Tag: Diet »

Nutrisystem has announced their new digital weight loss system, NuMi. Designed to allow people to effectively undergo what they call "Responsive Dieting," this system will adapt to users' individual needs and preferences. The features include a patent pending behavior modification system, mentoring, integration with a variety of fitness devices and more.

Numi is available now on iTunes, with cross-platform support to the desktop so that fitness can be tracked anywhere.

As we mentioned in our favourite four apps for keeping New Year resolutions, weight loss (as well as getting into and staying in good healthy shape) tops most people's list of desired self-improvements. Few other goals are harder to achieve, however. We don't have the secret formula, but we do have four iPhone apps that make getting into the right shape a lot easier. Hit the break for our favorite four apps to do just that.

Anyone who wants to lose weight knows that motivation is the main thing that's needed in order to achieve such goals. How can that motivation be gained, however? While it can all be done internally, sometimes it's useful to have something visual to look at during regular intervals which is exactly where SlimBooth might be of great use.

It's an app that allows users to see a full body picture of how they'd look if they were slimmer. It's quick to implement and can give a great insight into just how they could look if they slimmed down a bit. Once the transformation has taken place, users can then choose to share the results through all the standard social networking options and show off their new potential look.

While SlimBooth makes a point of being primarily an entertainment app rather than anything scientific, it's still a great idea that's bound to appeal to many in need of a bit more motivation.

SlimBooth is out now, priced at $0.99.

Welcome to 148 Pounds, charting my personal journey to pull myself out of obesity and jump into a more healthy lifestyle. Over the next 26 weeks, I’ll be testing apps that will assist me in the journey from overweight to healthy.

As a quick introduction to my story, I’ve battled weight problems since elementary school, being an overweight child and having it transfer into adulthood. I had a brief period of time where I was able to lose 80 pounds during my senior year of high school and into my freshman year of college, but unfortunately as many who battle with weight issues will attest to, keeping the weight off is hard work.

With the recent birth of my son, I have been continuously attempting weight loss plans that I have been unable to commit to, either from lack of true dedication, time required, or a whole slew of other issues. The reality is that I have to motivate myself in order for any plan to truly work. So here I am, opening myself up to the 148apps world.

I’ll be using 4 main types of apps during this process. The 4 categories of apps include: Calorie Counter/Food Journal Apps, Exercise/Fitness Apps, Healthy Eating Home/Out Apps, and Weight Loss Progress Apps.

Depending on the scope of the apps reviewed, one app may occupy several categories at a time.
During this process, I’ll be trying to review one app a week. Based on the performance of the app, it may replace a “core” app in my weight loss plan, become an addition to current apps I am using, or not fit anywhere that would truly benefit my plan.

In the spirit of full disclosure, it’s my intention to also be actively utilizing other resources to further my weight loss goals. My first resource will be weight watchers, and it’s my intention to take a look at the weight watchers app once I get started there.

So now for the uncomfortable part, the disclosure of current weight and goals. As of today I weigh 328 pounds. Given my height of 5 feet 11.5 inches and my larger frame, my ideal goal is around 180 pounds. As fate would have it, that’s exactly 148 pounds. I wish I could say that was manipulated in some way, but it is not.

Goals are subject to change based on the direction of professionals and my overall health. I’ll be visiting a doctor once this really starts moving to ensure that my weight loss plan isn’t putting myself at risk, and given my lack of experience with weight watchers, I can’t say what they are going to try and put my end number at.

At the end of the 26 week program, the 148apps editorial team will review the progress of this article and the availability of weight loss apps, and the scope of this article may change. I look forward to the journey with the readership at 148Apps, and welcome suggestions for apps or just general tips and advice.

I encourage anyone who has benefited from the app store’s health and fitness apps to share their story as well, in the comments section below!

Now that New Year's Resolutions are well in our rear view mirrors, it would be easy to just forget they ever happened.  If you are like ninety percent of the general public, you probably decided that this would be the year that you finally drop those extra pounds that have been following you around for the last few years.  The trick is, how do you go about doing this as effectively as possible?

The good folks over at Weight Watchers have heard your concerns and released an update to their popular app, custom designed to help make shedding a couple of extra pounds that much easier.  Like most software of this kind, the base application is free, but in order to get the full featured functionality, users must sign up for Weight Watchers' online service.  That said, it does offer a fairly substantial taste of the proverbial honey, to those that are not willing to pony up initially.

