After weeks of indulging, toasting, and feasting, come January first our gusto usually turns toward shedding those extra holiday pounds. Eat better. Get in shape. Lose weight. These are probably the same New Year’s resolutions you made in 2011… and 2010… and 2009… You start off with motivation up and spirits high, but by the end of January or beginning of February, most people tend to go back to their same, old bad habits. Don’t let another year slip by you!
Here are five tips and twelve apps to help you keep your weight loss goals on track in 2012:
1. Make a Plan and Track Your Progress
Popular diet and fitness site, SparkPeople.com, offers a free mobile app for iPhone/iPad, Android, and Blackberry users. The SparkPeople Food & Fitness Tracker fully syncs with your online account and includes calorie and fitness trackers, healthy living tips and advice, fitness goals, and metrics on weight and progress over time.
This is a great all-in-one tool to help you with your fitness goals in 2012!
2. Watch What You Eat
Diet and exercise go hand-in-hand when it comes to staying fit, but how do you know if you are consuming more than you are burning?
The Lose it! app (free in the App Store and Android Market) calculates exactly how many calories are in everything you eat- from cocktails to cupcakes- and the amount of exercise needed to burn it off. You can also enter your goal weight, current weight, height, and age into the Lose It! app and it will tell you exactly how many calories you should consume each day to get you where you want to be.
Some other great apps to check out are DailyBurn (free in App Store and Android Market), the 40:30:30 app for Apple, and the Diet Point app for Apple and Android. These will help you figure out the right amount of carbs, proteins, and fats for your diet.
The Good Food Near You app (free for Apple, Android, and Blackberry) and Restaurant Nutrition app (free in the App Store and Android Market) will help you make healthy food choices while on the go.
3. Stay Well Hydrated
Drinking plenty of water is essential when increasing your activity and reducing your food consumption. In fact, dehydration can trigger overeating and sluggishness, since many people mistake feeling thirsty with feeling hungry.
Waterlogged (free in the App Store) and Drink More Water (free in the Android Market) can help you track your water consumption, even allowing you to set reminders and daily goals so you never forget your “eight glasses” a day.
4. Get Moving
Featuring over 1,000 exercises with detailed instructions, photos, and animations, and 75 full workout routines tailored to specific goals like building chest muscles, toning your rear, losing weight, etc., the Fitness Buddy app ($0.99 in the App Store) is like having a personal trainer in your iPhone.
This resourceful little app will even provide a workout routine based on the equipment that you have available. So you don’t even need to have access to a full gym to workout.
Another great app is FitSync®. Available for $4.99 in the Android Market and in the App Store, this app provides over 2200 exercises with videos, 800 workouts, and 80 routines. You can also track your progress, then compare and share with a world-wide FitSync® Community.
5. Have Fun
The primary reason people give up on their fitness goals so easily is that working out just isn’t very fun. Say all you want about endorphin and runner’s highs, but when it comes to going for a 5 am run in the middle of winter versus staying in your warm, cozy bed, chances are sleep will win most often.
So, what better motivation to hop out of bed than a pack of snarling zombies nipping at your sneakers? Yes, Zombies.
Zombies, Run!, a new app set to release in early 2012, is an ultra-immersive running game that works anywhere. Plug in your headphones and listen to a story that takes place in a zombie-filled, dystopian future in which you are a “runner”. Your job is to collect supplies like ammo, medicine, and batteries for the remaining survivors. The more you run, the more stuff you acquire.
With this app, you can also create a custom playlist and track your distance, time, pace, and calories burned on all of your runs.
Zombies, Run! won’t be available until February 2012 for the iPhone and iPod Touch and in Spring 2012 for Android. (Approximately, the time of year when your motivations are likely waning…) However, the game is available for pre-order for $12. This may be a lot for an app, but it’s much cheaper than a gym membership.
Hi guys, I would also recommend using apps which is similar to what i have. Mine is an iphone app which is called “body compare” and it lets you take progress photos and easily compare them. As i see my progress each day, it really keeps me motivated to work out and lose more weight. This s where i got it, you can check it out
http://bit.ly/xiDlZB
Wow, Grace, you really did your research. Thanks! I have a couple of these and will look into the others – especially that zombie one.