Healthy Helpful Phone Apps

Today we are rarely away from our phones, so it just makes sense that we use them as a tool to help us with our health and fitness goals! Below are some helpful health apps for anything you are trying to improve in!

Tracking/nutrition

MyFitnessPal - this is probably one of the most popular food tracking apps. We at KPF utilize it for looking at our clients nutrition intake. It syncs up with the app we use for giving and tracking our clients workouts (see below). Since it is such a widely used app, the food database is far and wide. You can even use the barcode scanner for packaged food.

MFP is free but also has an unlimited version you can purchase. It is available for Apple and Android.

Foodility - this app is good to use if you are not tracking calories but want to be mindful of your daily intake. Foodility is a VERY simple journaling app where you can log your food, broken down into meals. You can add the time you ate and a picture of the meal. You can also add workouts you did that day and your water intake. There is also a space for general notes on the day (vacation, busy day at work, sick, etc). Foodility is free and available for Apple.

Ate Food Diary - similar to Foodility, Ate is a food journaling app, but ALL picture based. You can also put in any emotions or events linked to your meal so you can see any patterns!

Ate Food Diary is free and available for Apple and Android.

Prepear - struggling with what to make for lunches, dinners, or even snacks? Prepear has TONS of recipes you can sort through based on meal type, food restrictions, cuisine, who you’re cooking for, and even cooking time! There’s also a place where you can add items to a grocery list!

Prepear is free and available for Apple and Android.

Routine

Daylio - if your goal is to journal but sometimes you don’t know what to write, try Daylio. This is a great app to simply record your day. You can record your mood, if you ate well, exercised, drank water, as well as any other activities like chores/housework, social activities, and more! You can add other categories you want to record and activities within them. You don’t even need to type anything, you can just click a bunch of buttons, but you can add notes at the end. Journaling is a great tool to get all the thoughts out of your head and keep you in the right headspace, especially when you’re trying to achieve a health and fitness goal! I personally use this app and recommend it to a lot of my clients!

Daylio is free and available for Apple and Android.

Be focused - is great if you’re trying to increase productivity (and I mean who isn’t). Be Focused lets you set timers for certain tasks you want to complete, or at least work on for a certain amount of time - I am currently using it right now as I’m writing this blog! You can set how long the work interval is, as well as breaks between different work intervals. It will also log your tasks so you can see what you’ve completed!

Be Focused is free and available for Apple.

Sleep/meditation

Calm - need to relax, sleep better, meditate, or reduce anxiety? This app is for you! You can completely customize the app to suit what you need it for! You can do everything from put on sleep sounds, have it take you through a guided meditation, tell you a calming bedtime story, or take you through a series of breaths! There is a free as well as subscription option that gives you access to more! Calm is available for Apple and Android.

Headspace - this app is similar to calm but originally was focused on guided meditations. They have expanded their app to include wake up videos that have inspiring and interesting short videos to watch right when you wake up in the morning to start your day off on the right foot!

HeadSpace offers a free basic version but most of the content is available with their paid subscription. HeadSpace is available for Apple and Android.

Workout

Trainerize - in my opinion, this is the best workout app I have personally used, and I have used a lot. Trainerize is the app we use for our clients to give them their workouts. Once we import their workouts into their training plan, we can schedule the workouts on specific days in the calendar portion of the app, and the workouts can be moved around by the client if need be. Once the client is ready to start their workout they can see exactly what moves they’re doing along with how many sets and rounds. As they move through the workout - it takes them through each set move by move. And if they are unsure, or can’t quite remember how to do a move, they can tap the move and there is a short video on how it’s performed! They also record how many reps and if they used any weight with the movement. At the end it will have you rate the workout and you can add any notes. The coach can then see how many reps and what weight they used and how hard they felt the workout was so we can see if we need to tweak or change anything for the next time! We can then also see when and how long it took you to do the workout. The more info we know, the better we can serve our clients and give them what they need and want!

Trainerize free and is available for Apple and Android.

MapMyRun - this is a great app if you are an outdoor runner. Once you are ready to head out, you hit "Start" on the app and it will track you as you go! You can set it so it gives you splits on your mile (or KM) distance. You can also run your music through it and it will cut out as it’s talking to you.

Map My Run is free and available for Apple and Android.

Strava - similar to MapMyRun, Strava is a tracking program from endurance activities like: running, biking, swimming, hiking, skating, rock climbing, snow sports, and even canoeing! You can connect with others and share your activity!

Strava is free and available for Apple and Android.

Workout Maker - I used this app before I started using Trainerize. It’s a great app if you are skilled at making your own workouts and don’t want to carry around a piece of paper with your workout written down.

Workout Maker is free and available for Apple.

Yoga | Dog Dog - I just recently found that app and am LOVING it so far. I have always loved yoga but could never get into a good consistent routine without going to a class. YouTube has a lot of great videos but sorting through them and choosing one is not always something you want to have to do. With the Down Dog app you put in all your yoga preferences from: type of yoga, what you want to accomplish (flexibility, strength, meditation, etc), the type of music or sound, length of practice, and even the voice of the instructor! As soon as you are ready to do your practice you hit start and at the end you can save it if it’s one you want to do again, otherwise you can do a different one every time! There is a 30 day free trial and then after that you can wither subscribe monthly for $9.99 or yearly for $59.99.

Yoga | Dog Dog is available for Apple and Android.

Misc

Aqualert - Have a water goal but can’t remember how much you’re drinking, or keep forgetting to drink? Get the Aqualert app! You can keep track and get a reminder to drink throughout the day! Plus, it uses your activity level to calculate your daily water requirements so you’re getting what you need! Aqualert is free and available for both Apple and Android.

Clue - This is a period cycle tracking app. It’s super useful to track your cycle for many obvious reasons. The biggest reason I track is so I can see if my symptoms are related to my cycle or something else like a food intolerance. If you are eventually going to want to try and get pregnant, it’s very helpful to know when you cycle it so you can at least somewhat predict when your ovulation is. Clue also has insightful and educational articles to read every so often! There are many cycle tracking apps but this is one I have stuck with for the longest.

Clue is free and available for Apple and Android.

Achievement - Get paid for your activity! Achievement connects to a lot of activity apps like Map My Run, Strava, Fitbit, MyFitnessPal, and even the Apple Health App. Achievement gives you points for things like: steps, workouts, logging meals, logging hours slept, and doing surveys or reading articles. Every 10,000 points you get a $10 Amazon gift card! Just for doing the things you’re already [or should be] doing! It’s a no brainer!

Achievement is free and available for Apple and Android.