Over the years, I’ve tried a variety of health apps for calorie counting, workout suggestions and meditation. On a daily basis, I use the following apps to help track my food and workouts, while others I use to time my sets and find new workout routines.
myfitnesspal
myfitnesspal sits on my iPhone app doc at the bottom of my home screen because I’m constantly logging my food all day long. I religiously log all of my meals in MFP so I can track my calories and macros for each day. I like this food tracking app the best because you can monitor protein, fats and carbs, as well as most foods being easily searchable.
Pro tip: Log your meal prepped food in at the beginning of the day, any snacks you anticipate and your plan for breakfast, see where your macros are at. If you know you’re having dessert tonight, log that first thing in the morning and adjust your meals accordingly.
Strong
To keep track of my workouts and specific weights I use for each exercise, I use Strong. Not only does it remember what weight and how many reps you lifted the last time you did each exercise, but you can save three “routines” (more if you upgrade). I save my exercises for legs, back/bi and chest/tri days to reference weekly. The app doesn’t let you slack either! It reminds you after a couple minutes of inactivity that it’s time for your next set. If you have an Apple Watch, you get these updates on your watch, too.
GymBoss
For all of my HIIT workouts and ab day exercises that I do for time, I use GymBoss. This app allows you to create different timers with a set number of intervals. For example, if I wanted to do exercises for 45 seconds, then rest for 15 seconds, I would set one timer with two intervals (one for 45 secs, one 15) and select the number of rounds. Once you start, you’ll hear a beep when it’s time to switch so you know it’s time to rest or get back to work. I find this easier than having a stop watch going on my phone.
Zones
This app is for all my Apple Watch owners out there. Since the Apple activity app is kind of lame (sorry Apple), I use zones to monitor my heart rate throughout my workouts. Inside the app you can select a specific workout and see when your heart rate was at peak, cardio, fat burn and warm up intensities. Underneath that, it breaks down the time spent doing the workout, calories burnt, average % intensity, average heart rate, min/max heart rate and more. Whenever you log running as a workout, GymBoss gives you stats on your pace.
You can also see which days you did not complete a workout. I sometimes forget how long it’s been since I’ve taken a rest day, so I reference this app.
HeadSpace
Recently, I’ve started prioritizing meditation in my daily routine. I definitely notice a difference in my attitude and perception after meditating, which is why I’m working on forming a habit of doing it every night before bed. HeadSpace offers meditations for a variety of “packs” to help with sleep, focus, recovery, motivation, happiness, self-esteem and more. They recommend completing a basic pack of ten to ease you into your meditation practice.
The famous Pinterest made the list because I’m constantly on the app looking for healthy recipes and workout ideas. When I first got my Instant Pot and Air Fryer, I think I spent hoursss on here looking up recipes. This is also the best way I’ve found bloggers and foodies I like to follow. (You can follow me on Pinterest here!)