The Best Websites/Apps for Tracking Nutritional Intake, Fitness Levels and Weight Loss

Studies show that keeping a food diary of all the food and exercise you do during a day can almost double your weight loss totals. In 2013, the classic food diary has moved into the digital space opening up the exciting, quick and user friendly world of web food diaries and apps. Not only do these sites and their apps calculate calories, sodium, sugar and daily nutrient intakes they also track your weight loss, your exercise goals and even foster online fitness communities. Read below to find out which one might be right for you and your needs:

Online Tracking for the tech-adverse:

Nutrimirror.com allows Diabetic users to track their goals, glucose readings, fitness history and keep their dietary needs in check. Although the site is not strictly for diabetics, Nutrimirror is a great resource and community for those with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes needs. The site also has more nutrition and food diary printables for those without smart phone access or who are not web savvy.

For the competitor:

You have a competitive streak and you want to get motivated? Try Slimkicker.com which allows you to “level up” and play a game as you track your weight loss, nutritional and fitness goals. This site also offers an iPhone app, a simple easy-to-use interface and a great online community of competitors just like you.

For the on-the-go techy:

Need an app and online site that offers you tons of options while also being quick and customizable? Myfitnesspal.com offers both an app and website that have easy options like the recipe builder, food scanner (in the iPhone app) and the “most recent foods” as well as a great selection of fitness choices. The community is encouraging, local and a little less competitive than Slimkicker. Overall, Myfitnesspal is a good app and site for those who want to customize their weight loss, while not measuring against other users. This app also generates reports, analytics, graphs and overall metrics for the data obsessed.

For the VIP:

You want to get fit so much you’re willing to pay for it? Myplate.com is a freemium website/app which allows users to either choose to keep on using the free features or upgrade to premium features for a price. Since this is the premier site, it offers a lot of innovative tools while becoming the leader in the tools it originated. This site has a bank of nearly 1,715,200 foods and 1,500 fitness activities. It boasts a recipes function like Myfitnesspal, but takes it a step farther and lets you see other member’s meal plans and incorporate them for a premium. The freemium model also offers map tracking of running/biking/hiking/walking activities as well as a specialized diabetic track and a quit-smoking function for iOS products.

For the off-roader:

Fitday.com offers a unique feature that none of the other sites do, a desktop application that does not need an internet connection to work. This is great for those that are tracking on business trips, at workplaces where some sites might be blocked and for those without a wireless hotspot. Fitday also offers an iPhone application and runs on a freemium model. Colorful graphs, an easy-to-use interface and customizable diet plans. This also offers simple, color-code graphs for non-math majors.

We’d love to talk to you about your weight loss goals, personal training needs, and fitness objectives. For more information about Federal Hill Fitness, please visit us at fhfitness.com.