chart from withings scale (aff) that is awesome by the way

Hi, I’m Derek, co-founder of Vima. I’ve been making fitness software for several years now, (4 years with my own company and several years before that as well), but I’ve had a tendency over the years to actually use it less and less. I’ve continued to bike on a more occasional basis, but hadn’t really done any running since college, before the iPhone even existed.

This spring I went and asked a group of runners on Facebook what they were looking for in a running app. You know, market research, and maybe a tiny little bit of shameless self promotion. I got quite a few good ideas, but one key thing they told me was that I should try running myself and I’d know. I’ve never particularly enjoyed running. Especially considering I’ve suffered from asthma for longer than I can remember. That being said, I took them up their advice, and started running.

From the start of the year I had been trying to lose weight and get in shape through a combination of watching what I eat (thanks MyFitnessPal) and biking with Vima Bike. By the time I started running, I think I had lost 10-15 lbs already. But, because I really want our apps to be the best they can be, I decided to add running into the mix. Vima Run is our most popular app so it seemed like a good idea to really put it to the test.

I’m happy to say I do really like using our app, especially now that I have an Apple watch. Having it right there on my wrist is fantastic. That being said, running 3-5 times a week for the last 3+ months has given me more ideas for what features I’d like to have myself. It also lets me know what current features I like the most, and which I don’t use very much.

Audio feedback is fantastic. I’m never going to get my phone out while running. The watch is nice, but it’s even better to have my current time, speed and distance spoken through my headphones while I just focus on running.

I really like the charts showing my distance over the weeks and months. It’s a great motivator to keep trying to run more often and farther to keep those bars going up.

I also enjoy our new splits feature, something we added at least partly because I wanted to see them myself. I like seeing what my fastest mile was and keep trying to improve it. (Still slow, but improving).

As for features we don’t have yet but will add in the future because I want to use them myself? Intervals, auto-pause, heart rate monitors, and a few others.

Anyways, it turns out eating salad for lunch everyday and running a few miles ~3-5 times a week will help you lose weight. I know, crazy right? Since the beginning of this year I’ve gone from 210 (tied for the highest I’ve ever been) to 165 (lowest I’ve been since freshmen year of college, over a decade ago).

The first day I ran my lungs were burning before I hit 1/4 mile. Not joking. I’ve since managed to go over 5k a few times, and run(/jog/walk) 2-3 miles 3-5 times a week. I feel better, I look better, and I even feel better about myself. Most amazingly, I’m starting to quite like running. For a guy with asthma that’s saying something. As a bonus, getting in better shape has helped my breathing somewhat as well. If you also want to get healthier by running you should check out our running app.