When it comes to diet and exercise, if you can't do it for the rest of your life, it isn't going to work.

This should make sense. If you start a restrictive diet to lose weight, get down to a weight you are happy with, but then go back to eating the same type and quantity of food you used to, you will gain weight again. Also, if you go to the gym, but hate what you're doing there, you aren't going to keep going (and you're probably going to be pretty lazy about what you do while you are there).

The way you lose or gain weight is pretty simple. If you consume more calories a day than you burn, you'll gain weight. If you consume fewer calories a day than you burn, you'll lose weight. It's really that simple. You don't need a restrictive diet, extreme exercise, or diet pills - just focus on (1) calories, (2) cardio, and (3) strength training.

Calories

The amount of calories you burn during the day depends on your physical activity, but generally, the average male will burn about 2,500 calories a day, and the average female will burn about 2,000 calories a day. You can find out about how many calories you burn each day here. 

So, an effective "diet" is to focus on eating about 500 calories less than you burn each day. The nice thing about this is you can still eat the things you like, so long as you don't consume to many calories, which means you are going to be much more likely to stick to your diet, and lose or maintain weight.

The question is, how do you know how many calories you are consuming? You have to count them. Don't freak out. It's pretty easy. The best service I've found is Lose it! It's free, and you'll love it. Most people are shocked at the amount of calories they eat, and find they can cut down their calorie consumption dramatically by just eating smaller portion sizes. A lot of people are also shocked by how many calories are in some of their low fat food choices like pasta.

The next step is regular exercise.  The type of exercise you do doesn't matter, as long as you include some cardiovascular exercise (like running, cycling, or soccer) and strength training.  Try to do something active at least a few times each week and find some friends to keep you motivated.

Cardio

As far as cardio goes, if you're looking for a fun way to engage with your outdoor exercise and activity, try RunKeeper. RunKeeper does a great job tracking your activities and motivating you to set goals, beat your past records, beat your friends, and just get out and do something active. It's for everything, not just running. RunKeeper also tracks how many calories you burn during you activity, so that means you know exactly how many more calories you can eat after doing an activity with RunKeeper, which is pretty great. Or if you go out and eat or drink a bit more than you wanted, you can use RunKeeper to figure out what you need to do to burn enough calories to get back under your calorie budget for the day.

Strength Training

Strength training is a critical (but often overlooked) element of your weight-loss plan.  There are numerous benefits to strength training, but here are five of our personal favorites:

Strength training can boost your metabolism, speeding up weight-loss

Strength training also strengthens your bones

Strength training makes your body look more "toned" and defined

Strength training improves your heart health

Strength training can reduce your risk of injury

Our team has been working hard on the future of Vitogo, gearing up to launch Version 1 this Winter.  We couldn't contain our excitement much longer, so we launched this blog to share our ideas, milestones, updates on Vitogo, and most importantly, everything you want to know about health and fitness.

What is the Problem we Solve?

It's no secret that strength training is a crucial component of a fit and healthy lifestyle.  Whether your goal is to build muscle, lose weight, firm and tone, or just get healthy, strength training (along with proper nutrition and cardiovascular exercise) will help you achieve your fitness goal.

The problem is that strength training can be confusing and intimidating.  Any time you walk into a gym, you can see numerous "lost" members, who fall into three categories. 

First, there are the "cardio bunnies," who will jump on the elliptical or the stairmaster and not leave until their workout is done (or an episode of the Biggest Loser is over). They might try to do a few sets on a machine or two, but wouldn't dream of going near the free weights! 

Next, there are the "wanderers."  Wanderers roam about the gym, observing what other people seem to be doing, and piecing together a routine.  Wanderers are usually too intimidated to ask for help, and tend to go to the gym intermittently, never achieving any real results. 

Finally, there are the "researchers," who will buy books, magazines, and videos, and search the internet for exercises and strength training programs.  The problem that researchers face is that the programs that they find in books and on websites aren't tailored to their personal fitness data and goals.  It's easy to find a "15-day Ab Buster" strength training program online, but what do you do once those 15 days are over?

What is Vitogo?

Vitogo is "your strength training architect."  It is an iPhone app and website that takes users' personal fitness data and goals and builds them a personalized strength training program. 

Users can take their iPhone to the gym with them, and Vitogo will walk them through their strength training program, showing them how to do their exercises through videos and descriptions, counting them down through each exercise, and sending all the data back to the Vitogo website. 

On the website, users will be able to see detailed graphs and analytics for their own strength training activity and share it with their friends.  Game mechanics, like badges and a leaderboard, are built into Vitogo to help keep users motivated.  After 5-6 weeks of completing their exercise program with Vitogo, users will automatically progress to a new program.

How are we Different?

Vitogo is different from other strength training and fitness apps out there because:

Vitogo actually builds personalized programs from a large database of exercises based on the data and goals that users enter into the app on sign-up.  Most other strength training apps only provide a list of exercises for users to choose from, which is no different than bringing an A-Z text book of strength training exercises with you to the gym.

Vitogo incorporates game mechanics and the support of friends to keep users motivated.

Vitogo gives users detailed graphs and analytics of each exercise they complete, tracks their progress, and shows how close they are to achieving their goals.

Vitogo helps users progress by giving them an updated program every 5-6 weeks. this is critical to ensure that users don't plateau or get bored with their current program.  As far as we know, there is no other app that provides this service.

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