Welcome to Part 1 of our series on our top apps and gadgets to help you get fit and stay focused. Today we look at the apps to keep you and your family motivated anywhere, anytime and on any budget. This is where fitness gets futuristic!
My Fitness Pal
This handy free app just keeps getting better! Track your calorie, fat, protein, sugar, carb, fibre and cholesterol intake. Keep a fitness diary, add in your exercise, calculate calories burned and take advantage of the barcode scanner to find out exactly what you’re eating.
My Fitness Pal is also the perfect travel companion, as its database has more than two million foods and brands from all over the world to ensure you keep your calories in check.
Free for Android, iPhone and Blackberry.
Smash Your Food
This one’s for the kids! It was a winner of Michelle Obama’s ‘Apps for Healthy Kids’ contest and, while it may be a little American-centric, the overall message is a positive and educational one.
Smash Your Food is full of interactive games in which bad food gets smashed and squished as kids learn about the consumption of sugar, salt and fat, what makes food ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’ and the importance of exercise.
The app costs 99c for iPhone and $2.99 for iPad – available on iTunes.
Zombies, Run!
OK, so it doesn’t sound like your run-of-the-mill fitness app, but for those who like to add a little imagination or drama to their workouts or need to be scared to death into moving their butts, this is the perfect app!
Imagine you’re runner number five, hundreds of lives are counting on you, and you need to rebuild your base and save civilisation by collecting critical supplies while evading rogue zombie hoards … can you stop the zombie apocalypse?
This app is a running game meets audio adventure. Just put your headphones on and start running for your life – you’ll hear every guttural groan and rasping breath as the zombies come to get you! Get fit, escape the zombies, become a hero!
Available for Android and iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, $4.49 from iTunes or Google Play.
ibitz by Geopalz
Encouraging kids to be active is paramount if we want them to grow up to be healthy adults. The ibitz is a lightweight wireless pedometer designed to monitor kids’ physical activity.
It interacts with the free ibitz app and has a rewards platform where parents can create custom rewards programs. Kids can also earn coins and access to exclusive content for Disney’s Club Penguin.
By walking, running and playing while wearing the ibitz, kids blast through the galaxy on their chosen spaceship with their virtual friend GeoBotz, while also being encouraged to make healthy snack choices for the character.
By pressing on the ship, they can see the ship’s log. This shows their daily goal, total steps, steps for that day, vigorous minutes, farthest journey, average journey and total planets visited.
The device costs $49.95 from the Apple store, and the app is free from iTunes.
Stay tuned for Part 2: Gadgets on the blog soon!
I love Myfitnesspal! I also use the Fitbit app on a daily basis and an app called TactioHealth, which allows me to track my total health. Currently, my heart health is that of a 28 year old (yay, I’m down 2 years on real life!). TactioHealth tracks things such as your weight, fitness/activity levels, BMI, waist measurements, blood pressure, glucose levels, cholesterol, sleep etc. Based on the information you provide, it will calculate your risk of getting chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, metabolic syndrome. I highly recommend it as it also provides useful tips on how to improve your health.
I also occasionally use Map My Fitness (to track my 1km runs for my fitness tests especially) and FitStar for some short and sweet workouts!
Have to say, it’s not an app, but myyogaonline.com – I have a subscription (only $10 a month) to it and I use the classes every week! Not just yoga – dance, pilates and meditation too 😀
Love My Fitness Pal, it really helps me keep on track 😉 you can track how much water you are drinking as well.