Fitness, Weight Loss And Nutrition Apps For Your Phone

Do you use your phone to help keep track of your health? You wouldn't be alone.

According to the Pew Internet & American Life project, 15 percent of adults with cell phones use health applications on their devices. Meanwhile 17 percent of cell phone users look up health information while on the go. And while that might seem unimpressive at first glance, it is actually quite significant: in order to access most health information via mobile -- and certainly health-themed applications -- one needs a smartphone. And about 46 percent of American cell phone users have one of those. In other words, there’s an argument to be made that nearly a third of those who are able to access health information on their phones do so.

But are we talking about the sporadic symptom check on WebMD or something larger? About 27 percent of Internet users have tracked their weight and diet and fitness behaviors online. And with hundreds of apps devoted to helping customers meet their weight loss and fitness goals, there is clearly a market for mobile nutrition and fitness information as well.

There's also growing evidence that keeping track of weight loss, diet and fitness goals on an electronic device may benefit those who are trying to lose weight, especially if they are clinically overweight or obese. According to new research, presented at last week’s American Heart Association meeting, obese and overweight patients who used an electronic logging system that provided feedback and that was tailored to their needs, were more likely to stick to a five-point plan that was associated with sustained and successful weight loss. Compared to control groups that used a paper log or an electronic log without feedback, the participants who used an interactive electronic system were more able to maintain regular attendance at group sessions, meet daily calorie goals, meet daily fat goals; achieve weekly exercise goals; and keep track of their eating and exercise patterns. Over time, all three groups regained some of their lost weight, but the group with the interactive electronic logs regained the smallest amount.

Given those results, what are some of the best apps for weight loss? Below, our picks for noteworthy mobile nutrition and fitness helpers -- both the tried and true, like Lose It! and newcomers to the scene, like Fitbit:

Comments

[John Amstrong]

05:46 PM on 01/15/2013

For Android there is Nutrition Pro Manager, a nutrition app with scientific approach with many information and calculation functions based on your physical parameters.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=it.smh17.nutrition.pro.manager

This is my favorite app about nutrition, for exercises I use Jefit.

[Hamilton Hitchings]

11:46 PM on 12/18/2012

For folks trying to make it the gym regularly, the Gym Visits iphone app allows you to set your weekly goal and track your visits. It gives you prizes for working out and also making your weekly goal and its free. Here's a link:

https://itunes.apple.com/app/gym-visits/id563427624

[John Amstrong]

05:42 PM on 01/15/2013

For android I suggest Nutrition Pro Manager an app with scientific approach focused on nutrients and your body parameters

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=it.smh17.nutrition.pro.manager

[Hamilton Hitchings]

11:43 PM on 12/18/2012

For those folks just trying to make it to the gym regularly each week, check out Gym Visits iphone app. It allows you to set your weekly goal and gives you prizes about half the time you visit the gym and when you make your goal and best of all its free.

https://itunes.apple.com/app/gym-visits/id563427624

[fitcrazy]

06:52 AM on 08/28/2012

Check out this app:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weightmotion/id548576440?mt=8
The cool thing about it is that you can take pictures of yourself and then play an animation later on to see all the steps between the before and after. I get motivated by seeing the daily results :o)

[Kellidav]

10:17 PM on 08/13/2012

Have you seen the ChallengeLoop app? You can do fitness challenges with yourself and your friends and track your progress by posting photos & videos. It’s a free iPhone app and website. http://www.challengeloop.com

[Cecilia Ching]

04:59 AM on 07/18/2012

There's a new app due to launch soon called HealthyOut, which allows users to find nutritious dishes in their area based on a number of different filters, for example, vegetarian, low-fat, heart-healthy, etc. Their initial launch is going to be in the Bay Area, but they're probably going to capture urban markets across the country eventually.

[John Camp]

06:00 PM on 03/24/2012

I am a big fan of myfitnesspal, although some of the exercise calculations can tend toward the optimistic end.

[tuffymama]

01:42 PM on 03/24/2012

I'm having fun with Fooducate. It's horrifying how many of the "healthy" foods in my cupboard are really sucky.

[HiJingo]

07:09 PM on 03/23/2012

LoseIt is AWESOME and it's FREE. In this house, the two of us have lost over 60 pounds using LoseIt over a 6 month period.

[Jessicca Robertt]

04:54 AM on 03/23/2012

When you think of dieting, you can easily feel overwhelmed. You may need to count calories, follow a rigorous exercise regime, and monitor your daily progress and so on. However, phone users have access to a variety of interesting applications of weight loss that can help them with their diet program, providing them with the necessary software, calculator nutrition, proper education, weight loss and more. Each of these applications of weight loss have been established in a completely different way, so that you would like to test some of them before choosing the best one for your own diet needs. We're providing a list of telephone applications for weight loss that can get you started with your weight loss program:

Total Body Pump-This is a fantastic application that works best for those who are constantly on a training program to keep them fit. If you love your workout, then this application can help you with the phone daily workouts. If you believe that watching training DVDs or reading books is boring and too heavy, you can just opt for this application to level your training program.

MyFitnessPal Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker-This is one of those iPhone applications that come with weight loss of a large database containing information about 600,000 types of food.

http://www.apsense.com/article/raspberry-ketones-the-all-new-way-to-weight-loss.html

[nikki717]

11:19 PM on 03/22/2012

Every little bit helps

[Santinelli]

12:45 PM on 03/22/2012

Big fan of fat secret's Calorie Counter, as well as Endomondo for tracking my walks. BOTH work on Android AND Iphone.

[Slenderella Newman]

11:11 AM on 03/22/2012

Not a "weight loss" app but I love Endomodo.com. When I first started walking, I used it on a droid phone. It mapped my route, pace, time, cals, etc based on my gps, age, gender, weight height, etc. Later, when I became a distance runner, I bought a Garmin Forerunner, which I can load right into to my Endomondo profile stats. I also use a Fitbit Ultra for tracking daily steps, etc. It's now auto loaded into my Endo. Best part is the social media aspect of it. There are fun challenges and friends can send pep talks right to your device while you are working out. It kept me going when I wanted to quit.

[geogirl]

02:32 AM on 03/23/2012

I love my Garmin Forerunner. I like Endomondo, but I can't figure out how to copy workouts. IE, I should be able to duplicate a workout and add a new date instead of adding in all the information again. But aside from that, it's a great service.