Looking for a rec for a fitness app

[Bucky]

I'm needing to improve my health and lose weight. Back in January I clocked in at 190 lbs. Way way too much for my 5'7" frame. Since then I've cut back on the binge eating and tried to get out more and I just weighed myself at work at 173. These measure were on different scales, so 17 lbs down may not be a reliable measure, but it's definitely an improvement.

I'm thinking I need to be more disciplined tho. I've lost weight before but not gotten down to the ideal weight zone (mid 140s). I'm 53 and in good health (don't smoke, don't drink to excess, no major impairments, blood pressure at "prehypertension" levels), but pretty bad shape for endurance & heartrate. My hope is that the feedback loop of tracking my exercise & weight will facilitate my goal of getting to 150 by November (23 lbs in 7 months).

So I was looking at all the different apps on my smart-ish phone. I can't pick which ones to use. I want to track exercise, heart rate, and weight loss. Which ones have you used or heard of friends using?

[hlthe2b]

1. I lost weight and have religiously monitored fitness and food for nearly 3 years

Using Fitbit (their free app is very good and syncs nearly flawlessly with myfitnesspal, which I use to track food mostly-- it has a great recipe analysis tool and the most comprehensive food database I have found).

There are several long term duers using both. Good luck

[Bucky]

2. I saw them when I searched the app store on my phone. Will check them out

Many tanks

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. I've lost about 140lbs with

Fitbit and MFP, so more votes for them from me. You can see my weight loss story here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10428970/2-years-130lbs-and-a-very-long-post-with-a-pile-of-pics-at-the-end/p1

[Bucky]

5. Wow!

That's really an amazing accomplishment. Congratulations!

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Thanks! Good luck on your own journey to good health.

[crazycatlady]

3. What kind of phone do you have?

Samsung phones have a built in app called 'S-Health" that is pretty good. It tracks exercise, weight, water intake, caffeine, and food. It also is a step counter and gives you a goal to be active for an hour a day. Downside to the step/exercise is that the phone has to be on your person or it won't track it (perhaps in a bag when you're moving).

I also use an app called 'plant nanny' that tracks my water intake. YOu grow virtual plants by drinking water and they send a reminder to drink water every 4 hours. HElps because often it's 4 and I've only had coffee.

[Bucky]

6. Small world

I just got a new phone last week. And it is in fact a Samsung

I'll definitely check that out. Thanks

[LeftInTX]

7. I'm glad you were able to lose weight since January

I've gained weight ever since Trump won. Especially after he was inaugurated. I lost 20 pounds between 2014 and 2015. I've gained most of it back. I'm only 5 feet, so 20 pounds is alot for me.

I counted calories for about a month. It really helped. After I got in a regular eating habit, I didn't need to.

[Major Nikon]

8. I think fitness apps and other similar programs are highly overrated

That's just my take on them after having maintained a good fitness level for decades. Sometimes you need to find out what works for you individually, so if you need some kind of program or other sort of reinforcement and it works for you, by all means go for it.

All you really need to do in order to greatly improve your stamina and overall fitness level is to do cardio several times per week. You can do this by running, biking, or any other activity that gets your heart rate up. First you need to know your max heart rate, which is simply 200 at age 20 and is reduced by 1 for every year after 20. In other words if you are 50, your max heart rate is 170. That calculation doesn't work for everyone, but for the vast majority it will get you close enough. Then you simply target about 70-80% of that number. So in other words at the age 50 example, your target heart rate cardio range will be about 119-136. Stay in that range for 30 minutes and do this every other day or about 4 times per week and it won't take long to get in excellent shape.

While you can certainly invest in a heart rate monitor, many of them are hard to get consistent readings or are inaccurate and unreliable. Checking it with your watch for 10 seconds and multiplying by 6 works every time. Before long you will just know what your cardio range feels like along with the effort it will take to get there and you'll never need to check your heart rate.

[Bucky]

11. YMMV

is sort of a universal rule for all human endeavors. I find data feedback helpful.

[JodyStec]

10. Reply

Try using myfitnesspal or fitbit.

[DesertRat]

12. Another vote for MyFitnessPal and Fitbit

I've worn a Fitbit for 4 1/2 years, starting with the Zip, now using the ChargeHR. It really motivates me to get up and move by tracking my steps. It also tracks heart rate and sleep which I find very useful.

Even though I'm active, if I don't track my calorie intake, my weight starts creeping up. I love MyFitnessPal. Good luck!