracks

By: In: Information Technology, Skiing

Nope, not a review of the Recon Android powered goggles (BTW Recon, I would be quite happy to serve as a guinea pig and review your products get in touch via the contact form!) but actually of Android phone applications available for the skier.

I have tried a number of them and keep coming back to two of them. One of them is not a ski-exclusive application, but the other is.

So let’s get to it…
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Wisconsin Ski Map Update

By: In: Information Technology, Off Season, Site Related

Since the map is a fairly popular item here at The Wisconsin Skier I wanted to post you on the progress I am making on it.

I have created the database for the application and I just completed compiling the data I need for the first release which will be basic resort location information. So in the next day or so I will upload that data to my database and start working on the process to load up the data I need to put pins on a map! Once that is done, I have to put the pins on the map and version one will be deemed complete and I will deploy it!

The map will includes ski resorts in Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and of course Wisconsin!

I plan to add resort specific data to the application and add layers to the map so if you are at a ski resort you can, for instance, select the “restaurant” layer and any restaurants I have put on the map will appear, but that functionality is going to be included in a future release.

Thanks for your patience!


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Snap It Up!

By: In: Information Technology, Off Season, Site Related

Many of you may have noticed The Wisconsin Skier was off line, in fact it was suspended by its web hosting company. Trust me, The Wisconsin Skier is NOT a deadbeat.

The problem was due to database performance. You see, The Wisconsin Skier resides on a single server with other websites and due to a certain plugin it uses, The Wisconsin Skier was using excessive amounts of database processing time. Well, I found a plugin to profile its database usage and that lead me to getting rid of a plugin that used lots of database processing. In any event, that plugin was redundant and it is now gone. I hope The Wisconsin Skier is returned to good-neighbor status!


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Copyrights

By: In: Information Technology, Off Season, Site Related

I rarely and explicitly copyright any of my works here. Nor do I put up notices of other copyrights here.

Most of the work here is owned by myself through Snowflake MSM LLC but I do borrow works from others from time to time. Mostly in the form of YouTube videos and there are some images I have used, but most of these are images of images that are well within the public domain. For example, the famous painting of Sir Isaac Newton I can not recall where I got the image from (other than to say Google Images) but the image is a straight up copy of the original and is not embellished or processed at all, so I think it quite fair to pull the copy.

However, other images I am not so lackadaisical about. I was at one time hunting for an image of the knee joint, but could not find a decent one that came with the necessary license, so I abandoned the post I was contemplating. One image I have actually purchased is the image used for my unordered lists bullets. I purchased that image from IStock.com (they google easily look them up on your own) this way the person who crafted that image gets some compensation for their hard work.

Likewise here. Given how easy it is to copy another’s work on the Internet I am not going to spend a lot of time watermarking and otherwise attempting to block your ability to copy the works here. Most every technique I have seen used to attempt to prevent people from copying works on the Internet I have been able to overcome (however, that material is NOT republished and is for personal use only). One or two of those methods required some effort, but most very little effort was involved.

So, if you want to copy material from this site, all I ask for is to please give me credit and a link back (and please do not hotlink the work, if I notice the hotlink I will put something to embarrass you). If you want an image in greater resolution than I provide on this site please contact myself (a form will go up sometime in the future) and we can talk.


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Twitter for the Phone

By: In: Information Technology

One thing I find myself doing more and more often, is shying away from Twitter usage when I am on the laptop or our desktop and confining the reading and writing of Tweets more and more by mobile phone.

I have been thinking of this for sometime now, since I got my Android phone and I find myself spending the majority of my social media (SM) usage is reading tweets. This includes retweets and my own tweets too. However, most of that Twitter usage is on my non-ski account. I would like to add that I am mostly using HootSuite, especially now I am finding out how to access most of the twitter functions one needs.

On that non-ski account most of the follows I have are people engaged in Twitter conversations and shares. They find an interesting article and push it out or engage in conversations with each other. It also helps that I have met with these folks or have had close online relationships already established before Twitter came out. However, I have a few very definite one-way tweeters out there on that account.

I need to prune my follows on my @WisSkier account and this time by using a more stringent policy than the do they follow me. They may follow me, but do they really? I think a number do not, and I’m not talking about those too busy or those enaged in other conversations to pay me heed, I’m talking about some very obvious follows who in the span of about 30 minutes crank out dozens of tweets a number of them being tweets I’ve seen dozens of times before.

Be human and take some sort of interest in what I have to say, not just my material, but when I respond to your material.


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Review of My Tracks

By: In: Information Technology, Off Season

Normally, you expect a review to focus on ski gear at a ski website. Jackets, skis, boots, poles, goggles, etc. However, this is going to be about a software application entitled My Tracks. My Tracks is a mobile application for Android platformed devices. I turned the application on this weekend to see what it could do.
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