Body Blog: iPhone Apps to Keep you Fit

I’ve resisted buying the iPhone for three reasons.

A) It’s freakin expensive.
B) EVERYONE has one and, well, I just don’t want to be like everyone else.
C) If my boss was to find out I have internet access at all times, she will think it’s OK to email me outside office hours.

But recently I spent hours, yes hours, playing with my friend’s iPhone: I visited FMyLife.com, I Facebook-stalked, I discovered there are health and fitness applications! It was the most fun I’ve ever had.

So before I bite the bullet and buy one of these suckers, I want to share my fave nutrition and fitness-related apps with you.

1) The LIVESTRONG.com Calorie Tracker
If you’re like me and often find yourself looking up the calorie content in everything, this one is for you. Not only does it help keep track of your daily calorie intake, but you can also see how many calories you’ve burned throughout the day.

2) Restaurant Nutrition
This one is a little scary, especially if you tend to hit up Chili’s too much. It provides you with nutritional information for 37 popular chain restaurants. So before you order that bacon cheeseburger, check your iPhone. You may want to pass.

3) Weightbot
So cute (!) and apparently one of the most popular apps. When you launch it, you enter your height, weight loss goal, and the date you want to reach it by. Then each day, you enter your weight and it will calculate your BMI. It basically just helps you see your weight loss progress so you can stay on track and not forget about your goals.

4) iFitness
A personal trainer on my phone? Hell yea. From the home screen, you can access specific exercises, workouts, and pre-set routines. Once you get to the exercise screen, the real fun happens: you can browse exercises per muscle group or individual muscle. An actual series of images will show you how to perform each movement. And finally, you can create your own workout. Pretty sweet.

5) RunKeeper
For all you serious runners, bikers, and hikers, this app will be especially useful. It allows you to track your distance, speed, and pace (among other things) with the iPhone’s built-in GPS. But if you’re a casual runner, this one won’t do much for you — check out the next one.

6) Fitnio
This aerobic tracking app is the most simple. Similarly to RunKeeper, it allows you to track your distance, your speed, and your calorie burn, but is much easier to understand and use. I’d probably go with this one if your new to cardio…or just too lazy to figure out the more difficult application.

As I sit writing this, I even see 6-year-olds playing with an iPhone.
That’s it. I’m getting one today. I’ll report back with my level of satisfaction/calories burned.