So… How are those New Year’s resolutions holding up? Sticking to your fitness regimen? In case that’s proving a challenge, we’ve compiled our top picks for health and fitness to help you meet those goals (while keeping your sanity).
The holidays are over and we’ve hit 2015. For many, that means fitness and weight loss resolutions to make up for holiday feasting. And while diets that rely on deprivation and sugar-free, food-free cleanses sound super reasonable, there’s a better option that requires neither starvation nor a gym membership.
Follow this simple recipe for long-term fitness success and I promise your resolution will be far easier to keep than relying on a liquid diet:
Mix one smartphone with the ingredients listed below. Open favorite health apps, utilize the resources inside, and repeat daily. Optional: Add a fitness wearable like the new Withing’s Activité Pop, the Microsoft Band, or a FitBit to help track your steps, heart rate, and calories burned, among other quantifiable health measurements.
Couch to 5K will kickstart your new year with its step-by-step training program set to get users in 5K running shape in nine weeks. Only requiring 30 minutes per day, and three days a week, the app is a perfect resource for beginning runners.
7 Minute Workout Challenge is designed to provide a high intensity workout in a short amount of time – meaning nearly every busy schedule can make room for it. It requires no internet connection and gives exercise guidance that can be accessed anywhere.
Another great workout app for those in a time crunch is FitNet. The app lets users customize intensity and desired length of time for each work out. It then shows a short prerecorded video of an exercise (which includes everything from yogalates to kettlebells), and uses your phone’s camera to track your activity and give feedback.
YogaStudio and other yoga apps are a superb way to bring a little calm into your life without paying for a studio membership. We’re also keeping an eye out for SmartMat, a connected yoga mat that is set to debut in 2015.
Stay on top of your workouts with RunKeeper, which has a feature that allows you to schedule work out reminders and set work out goals.
Then of course, there’s food. Obviously the easiest way to control what you consume is to prepare everything yourself. A new partnership between instacart and Yummly brings ingredients on-demand, making personal food prep all the more easy.
Healthy recipe apps ensure nutritious food ideas are always at your fingertips. Forks over Knives comes from the makers of the critically acclaimed film, and features more than 160 whole food, plant-based recipes.
Another ACT family favorite is Paprika, which helps you organize recipes, make meal plans, and create grocery lists. The app also lets you start multiple timers and seamlessly move between recipes, or share them with others.
My Fitness Pal keeps track of everything you do and all that you consume with its mobile food and activity diary. The app allows users to count calories and meet goals with its easy-to-use interface, and includes a massive searchable database of food.
For the nighttime hours Sleep Cycle helps ensure the work you do during the day doesn’t go to waste. The app analyzes the user’s sleep and wakes he or she up during the lightest sleep phase – making for much more pleasant mornings.
For iOS users, Apple’s Health app is a secure platform for storing fitness and medical data. The intuitive app gives users a comprehensive dashboard that allows them to engage with their digital health and well-being.
Need more incentives to keep you motivated? How about cash prizes?! Download the mobile app from DietBet and win money for keeping your resolution.
And for those with loftier new year’s fitness goals (much loftier than the author’s, might I add), check out all the apps needed for marathon training from The App Association’s resident runner, Whitley.
So whether you’re trying to stay lean and healthy in 2015, or completely transforming your physical fitness, mobile apps and wearables will help you along the way and keep you on the path to general wellness. Forget the monthly gym fees and extreme dieting. Just look to your phone and the App Store to find everything you need to make this year’s resolutions manageable.
Image: Justin Liew / license