Getting Healthy

So I've been working on my New Year's resolution of getting healthier. (I know, it's totally the most original resolution ever.) I've been eating better and working out more, and I've also been reading a lot about health, fitness, diet, etc. It's going pretty well so far.

One of the things that has come up a lot in my research is how important it is to try to track your progress accurately. The more information you have about yourself and your body, the easier it will be to design a program that works for you. There are so many different workouts and diet plans out there that you could follow, and many of them work well, but not all of them are going to be great for you.

One good piece of information to have is your resting metabolic rate, which is basically how many calories your body burns in a day without exercise/activity. You can actually get a small device called BodyGem that you can breathe into to measure your resting metabolic rate at home. (If you work with a personal trainer, a nutritionist, or a doctor or other health/fitness professional on a weight loss plan, you may have seen the professional version of the same device, which is called MedGem.)

If you need to take it the next level, you can work with your health care professional to gather even more information. The Cholestech LDX is a small device that uses a drop of blood to create a quick analysis and provide a complete lipid profile plus info about your glucose levels. This is valuable information that can help in the development of the best fitness plan for you. Losing weight and getting healthy can be a slow and sometimes frustrating process even when it's going well, so why not take advantage of all of the technology that's out there to make sure that you're on the right track?

Anyone else working on getting healthier right now? How's it going for you?