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I shared a month ago that my goal for 2013 is to lose over 30 lbs. I did great in 2011 and then went off and had a baby in 2012… so here I am back where I started.
I’ve done weight watchers for years, but in all honesty I am tired of logging into the app and even more tired of paying for it. There are so many great apps out now that are FREE, so why pay $20 a month ($240 a year!) when you don’t have to?
I have found two apps so far in my first month off of WW that I love. I have no doubt there are more, but I thought I would share these two to help anyone else in my boat.
My Fitness Pal
The best replacement I’ve found for food tracking is My Fitness Pal. It’s easy to use, and treats every food as a calories (like you should) so you learn that while fruits and veggies are low calories they aren’t exactly free. My favorite part is that at the end of the day I don’t just see a break down of the calories I ate, but also the nutrition values. My Fitness Pal has an app for most smartphones and an online dashboard if you are away from your phone.
All I did was track the food name and how much I ate, but I get so much more than just points! You also track your exercise in the app, at the end of the day you are given your total calorie loss or gain. For extra motivation, when you close out a day’s food entries it tells you how much you would weigh in 5 weeks if every day was like today. While I know every day can’t be alike, it is fun to see when you’ve had a great day!
The last part of My Fitness Pal that is fun… you can follow friends and cheer them on and get encouragement yourself. If you want to start with a buddy you can add me as friend. Just promise to be encouraging when I have a bad day…
Strivv
If you need motivation to get moving, then check out Strivv. It’s a free app for iPhones that gives you motivation with an in app game. You build a small world and pass challenges to earn more money to buy more plants and trees. I know it sounds a little like playing Nintendo in the early 90’s. In reality it’s addictive. At night my husband is ready for bed and I’m climbing the stairs a few more times just so I can plant another tree. By the end of the day I may have climb 400 stairs that I didn’t have to (my bedroom is on the first floor) just to plant more things!
If games don’t do it for you, Strivv has a charity side where you can start a walkathon with friends also using the app. The more you all move the more real money you donate as a group.
Just so you know Strivv has a pedometer you can buy to work with the app, but your phone will work just fine too. The phone will miss a few steps and stairs but is a lot cheaper than the $60 pedometer. To be open I do have the pedometer, I asked for it as a Christmas present this year. I don’t always remember to wear it though, and just use the phone app on those days.
There is one more fun part about both of these apps. They work together! I can import all my Strivv steps into My Fitness Pal so that it can calculate the calories burned for the day.
I’m always up for checking out more apps. Do you have any that you love?
