Finding the motivation for a healthy lifestyle can be a difficult, time consuming task. While it is much easier to glue yourself to your bed and eat Ben and Jerry’s all day, where is the excitement in that? Where is the challenge? Let's face it, a good challenge is healthy once in a while. I recently lost 20 pounds battling the freshman 15, and I have these health apps to thank.
1. My Fitness Pal
In my opinion, this app is the first app you should download if you're trying to start a healthy lifestyle. No matter what your goal is, My Fitness Pal will point you in the right direction. You can keep track of the foods that you eat throughout the day and the nutrition facts of those foods.
Some restaurants and dining halls even have barcodes associated with their food, so that you can scan all of the nutritional facts. It keeps track of the workouts you do, the amount of steps you take, and the amount of calories you burn.
2. Sweat With Kayla
This app is mainly targeted toward women, but is certainly not limited to them by any means. It was created by an Australian fitness trainer, Kayla Itsines, and has made a tremendous impact on women all over the world (Check out her Instagram for proof).
It’s a 13 week guide basically instructing you what to do every day, and the best part is that there aren’t any workouts meant to last longer than 45 minutes. I recommend Sweat with Kayla to those who are determined to actually lose weight and commit to the journey because it does take patience and it does cost money.
And the good news is, there is a seven day trial, so you can test out before you make a purchase. If you need some more convincing, checking out this article.
3. Fitonomy
If you ever find yourself at the gym and have no idea what to do, this app can definitely help you out. One of its best features is a section that provides you with a lot of different workouts for different parts of your body. It even demonstrates how to do them.
(Although a lot of the features on the app require you to buy them, it can still be useful without making a purchase.)
4. Yummly
This one is for all of you who want to start eating healthier. Throw away all that junk food and download this app.
It features healthy recipes, the amount of time it will take to make them, and the amount of calories in each serving. Even if you don’t like to cook, it’ll give you an idea as to what is considered healthy.
5. Map My Run
There are a lot of apps that are very similar to MapMyRun, but I recommend this one in particular because it’s the one I use. It’s made for all of you people who would rather run on a trail or in a park than on a treadmill.
I love this app because it tracks and records the route that you run along, notifies you every time you hit another mile, and records how many calories you've burned. And if you’re not a runner, you can also try Map My Ride (for bicycles) or Map My Walk. In general I find my scenic runs much easier when I use this app.
There are hundreds of health apps out there, which can definitely be overwhelming when deciding which ones to download. These five are the ones that have helped me the most throughout my self-care journey, so I'm encouraging you to try them out and let them guide you towards a healthier, happier lifestyle.