Lose Weight with the Help of an App — Getting that weight down doesn’t have to feel like a chore. It’s totally possible to make working toward a goal fun and rewarding, and apps that keep you motivated definitely help. From keeping track of what you’re eating to providing encouraging reminders, they are a must-try for anyone on a mission to better themselves.
Here’s two weight loss apps that have stood out amongst the rest…
Lose It! The best app for streamlined calorie counting
Lose It is laser-focused on the business of counting calories, and so it does away with its rival’s tedious menus and blog posts. It’s a slightly more accessible and fun experience, as revealed by its playful icons and clearly visible forums for socializing among friends and communities. On a more practical level, it allows you to connect with apps ranging from Runkeeper and Nike+, and the premium plan of $2.99 per month produces meal plans tailored to your needs.
Lose It has a massive food database as well and allows you to identify the food you’re eating solely by a photo. Sometimes the SnapIt feature works perfectly but more often than not you’ll need to choose the proper food from a list after the snap.
Fooducate: The best app for explaining the pros and cons of food
Chances are you’ve looked at the nutritional information on the back of a food package and had little idea of what to do with it. Most of us at least understand that fewer calories is generally a good thing, but that understanding dwindles the further we dive into the mysteries of sodium and carbohydrate percentages. Fooducate, though, translates all those numbers into a language we can all understand. It specifically lets you know why a certain food is good or bad for you, and all it takes it a simple scan of a package’s barcode.
The scan, in turn, takes you to a page where you’ll see the letter grade Fooducate gives the food based on a number of factors. Scan a stick of Toblerone chocolate, for instance, and a warning will appear that it scored a D+ because it contains five teaspoons of sugar per serving and because the package size leads to overconsumption.
In this case, that means that even though the big black number on the box says it contains 180 calories per serving, you’re at high risk of consuming 510 calories if you eat the whole thing. (It’s worth noting that Fooducate lists it as 170 calories by serving and thereby reveals the danger of inaccuracies in the listings, to say nothing of the misspelling of “Swiss” in the product’s title.)
The commiseration and defiance in Fooducate’s comment sections is rewarding in these moments. One user says in regards to Toblerone: “It’s so delicious no matter how bad for me.”
Beyond that, Fooducate lets you share recipes and ask questions in forums. Upgrade to Fooducate’s premium plan, and you’ll even get Fooducate’s detailed information for pet food.
Lose Weight with the Help of an App — Health-e reporting with source: Loseit; fooducate
