How Effective Are Diet And Exercise Apps At Helping You Lose Weight

There's no denying the fact that we are tied to our phones. Texts, emails, phone calls, virtual meetings, alarms, timers, flashlights, social media, if you can think of something involved in everyday life, it's on your phone. If we are going to be tied to our phones, let's use them to benefit our health. There are over 250,000 fitness and health apps available for smart devices. That's a little overwhelming when you are trying to decide what to do, which ones I need, and which ones will benefit me the most! Let's look at fitness and health apps and see how we can improve our health by using them.

What You Eat Matters

Vegetables, fruit, and lean proteins are good for you, there's no doubt, but everything has calories. EVERYTHING!! Sometimes we adopt the misconception that if something is healthy, we can eat a lot of it. Lettuce has calories; it really does!! It may not be a lot of calories, but they do exist. I know I operated for a long time under the assumption that if the food was healthy, I could eat as much as I wanted, and it wouldn't affect my weight. We all tell ourselves many misconceptions about eating because it can be so hard to follow a healthy, strict diet plan. Enter diet and health apps. There are a lot out there, I know; I've used several. I have had success losing weight using diet apps, but it doesn't come easy. It takes time and work to plan out healthy meals, log them in the app, find their calorie content, and fix and adjust to make sure you don't go over a certain calorie allotment per day. It's not easy; if you want to be more muscular, you can't be lazy and make it work. Weight loss apps can help you in a lot of ways. They can:

• Take your height, weight, age, goal weight, and other factors into consideration to come up with how many calories you can have per day to promote healthy weight loss
• Provide calorie content for fruits, vegetables, and most all foods, allowing you to count up all the calories consumed each day in your food intake
• There is usually a barcode scanner you can use to identify the nutritional information on all different types of food
• Lots of health apps have the nutritional information on foods served at restaurants, letting you know how to plan your day around what you eat there
• Easy access to keep track of your weight and progress in your journey 
• Health apps offer healthy recipes, meal recommendations, and exercise plans you can follow
• There is usually a community tab where you can connect with other people using the app, hear testimonials, share ideas, and connect with other people who are on a similar journey 
• Provide support, ideas, and meal plans for those following keto, paleo, and vegetarian diets

A study done in 2010 showed that over 88% of those in the survey that had joined an internet-based weight loss community of others on the same journey found more motivation in being part of a group and had more success than those who chose not to join in the group program. Support is always an added benefit in any journey, especially in a weight loss exercise journey!

Fitness Apps

For those interested in becoming physically active, fit, and more muscular, there are so many great fitness apps out there to help you take control of your physical health, which can lead to healthy weight loss. Fitness apps can provide many significant bits of help for you, some of which are:

• Fitbit has become the most popular exercise tracker; usually a device you wear (watch or wristband) that connects to an app on your phone; it keeps up with how many steps you've walked, miles completed, flights climbed, and it also measures your heart rate and sleep habits. The Fitbit app will help you to manage your weight with a place to enter the food you've eaten, allowing you to keep track of how many calories you have consumed
• Fitness apps can track your steps and far you've walked/jogged, and most can; more, sync up with the health app on your phone and take into account your steps/workouts, which allow you more calories you can eat, according to how many you've burned working out
• Fitness apps can also calculate your BMI (body mass index, a way to measure your body fat based on your weight and height)
• Some fitness apps can provide you with personalized fitness plans, fitness challenges where you can compete with others, and guided audio workouts
• Certain fitness apps will help you by mapping out good trails for you to walk, run, bike and hike
• Specific apps for yoga offer many options, all from the convenience of your device
• Strength-based fitness apps give you weight building workouts you can do with weights or whatever household items you have nearby

These are just a few of the many things that fitness apps can do for you. If you are willing to put in the work, this could be an excellent tool for your fitness journey!

Hard Work Produces Good Results

There are so many great diet and exercise apps, each with its pros and cons.  Which ones are best for you depend on your own goals and lifestyle. Whether you use an app, a nutritionist, a personal trainer, or a specific diet plan, the rate of success you will achieve depends on your drive and how willing you are to put in the hard work to see the results you desire. To be rich in your health requires hard work and sacrifice, just like being wealthy in finance. The best apps for you will be those you USE and put in the time to track your calories and track your exercise. When we put in the hard work, go the extra mile, and make the sacrifices, we will see the achievement of our fitness and diet goals. Being healthier is always a good goal to strive towards, with a happier you as a great benefit!

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Sources:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-best-weight-loss-apps

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/can-app-help-lose-weight-201411207537

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-17/mhealth-apps-wellness-and-fitness-apps-not-always-proven-to-work/9758720#:~:text=You%20bet%20there%20is.,apps%22%20%E2%80%94%20available%20for%20download.

https://www.everydayhealth.com/weight/weight-loss-apps-likely-to-help-you-shed-pounds-an-analysis-finds/

https://www.healthline.com/health/diet-and-weight-loss/top-iphone-android-apps#ideal-weight

https://www.marieclaire.com/health-fitness/news/g3845/best-workout-and-exercise-apps/