Compelling Testimonials

An obese man downloads an app and loses 62 pounds, becomes a runner, and his kids are now getting in on good wellness habits, too.

A woman recovering from surgery gains weight and hits her all-time highest weight. Becoming depressed, she resolves to make a change and downloads an app that helps her reach a goal. She loses the weight, gets her energy back, and fits into the dress of her dreams for her renewal of wedding vows.

A pre-diabetic can barely run 50 feet. They download an app, start running, love running, and lose 70 pounds. Their diabetic symptoms disappear entirely, and they regularly jog a mile and a half.

The Common Thread: Fitness Apps

These are just some of the stories of people who wanted to make a change, and found fitness and wellness Apps to help them reach their goals. We researched the best current apps out there and wanted to share what we found.

Overall Fitness/Workout Apps

MyFitness Pal (iOS, Android, Windows Phone)—This app is a calorie counter, activity tracker, and food log, a sort of fitness swiss army knife of an app. This highly rated app was aquired by Underarmour in the last year or so, so has received a lot of improvement and support that a big brand offers. Cost: $10 per month or $60 for year, and there’s a free version as well.

Pocket Yoga (iOS, Android, Windows Phone) – An easy-to-use yoga guide. The app has three vinyasa-based classes lasting 30, 45, and 60 minutes at three different levels (beginner to advanced). It has beautifully illustrated human form cartoon sequences. You can pause classes mid-session, use it on Apple TV, or with AirPlay. Cost: $2.99 with in-app purchases.

DietBet (iOS, Android) – Diet Bet is an app and community where you buy into a goal. If you make your goal, you win money, and if you don’t reach your goal, you lose your money. Two of the stories above are from Diet Bet users, which seem to be more than common among Diet Bet users. Some folks may be hesitant to throw down cash on a goal, but research has shown the efficacy of putting money on the line/ rewarding oneself with cash for reaching a goal.

Gym Genius (iOS) – This app is a workout journal, the app version of the workout notebook. It has an easy-to-use, streamlined interface that people like. It has reporting feature (see a graph of your progress) and workout customization (choose from preset exercises or add your own). Reviewers reported that they love seeing their progress and like that they don’t have to carry a notebook around the gym. Cost: $2.99.

Runtastic (iOS, Android) – This is mainly an aerobic activity tracking app. The company also makes several other sport-specific trackers. Runtastic tracks your time, distance, and location. It also gives you detailed reports of your activity like average pace, elevation, and average heart rate (for Pro users). You can also share your run report details on social media if you’d like (great for wellness accountability and reaching your goals). Some users report frustration with rounding down mileage in the reports as well as functionality and bugs in the app, but overall the app has a high rating. Cost: Free, but has several Pro features/ in-app purchases.

Zombies, Run! (iOS, Android, Windows) – This ingenious app takes a creative and innovative approach to fitness motivation. Zombies, Run! is a story-based app about living in a zombie-infested, post apocalyptic world. And you have to run to get away from the zombies. The app’s fun and its story involves more than running. You’re on your way to society’s last outpost, and you’re also tasked with getting supplies, rescuing survivors, and defending your home. This app isn’t for everyone, but people who like it LOVE it and report a lot of success in wellness and weight loss. The app has award winning design and voiceover acting. Cost: Free with upgrades and in-app purchases.

Cycle Cast (iOS) – This app is on-demand spin class, complete with music playlists and instructor coaching. The workouts are crafted by five different instructors who release new workouts frequently. Each workout has customized music. It has Apple HealthKit integration (where it uses your personal information to push data to HealthKit and other apps you may have synced with HealthKit). Unfortunately the app is iOS only (they’re working on Android), and you do have to have an internet connection to use the app. Cost: $9.99/ month or $89.99/ year.

Eating & Meal Planning Apps

Healthy Out (iOS, Android) – This app is a sort of Yelp for healthy eating. It has filters/ categories like heart healthy, low carb, low calorie, paleo, gluten sensitive, lactose free, vegetarian, and lots more. Search by location and filter by dining in, carryout, or delivery. Anyone who’s on a special diet or trying to eat healthy knows that trying to eat out is difficult, especially when you’re traveling. This app does the heavy lifting of finding restaurants and even specific menu items that will fit your diet. Cost: Free.

Plan To Eat (iOS, Android, Web) – Plan To Eat is a meal planning app. It doesn’t have a native app (stand alone app that functions independent of a web browser) yet, but they do have an app shortcut available for your smartphone. It takes you to your web browser where you can view your recipe book, planner, and shopping list. It allows you to add recipes manually, import them from the web, or add ingredients by cutting and pasting in bulk. When you plan a meal on your meal calendar, it automatically adds those ingredients to a shopping list. You can organize shopping list by preferred stores. It also organizes the list by grocery department (produce, meat, dairy, etc.). You can also share your recipe book with other people and look through others’ recipes. Cost: At $5.95 a month or $39 a year, it’s an affordable way to keep your food planning in one place and come up with instant shopping lists. (Pssstt…secret: they run a Black Friday sale every fall for 50% off an annual subscription, usually in October.)

Food.com – Recipes, Shopping Lists & Meal Plans (iOS, Android) – The Food.com app is similar to the Plan To Eat and other meal planners in that it allows you to put together a recipe collection and browse online recipes. It’s a nicely designed app that draws up a shopping list based on recipes planned, and even will show you what’s on sale at your favorite stores so you can meal plan around that. There’s some feedback online about the difficulty of logging in and some of the app’s functionality, but overall it’s rated highly on both iTunes and the Google Play stores.

Do Fitness and Wellness Apps Really Work?

Are fitness and wellness apps a workout panacea? Definitely not. But as this recent study showed, they can help remove barriers to establishing new, good habits, the kind of habits that help us reach our goals and become healthier. They can provide social support, accountability, guide to incremental success, and motivation to keep going.

What about you? Do you have a favorite workout or wellness app? We want to know what you like and what’s working for you!

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