Everyone with a smart phone knows there are apps available for almost anything, including managing your health. So, which apps will help you get healthy and stay healthy?
No phone app can do the hard work necessary to change bad health habits into good, or burn more calories for you, or do your cardio exercise, but some of them can be wonderful tools for helping you improve your health by providing calorie information, logging exercise, and providing motivation as you strive for better health.
Here are some apps we think are worth checking out. Ultimately, the ones that are best for you depend upon your personal health goals and upon your actual use of the app!
1. MyFitnessPal - keep track of the food you eat (calorie counter) and log your exercise/activity to help you lose weight. This app has the largest nutritional database, which makes it easier and faster to log everything you eat. Entries are automatically synced to www.myfitnesspal.com so you can use it online or on your phone. Allows you to customize goals, track your weight and measurements and view charts of your progress - all for FREE!
2. Lose It! - helps you set a daily calorie budget, track your food and exercise and stay motivated with challenges and social networking.
3. EveryMove - helps you make every active move count without buying an expensive fitness tracker. Users can earn points and get rewarded from brands, health plans and employers automatically for all of their tracked activities.
4. RunKeeper - track your runs, walks, bike rides automatically. Easily add indoor cardio, yoga and other exercise. Get training advice while you run and sync RunKeeper with other fitness apps like MyFitnessPal, Lose It! and others.
If you have a smartphone, try one or more of these free mobile apps and use it consistently for 7-10 days. You may be surprised to learn you only walk 3,000 steps a day and not 10,000 like you guessed, or that you are actually eating 2,500 calories a day, not 1,500. Knowledge is power. And, this knowledge could be exactly what you need to finally reach your health goals!
We've given these tips before, but they are worth repeating. Fast food restaurants are FINALLY giving a few more calorie friendly options on their menus. However, sometimes we think we are eating wisely when, in fact, we aren't. Here are a few examples from McDonald's menu. So, when you are craving something sweet, go ahead and have a reduced fat vanilla ice cream cone, but skip the large milkshake!
Bad Choice Better Choice
Chicken Club Sandwich (crispy) Chicken Classic Sandwich (grilled)
620 cal, 29 g fat, 1200 mg sodium 350 cal, 9 g fat, 820 mg sodium
Chocolate Shake w/cream & cherry Vanilla Reduced Fat Ice Cream Cone
870 cal, 25 g fat 170 cal, 4.5 g fat
Big Breakfast (no hotcakes) Egg McMuffin
740 cal, 48 g fat (yikes!) 300 cal, 12 g fat
It's June in Texas. Please don't forget to use sunscreen!
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