Video Transcript
Marianne: The Nerds on Call with the apps you want to check out in 2017. Hey guys!
Cody: What are you trying to say?
Ryan: I’m not saying anything. You look great! You don’t need this! But here’s the thing, is American’s number one resolution is to get fit or to stay or get in to shape, but only 8% of us are able to keep that resolution at any time.
Cody: Eight percent?
Ryan: Eight percent! So that means that 92% of us, we’re just too lazy.
Cody: Fail!
Ryan: So, here’s some things that can kind of help you out. So, we’ve talked about this before. This is called My Fitness Pal, it’s an app you can put on your phone. The great thing about this is it tracks your food intake. Here’s the weird thing is if you do food journaling, it will double your chances of losing weight. Double!
Cody: Because you’re like, you don’t like writing down, “I had four donuts.”
Ryan: Yeah, if you have to write that, or if you have to tell your wife, “Yeah, I had four donuts today.” You’re not going to do that again. Every time your reach for that donut you’re going to stop yourself.
Cody: I’ve got the now donut and the later donut. What’s that?
Woman: What’s the app?
Cody: My Fitness Pal.
Ryan: It’s called My Fitness Pal and it’s free, and one of the best parts of it is you can use a barcode scan, so if you eat prepackaged food or whatever you can scan that. But it also has restaurants in it!
Cody: Nice!
Ryan: So when you go to Chipotle and you eat that burrito and you’re thinking, “Man, I’m getting the 540 calorie burrito.” No, you’re getting the 935 calorie burrito, because it tracks it for you. So that’s pretty cool!
The other cool thing is it syncs with other apps. So if you’ve got a little fitness band, like a Fitbit or a Jawbone, it’ll sync with that, also Runkeeper, all those other apps. And so it puts it all in one place so you know how many calories you’re taking in and how many you’re pushing out.
Cody: That’s awesome.
Ryan: That cool? Now let’s say you want to work out. We’ve all heard of Daily Burn, but it’s really expensive. This is a cool free app that you can put on your phone, your iPad, your whatever. It’s called Freeletics.com and what this is, is it uses your own body weight kind of against you. It sets up a bunch of routines, 10 to 30 minutes are the workouts, and you can do them anywhere. All you need is a little yoga mat or something if you don’t want to slip around, but otherwise you’re fine. It sets up these great little things. And look, they got some great success stories and stuff, and it’s totally free. So if you just want to do some quick workouts, that’s the way to go.
Cody: I could be the before in all these pictures, it’s nice.
Ryan: Yeah! So Runkeeper. This is another great one. If you’re going out and doing running, or walking, or even biking, Runkeeper will keep track of your calories out that you’re expending. Also, GPS coordinates, tells you where you are. And you can share your runs on Facebook, so that way your friends can cheer you on, that kind of stuff. It also syncs with Spotify, so if you’re listening to tunes, it’ll sync with your run, and you can listen to all your favorite songs while you’re doing it.
Cody: One more for us.
Ryan: Last one, Smokefree. So there are still people trying to kick it or they’re trying to go to vape, or whatever, but this is called the Smokefree app. The cool part about this is, it gives you tested, proven techniques to stop smoking. And it also gives you little badges and little rewards. The cool part is it tracks also your health and how much money you’ve saved. It’s not going to come up here…but it shows you how much money you’ve saved, and gives you little rewards.
Cody: That’s very motivating. To save all that money.
Ryan: Knowing that I saved $30,000 or something, it sounds pretty cool.
Cody: I think that’s pretty good. I’ve now, congratulations to me, I’ve been 46 years smoke free.
Ryan: Congratulations!
Cody: Thank you, thank you.
Bethany: That is an accomplishment. Well done!
Losing weight/getting fit is the #1 resolution of Americans year over year. Yet research shows that only 8% of people actually achieve their New Year’s Goals. We’ve got some apps that can help you keep those “get healthy” resolutions. Perhaps 2017 can be the year that you smash those health and fitness goals!
Track your calories in & out
My Fitness Pal is totally free. Studies show keeping a food journal DOUBLES your weight loss, My Fitness Pal allows you to log foods you eat & activity to see calories in vs. out. It has a database of more than 5 million foods including popular restaurant foods and packaged foods. You can scan barcodes on packages to auto-enter the information. Foods you eat regularly are saved for quick entry and the app syncs with many apps like Jawbone and FitStar.
Workout anywhere
Freeletics Bodyweight is one of the fastest-growing apps available on iOS and Android with over five million users in more than 160 countries. It offers short, high intensity interval training workouts that are tailored to your fitness level. The workouts use just your own body weight so you don’t require weights or machines. The workouts can also be completed in 10 to 30 minutes, so there’s no excuse for not finding the time! The free version gives you access to individual exercises and workouts. The “Coach” program is about $35 for 15 weeks, that gives you a guided weekly workout plan. You can personalize the program with how often you want to work out and your workout goals (build endurance, build strength, etc.) and the program gets progressively more challenging.
Run, Bike or Walk farther
Runkeeper is free for iPhone and Android. You should launch app when you start your run, walk or bike and the app uses GPS to track distance & speed. It estimates calories expended and you can manually enter data from a treadmill or stationary bike.
Quit Smoking
Smoke Free is free for iPhone and Android, and the app tracks how long you’ve been smoke-free. It shows money you’re saving by not buying cigarettes which acts as a real incentive to keep on! You also earn badges as you progress to add to the incentive. The app promises “over 20 different, evidence-based techniques to help you become – and stay – smoke free.” It lets you log cravings & get tips for dealing with them. A map function shows where cravings congregate, so you can identify places to avoid if you can! It tracks patterns you follow so you can take preventative measures. You are able to purchase specific goal-based “missions” via in-app purchase. The price appears to be around $7 for regular mini goals to keep you motivated.
Bonus Tip: Make yourself accountable
Use social media to share goals with friends so they can encourage & support your efforts
Get your head right
Headspace Meditation Assistance is an app that helps you get it together. Meditation & mindfulness can help you gain calm focus to achieve your goals, don’t let “life” steer you off track. You can start with the free “Take Ten” program which teaches basics of meditation & mindfulness it offers 10 days of 10 minute sessions. Then, if you like it – subscribe for $13/mo to access library of 100s of hours of content. It has guided & unguided exercises ranging from 2 minutes to an hour.
Plan healthy meals to avoid last minute take out
The Mealime app lays out a week’s worth of meals. It has super simple instructions & meals are typically ready in 30 minutes or less. The recipes are designed to make enough food for one dinner and one lunch for one person. The app automatically builds a once-per-week optimized grocery plan. Items are grouped by likely location in grocery store, so if you’re not a grocery shopping pro you can shop with relative ease. Something we like is that it encourages not wasting food, it gives the exact amount of ingredients to buy and meals are planned to use overlapping ingredients. The app is free for all basic features, or $5.99/mo for “Pro”. Pro includes nutritional info, option to build meals from favorites and view previous meal plans.
About The Author: Andrea Eldridge is CEO and co-founder of Nerds On Call, a computer repair company that specializes in on-site and online service for homes and businesses. Andrea is the writer of a weekly column, Nerd Chick Adventures in The Record Searchlight. She prepares TV segments for and appears regularly on CBS, CW and FOX on shows such as Good Day Sacramento, More Good Day Portland, and CBS 13 News, offering viewers technology and lifestyle tips. See Andrea in action at callnerds.com/andrea/.
