Thinking about shedding some weight and getting fit before the New Year? Thanks to your smartphone and the wide world of the Internet, it's never been easier to adopt, track and maintain a healthy lifestyle. From digital diaries to more sophisticated constructs like Gympact, digital tools are at your disposal, motivating you to lose that gut and up your fitness level.
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But any good health expert will tell you that physical activities are only half of the equation. In order to prime your body for weight loss, muscle gain and higher energy levels, you must also watch your nutrition levels and maintain a healthy diet. And while there's no panacea for getting rid of the excess poundage you've accumulated (thanks to late nights of dollar beers and taquito platters), there are a melange of diets to suit your specific needs. The best part, of course, is that there's no nutritionist, meal delivery or book required -- these dieting platforms will help you lose weight and keep it off at roughly the price of a large coffee.
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Here's a roundup of some standout diet apps, based on some popular dieting methods. What's your go-to diet application or software? Let us know in the comments.
Perhaps the most popular system to keep track of calories, MyFitnessPal is essentially a comprehensive food dictionary and diary that assists in the raw numbers of calories-in, calories-out dieting. Simply type in your height and weight, your average exercise level and your goal weight, and MyFitnessPal will set a recommended daily amount of calories to safely lose those pounds.
While it doesn't offer recipes, MyFitnessPal stores the nutritional information of an amazing number of food items, both store-bought and at popular chain restaurants. For example, a simple type of "Denny's Grand Slam Breakfast" will yield multiple user-produced entries for the popular breakfast meal, including optional additions such as hash browns and pancakes. MyFitnessPal tries to take the headache out of calorie counting by providing as many of these items as possible, and for the most part, it succeeds. The app does require an active commitment, though, so don't expect it to work miracles if you're less than inclined to record your intake (or fudge it).
MyFitnessPal is totally free, and operates in a comprehensive browser app and via every major smartphone carrier. The only investment you need to make is your own effort.
Another food and fitness diary, LoseIt! is a sleek and stylized program that relies on user input to accurately read and record the calorie count of every meal -- as well as exercise regiments. That sounds like a tall order, but LoseIt! incorporates an important feature to jumpstart your commitment to a healthy lifestyle: gamification.
From the moment you start your tailored diary program to the moment you achieve your first weight or maintenance milestone, LoseIt! awards badges for a user's hard work. The app also rewards for burning calories and longstanding trends; the "Inferno" badge, for example, rewards a user for "burning an amazing amount of calories for eight weeks in a row." In addition to badges, LoseIt! sends weekly motivational emails and progress tracks to keep users from derailing.
