A little hard work, a competitive spirit, and some Apps can help you get in shape. Cue the iPhone. Lightyears behind the majority of the modern world, six months ago I purchased an iPhone 5s from Verizon I would say it was worth it. For about three weeks I have been training for a half marathon. The first week I still has my regular old dumb phone, and would run with my iPod estimating my distance according to my run time and the good ol “eh I think I ran about three miles” technique.

Now with the aid of the technology that you people have been using for years, when I run with my iPhone, a pleasant little voice announces exactly when I reach each mile. I have also discovered the obsessive compulsive dream, where with the aid of an app every single element of calorie consumption can be logged directed into the phone to help you keep track of what you eat.

So, you’re thinking, what’s the big deal? You’ve known this stuff has been floating around cyberspace for the past few years, while I’ve been sitting around thinking phones were just for calling people. I’m not introducing any new technology, but for the competitive person, I’ve adopted a new perspective that makes working out and staying healthy a little less painful. If you too were raised on video games and yell out “first to finish wins” while eating a Popsicle, you are probably competitive and should probably listen up.

If looked at in a different light, your iPhone literally turns your fitness life into one real-live video game. You’re the main character. Coins or stars or kills or points are your calorie-goal. The objective is to maintain a healthy weight. The bad guys are doughnuts and milkshakes and those friends that always want to get fast-food at 1 AM.

It was possible to keep track of all the food you ate on paper before smartphones, but not possible to have the precise good and calorie count pop up at the push of a button and automatically subtract itself from a daily allowance, while keeping track of exercise and efficiently calculating it into the balance. And you’re not constantly using a slip of paper, but you’re constantly using your phone. It’s a virtualization of the world of fitness, where you not only feel good, you know precisely why, and it’s turned into a game with scores and points.

There’s hundreds of apps that will kickstart your adventure, but I use MyFitnessPal and MapMyWalk in conjunction with one another to record my progress. It all becomes a competition to reach the next step or next mile or calorie goal for the day. You’re racing yourself to get to the next level, whether you’re trying to stay the same size or lose weight. Instead of unlocking new items, you’re unlocking a new you.