1. Calorie Count
This one counts as both an app and a website since I use both frequently. The idea is simple, you log your food, beverages, weight and activities daily. Recently they've updated and added in Calorie Camp which is a neat feature. You have goals you try to met daily and achievements you work towards. For each goal you meet and achievement you obtain you get points which you can use towards coupons and discounts at different websites for healthy snacks and fitness gear. Beyond the basic calorie/fitness tracking you also get a daily analysis so you can easily see what nutrients you need more of (I struggle with iron and potassium) and what nutrients you need less of (I tend to toe the line with sodium everyday). Plus you get to participate in an amazing community of like-minded, encouraging people all working towards similar goals. Best of all, it's completely free. It's the most all encompassing program I've found yet for that price!
http://caloriecount.about.com
2. My plate
I haven't used this website as much as I should. In studying to become a personal trainer this has popped up again and again in my materials, and for good reason. This portioned out dinner plate is what the government has replaced the food pyramid with. It's simplified and easy to understand while showing you what you should be eating with each meal. It's also very kid friendly!
The website itself is pretty neat. You can go to the super tracker and set up a profile to get an accurate daily calorie allotment as well as a pretty easy to use food tracker. You can set up to 5 goals to try and reach and this tool shows you how much of what are you eating. I do think it needs some work, mainly needs to have more foods added in but from my limited experience with it I'd say it's definitely worth checking out if for nothing more than the nutrition and health advice found throughout the website. It's another freebie since it's government run.
3. The Eatery
If you're like most people you really don't want to spend your days obsessing over every calorie and morsel that goes into your body. Unfortunately you've heard over and over again that the best way to lose weight is to watch what you eat, to track your food intake and make sure it's balanced with your energy output. That's where this app comes in play. You snap a quick picture of each meal with your iPhone's camera, enter a few bits of information like how much you ate (anywhere from 'like one grain of rice' to 'The human stomach can hold 2-3 liters of food...') and then you post it. Your meals get rated by other users from 1%-100% healthy and you get to rate other people's meals as well. I have really enjoyed playing with the app, it puts an interesting spin on watching what you eat. It's also free.
4. Fitocracy
This app is a fun way to track your fitness, especially if you are a video game nerd like me. This little gem has everything a good, addictive video game should have, except it's all done IRL (that's in real life for all the non-nerds out there) and encourages you to be active. You have quests like 'Someone's chasing me!' which requires you to run a mile in under 10 minutes, or 'When I dip, you dip, we dip' which asks you to do 100 dips of any kind in your daily workout. Then you have your achievements like 'beast mode bench' which asks you to bench press at least 1.1x your body weight. And of course you get experience for each activity you log and you start leveling up in an attempt to make it onto the leaderboards. There's also a great community in the form of groups you can join. Again, it's free. Unless you want the ultimate nerd-goal, which is the ability to achieve titles. In which case you have to become a Hero and that will cost you $4.99/month or $44.99/year.
It's also worth noting that this program can also be used through their website, so if you don't have a smart phone you can still take part in the fun.
5. Zombies, Run!
I will admit, I haven't used this one yet. But I think it deserves an honorable mention on here because the idea is so amazing that I can't pass it up. I plan on buying this one soon. Very, very soon. It's a running app, but unlike conventional running apps this one takes you through a zombie infested world in which you are a runner and must leave your safe base to collect things like batteries, medicine and ammo which you do by simply going for a run. You have to decide who the items go to, what buildings need to be fortified and all the fun stuff that you would see in your basic zombie video games. It sounds like it would be so much fun to play, I haven't been this excited over an app purchase in a very long time. I will update as soon as I test it out! In the meantime you can go read all about it for yourself.
For now it's an Apple only app but the website says it is coming to Android sometime this spring.$7.99.
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