• See a new Featured Recipe daily, and save 10 favorites


• Create shopping lists from recipes


• Make smarter food choices with interactive Cheat Sheets


• Get inspired by Success Stories, find tips and helpful articles


• Find a Weight Watchers meeting in your area


• Connect with your community friends, update your profile and upload photos (free registration required)

While yes, this is a pretty solid featureset for the tightwads among us, it is nothing compared to what the full subscribers will receive.  Some of the special abilities granted to those with deep pockets include the ability to track their points from within the application, access to over thirty-one thousand recipes, and guides for making smart meal choices.

For the hefty among us looking to shed a few much needed pounds, this might be just what the doctor ordered!  So why not give it a download and see what you think?  Afterall, even if you are trying to lose weight, the first taste is always free.

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In an age of fast food, saturated fats, artificial sweeteners, and Olestra, it is easy to lose track of what we are putting into our bodies.  After all, why would you bother making a run to the grocery store for fruits and vegetables, when it would much quicker to hit up your local McDonalds and order up a Big Mac, with a large fry and fruit smoothie?  As much as I would like to think that this tropical flavored slurry might count as a serving of fruit and the tub of french fries a vegetable, I know that it is really doing more harm than benefit.

The question becomes how can we manage our hectic lifestyles and still keep a firm grasp on what were are devouring?  Munch 5-a-day, a recent addition to the App Store, looks to address this issue, by providing an easy method to record intake stats, while motivating you to bring a better balance to your diet:

By using Munch 5-a-Day, users can record and track their fruit and vegetable intake, challenge themselves to eat more fruit and veg, and improve their diet.  Fruit and veg consumption can be recorded by simply tapping fruit and veg icons on the app’s home screen each time the user eats a portion of fruit or veg.  Each ‘munch’ is recorded in the goal bar on the home screen, showing the user’s  progress over that day.  The remaining munches needed to meet the daily target are also displayed on the app icon on the springboard.

Users can set their daily munch goal from the app’s Goal Screen, and receive a congratulations message as soon as the goal is met. By tilting the phone 90 degrees, users will be able to see graphs of their fruit and veg consumption over the past 7 or 30 days, helping people to keep track of what they are eating.  Integrated social networking functionality also allows users to share their success with friends by posting colourful messages and graphs on Twitter and Facebook, encouraging others to eat more fruit and veg and adopt a healthier diet. -- via Munch5aday.com

Using a steady diet of positive reinforcement and a user-friendly interface, this app hopes to change the lives of so many for the better.  Integrating Facebook with the application is another stroke of genius, because it adds elements of peer pressure into the mix.  If I knew that my successes and failures were being shared with the entire world, I would be more inclined to participate as well.  Now if only they could make celery taste better...

Update: Brian Atz, Founder and CEO of Intelli-Diet, has informed us that the application was successfully submitted and approved by Apple, and is now available to buy. You can download the application through the links below.

Dieting applications and weight planners need something special to make them noticed. It seems that in today's fast-paced world, the 'newest diet' lasts only five minutes until a newer one comes along. But most of these plans all have one thing in common: calorie counting. It's tried and proven. Or is it?

"After spending $100s on weight loss books, I learned the same thing over and over, eat less and count calories. What I needed was a plan!" writes Brian Atz, the 26 year old Founder and CEO of Intelli-Diet. "To adopt this lifelong, healthy lifestyle, I needed to understand how many calories I burned a day, how many calories I should eat a day, what percent of my calories should come from protein ... needless to say, this was way too time consuming, and I quit after 2 weeks."

Intelli-Diet does things a bit differently. Instead of offering a standard run-of-the-mill calorie-based application for tracking your weight, the application provides three steps to a healthier lifestyle. The first is a personalized eating plan, with no calories mentioned. Next up, an automated grocery list that only has items that you actually like. Thirdly, Intelli-Diet provides weight loss tracking charts and tables for a quick visual reference as to how your diet is going. In addition, the application integrates with Twitter and Facebook so you can keep everyone in the know (if that's your thing).

"The day I picked up my iPhone, I had an epiphany. This little device, which is always with you at all times, had the power to convert this wealth of data into a format that people can actually use to lose weight." says Brian. He has since partnered with a Chicago-area registered dietician and developed a database "using the healthiest, most economic and accessible foods" around. The application is now live and priced at $3.99

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