Apps are appropriate for your healthy goals

By Lissa Wohltmann

To meet your healthy goals it is so important to get some real human feedback. We aren’t programmed to “go it alone” and for most people it’s not really fun to exercise by yourself. Well, perhaps it is for the few that interact with the public daily and need to get away, but for most, you really need that support to lose weight, work out, or just eat healthy. For those times when there’s no one around that either understands you or just plain can’t be available, you should turn to your iPhone or smartphone. There’s a myriad of apps that can help you. If you aren’t quite into running, but can’t take the monotony of simply walking, then download the free app, RunKeeper (only free for download in January—RunKeeper lite is free always). This will monitor how long you’ve been running or walking, can make a sound of your choice at every interval you program it, and can tell you how many calories you’ve just burned. It’s a great little application that can even be tied to your Facebook or Twitter account so that your online friends can comment (and keep you motivated).

If you want to keep your caloric intake equal or less than your expenditure, then download MyFitnessPal or Lose It. All you need to do is input what you ate and how much; the device will tell you how many fat grams, calories, carbs, and other items of interest is in your food. You can even input your activity for the day, which gives you extra calories to eat and still lose weight. If you want an online coach to help you with running, download MiCoach. This will help you speed up and work on winning that next 5K or 10K run.

Of course, if you don’t have a smartphone or choose not to take it with you on your exercise routes (after all, you may not want 100 percent accessibility by phone), there’s a website for you. Log onto SparkPeople or MyPyramid to have free access to an online healthy diary. You can log in what you’ve eaten and the amount, and the program does the rest. It even sends you periodic motivational messages to encourage you to reach your healthy goals. Of course, there are more websites out there to help, but these are the main ones where you can start. If you know of other sites or apps, please let me/us know. We always love hearing from you.

And as always, stay tuned………….