Filing fit: Self assessment health tips begin
In January, getting returns completed and submitted on time may take precedent to many other things in a practitioner’s life - not least, their health.
Long hours spent sitting at a desk, poring over returns is not good for both physical and mental wellbeing, inducing stress, lack of movement and potentially unhealthy eating.
To help combat this, we’ve put together a fitness programme from now until 31 January, using web and smartphone apps to assist time-strapped accountants in fitting in exercise, stretches and strengthening.
We’ll post the health app of the day on the health, wellbeing and fitness discussion group every working day from now until the end of self assessment season, and will include one for each of the following categories:
- 14 Jan - Overall training
- 15 Jan - Healthy eating
- 16 Jan - Quick-fix workout
- 17 Jan - Yoga
- 20 Jan - Swimming
- 21 Jan - Getting enough sleep
- 22 Jan - Desk stretches
- 23 Jan - Strengthening & toning
- 24 Jan - Walking
- 27 Jan - Calming
- 28 Jan - Cycling
- 29 Jan - De-stressing
- 30 Jan- Mental health monitoring
- 31 Jan -Stop smoking
At the end of the season, we'll be writing a round-up review of the apps and how whoever participated found it.
Fitness app of the day: MyFitnessPal
Kicking off day one of the SA season health drive Filing Fit programme, is our choice of an overall fitness app that will guide you through the rest of the month: MyFitnessPal.
For those who aren't familiar with this hugely successful and free app, available on all smart devices and in browser on your laptop or PC, it's basically a calorie and exercise tracker that will help you reach your goals.
It’s simple to set up - you can log in with your social media accounts (don’t worry - they won’t post anything to your profile!) and then enter your height, weight and target weight loss or what weight you would like to sustain.
After that, simply enter in what foods you eat throughout the day and how much exercise you 
do, from the most basic - i.e. walking down the road to the shops, to the very extreme. You can use it to track how many calories you can eat while sustaining your goals and at the end of the day, once you click 'complete', the app tells you how you’ve done.
This app gets quite addictive after a while and it’s fascinating gaining an insight into what you eat on a daily basis - it’s changed my whole diet.
It recognises all food brands and even tells you how much of each vitamin and mineral you eat - and if you have something that’s not on there, it’s quick and easy to create an entry for it, which can be used by other users.
You can connect with others using MyFitnessPal - friends, colleageues - or simply keep it private.
We'd love to know if you have tried this app out and feel free to add me (and others, should they submit their names) to share progress.
If you've got any suggestions for overall fitness monitoring apps, leave a comment below and we'll have a look at those, too. Happy fitness tracking!
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