New year, new you: 5 apps to shed pounds
VENICE BEACH, Calif. - It's new year, new you time, and if you're like me, you overate during the holidays, and you're ready to shed some pounds. It used to be that at this time of year, you signed up to Weight Watchers or renewed your gym membership. Now, we've got apps to help us, and they're free.
Since the most important way to shed the pounds is eating less--let's start with food tracking and MyFitnessPal. Set a daily goal--say 2,000 calories tops, and monitor what you eat to make sure you don't go over the goal.
The app has 4 million foods in its database, so when you're ready to track, just hold your phone up to the product, scan the code and it automatically gets added to your chart. You can also use it in many restaurants. For instance, at my favorite restaurant, Chipotle, where I
order the burrito bowl, I don't have to look up the calories because MyFitnessPal has Chipotle in its database.
TWO: Eating less food is the best way to lose, and upping your exercise will surely help the cause. Let's start with an app for folks who take their activities seriously. For this, I like Runkeeper, which can track everything from a workout here at Muscle Beach to running, walking, biking, yoga and rowing. It converts your time spent into calories burned.
THREE: Now what if you want to be a gym rat, but all the machines confuse you--you don't know what to do? For that, I like the app Jefit, which is like having a personal trainer in your pocket. You pick the workout--for instance, here's the 3 months from Fat to Fit--and it tells you exactly what to do, in text and diagram. So let's get to work on those lunges!
FOUR: If you don't have a lot of time for your workout, or if you're a lazy bones at the gym, there are tons of short seven minute workout apps.
I use the Bytesize 7 minute app every day--whether at the gym, in a hotel room, or at home and I like it because it's simple--it shows me the exercises to do in 30 second intervals, and I can easily follow--jumping jacks, push ups and the like. I combine it with 30 minutes of cardio and stretching as well.
FIVE: Finally, for those who don't like to go to the gym, there's no excuse not to at least try these step tracker apps. Pedometer ++ or Breeze for the iPhone, or Noom Walk for Android monitor every step you take--and the beauty is, you don't have to turn them on. They do it automatically for you, without draining your battery. Experts say we should walk at least 5,000 steps daily, and with these apps it's easy to see how you've done--and what you need to stay on track.
For instance, just writing this today, I've already put 1,000 steps before sitting down at the computer. I've just got 9,000 more to go, so I'm going to say goodbye and happy new year--I'm going for a walk!
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