Having a weight loss or fitness tracking application, or app as they are more commonly called, is an inexpensive and easy way to lose weight and keep fit. They can easily be downloaded to almost any smartphone, are very simple to use, and range in price from free to only a few dollars.
This article will discuss some of these apps and what they can offer the user.
Weight Loss Apps
- Lose It – This app can track food consumed, nutrients, calories and can even track your budget. It also has a challenge function that allows you to compete with anyone else who has the app. The information can be uploaded to a computer to better keep track of your progress.
- Diet Hero – This app is unique because after inputting what foods the user likes and also what foods are available in their home, it will then tell you the healthiest options available. Another feature uses the basic information of the user such as height, weight, and weight loss goals, to determine exactly which foods to eat and how much.
- Calorie Counter Pro MyNetDiary – This app is great as it will track all of the necessary behaviors that are required for proper weight loss. The app tracks sleep, diet, exercise, and more to give you a complete snapshot into how to improve your weight loss chances. It also gives immediate feedback on food entries and gives advice on how to make them healthier.
- Diet Assistant: Weight Loss – This app helps you track meals, nutrition, workouts, and other facets related to weight loss. It also has a great collaborative feature that lets your friends join to support you, or for some healthy competition. Additionally, it helps you eat right by helping you create shopping lists to plan meals in advance.
- Fooducate Nutrition Scanner – This app scans barcodes on products at the grocery store to determine exactly what is in the foods you are buying and also how it was made. It will tell the user such things as the chemical make-up, if there is too much salt or sugar for your diet, and more. This app will also provide alternatives for what you are buying and then grades in terms of healthiness scale.
- Noom Coach – This is called an “anti-diet” app. It is designed to help you alter your eating habits for life, allowing you to become a healthier person overall and not just to lose weight at a given time. It will give you reminders to eat properly and also gives you feedback on what you’ve eaten, and how you can improve.
Fitness Apps
- Pact – This unique app allows you to bet on whether you reach your fitness or nutritional goals. For example, a person can wager money on themselves (called a Pact) to go to the gym 3 days a week. If they succeed they earn between $0.30 and $5. If they do not keep the Pact their account is debited the amount of the wager. The app is paid for by the people who do not fulfil their goals.
- Nike+ Training Club – This app lets people choose an individual workout or a four-week plan to get fit. There are over 100 programmed workouts for beginners through to advanced.
- Google Fit/ iPhone Health – Both of these apps do the same things for their devices (Android and iPhone respectively.) They can track steps, stairs walked, foods eaten, sleep, and more. These are more like “overall” fitness apps and they come standard on each phone.
- 7-Minute Workout – This app is great for people who either don’t have the time or money to go to a gym. These 7 exercises maximize time and energy for the best workout in the shortest time. It is a scientific workout that has been reported on in the New York Times.
- DailyBurn – The website of the same name has hundreds of workouts for people to try. This app conveniently allows people to use them on their phone whenever and wherever they want.
- Endomondo – An seemingly complex app from the brand Under Armour that tracks workouts, routes, feelings, weather, workout goals, and diet goals. In actuality, users find all of the different metrics quite easy to maneuver and also very effective.
- Fitbit – This app is popular because it doesn’t always need an external wearable device. Instead, it tracks routes, distances, pace, and other metrics from inside a pocket. It is very useful for walking, jogging, and cycling.
These apps can be very useful for weight and fitness tracking. Most are free but if they aren’t they will only be a few dollars. Weight and fitness tracking applications are an inexpensive and reliable alternative to gym memberships and personal trainers. There are many options to choose from so the right fit should be easy to find!