As we all surely know, starting a new diet or exercise routine can be an expensive and time consuming endeavor. Gym memberships, personal trainers and private nutritionists have always come with a hefty fee, and women are often too busy to take the steps necessary for achieving weight loss.

These days, however, your iPhone may be all you need to tone up and shed pounds thanks to dozens of new applications that make calorie counting and following exercise routines a snap. With the tap of your finger, these apps can help you organize a healthy shopping list, search extensive databases for low-calorie recipes, and customize workout plans and diet journals. And since we’re attached to our phones all day anyway, there’s really no easier way to get motivated and start transforming your body before summer rolls around.

Here are some of top applications, all available on iTunes in the “Healthcare and Fitness” category and compatible with iPods, iPod Touches and iPads.

Tap and Track: Calorie, Weight Loss and Exercise Tracker, $3.99
After you plug in your Body Mass Index and weight loss goal, this application keeps track of how many calories you’ve consumed throughout the day. Just record what you eat and the serving size in the food journal, which analyzes each meal’s fat, calorie, and carbohydrate content and keeps track of it in a neat list separated by “breakfast,” “lunch,” “dinner” and “snack.” When you press “add exercise” and describe the workout you’ve just completed, the application will reset your calorie allotment for that day.
(If you don’t want to spend $4, you can also download MyFitnessPal, a similar app that is free and is also available online.)

Eat this, Not that!, Free
For women who are always on the go (or in college…), unhealthy restaurant choices often turn into diet downfalls. This application pits take-out items against one another (think fast-food hamburgers, sandwiches from chains like Cosi and Au Bon Pain, and bags of tortilla chips) to help people make healthier choices when they don’t have time to cook for themselves.

Weight Watchers Mobile, Free
This application keeps track of how many Weight Watchers points you consume with each meal and keeps a running tally of the points that remain to be consumed on both a daily and weekly basis. You can log the foods that you eat even if you don’t have an internet connection, and update your list later–which the application will remind you to do if you forget. Finally, it records your weight loss progress in an interactive chart while helping you find Weight Watchers meetings no matter where you are. It’s like having your own nutritionist.

Body Fitness: Ultimate Exercise Journal with 320+ Exercise Support, Free
This app allows you to log your workouts while providing detailed pictures and verbal descriptions of abs, arms, legs and core routines. If you’re unsure how to use a dumbbell or carry out a sit-up routine on a balance ball, this is the perfect way to ease into an exercise routine while monitoring your achievements.

RunKeeper, Free
This application is perfect for women who prefer to run outdoors but still want to measure their speed, distance and number of calories burned. With a built in GPS system, you can be sure that you’ll never make a wrong turn–and this comes in handy when you’re walking as well.

*Note: For all you non-Apple users, many of these applications are available on other phones as well.

If you’re like most gym-going girls, you believe that lifting any weight above 10 pounds will make you too bulky. There’s a fine line between looking toned and looking like superwoman — no one wants biceps that will make people think you’ve been chugging Muscle Milk. However, according to fitness experts and a recent study carried out at the University of Arizona, this fear of heavy dumbbells is unwarranted.

In order to develop bulky muscles, you need to be consuming an excessive amount of calories (i.e. more than the recommended 2,000 per day for most adults) in addition to pumping serious iron. If you use heavier weights without consuming those extra calories, however, you will actually see more results in less time than with those dinky little baby weights.

The trick is to do sets of 8 reps at 70 to 80 percent of your ability three times a week. This means that while your arms will be aching by the end of each exercise, you should be able to finish each set without cheating. The scientists who led this experiment followed a group of 122 women for six years, and found that the people who stuck to this exercise routine lost more weight than women who completed more repetitions with lighter weights.

Of course, if you’re trying to seriously beef up your arms, this may not be the best approach. But for women who are lifting weights simply to tone up and slim down (since we all know that muscles continue to burn calories even when your body is at rest), the combination of challenging weights and fewer repetitions will burn the most body fat — especially in the intra-abdominal region.

Since we’ve officially approached bikini season — it was 80 degrees in Boston on Wednesday, and the academic quad at Tufts turned into a beach — toned arms are essential. Need some help? All you need is a set of dumbbells and a barbell (which looks like a three-foot long dumbbell and is available in any gym) to complete these 3 easy routines.

1. Barbell bicep curls: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and curl the barbell so that the weight is in line with your shoulders. Keep your elbows still at your sides. Lower the barbell down and repeat. (This can also be done with dumbbells, and can be done using one or both arms at a time.)

2. Barbell bench presses: Lie on a bench and hold the barbell at your chest. Extend your arms, lifting the barbell up so that your arms are almost straight. Don’t lock your elbows. Lower slowly and repeat.

3. Dumbbell tricep presses: With both arms extended towards the sky, hold one dumbbell in both hands. Slowly lower the dumbbell behind your head, bending elbows gently. Raise arms and repeat.

There may be a way….

According to Women’s Health magazine, it’s possible to burn 400 calories in 15 minutes. Now, if you’re a regular gym-attendee like me, and have spent 30 minutes on the treadmill only to burn 300 calories, this may seem simply impossible. According to WH columnist and physiologist Amy Dixon, however, it’s all about a special workout called the superset, in which you complete two fitness moves back to back without resting.

Not only do supersets cause a serious metabolic spike, they’ll cause you to continue burning fat and calories at a higher rate for up to 16 hours after your workout is over, according to researchers at Colorado State University. All you have to do is complete these exercises twice a week using weights that make it almost impossible for you to finish your last rep.

Here are three of Dixon’s moves. Visit Women’s Health to see all six moves with accompanying pictures. Bye, bye belly flab, hello Miami sun!

Dixon’s first move is called the Leapfrog, and all you need is an exercise step. Start with your feet planted on the ground, jump up onto the step and bend your knees as you land, and then jump back onto the ground (lowering your heels first and your toes second). Continue for sixty seconds.

The second move is called the “Bosu Burpie Pushup,” and all you need is a bosu ball—a blow up exercise ball with a hard, flat bottom (your campus gym should have these!). Place the ball upside down, so that the dome is on the floor and you’re holding onto the base. With your hands on the base, jump back into the plank position, suck in your stomach, and lower into a push up. Then jump back up. Do this 12 to 15 times.

The third move is called the “Power Knee Tap and Touch.” To start, stand to the right of your exercise step. Swinging your left arm to help propel your body, jump onto the step with your left food, and bring your right thigh to hip height. When you land, with both feet touching the floor, immediately lower your left leg into a lunge. Stand up and repeat for thirty seconds before repeating the entire movement with your other leg.

Incorporate this superset workout into your weekly routine and you’ll see results fast. And if you don’t quite get those 6-pack abs you were hoping for before Spring Break (Amy Dixon isn’t God, you know!), you’ll definitely see them come summer.

“I have a paper to write, I can’t waste an hour waiting for the only elliptical that works.”
“I need to run on the treadmill for at least 45 minutes, and since I have a paper due tomorrow, that’s out of the question. I probably just shouldn’t go at all.”
“I’m not waking up at 7am to get in an hour workout before class.”

You know the deal.

I know that if I don’t clock in at least thirty minutes of cardio per session, I feel like my gym outing has been a waste and a failure. And I’m always hard on myself if I leave without doing crunches, even if I’ve run a couple of miles. In short — going to the gym has become about the time clock, but according to a study published in the New York Times, I’m going about things all wrong!

A couple of years ago, researchers from the National Institute of Health and Nutrition in Japan observed two groups of rats paddling in a small pool. The first group completed two 3-hour workout sessions, and the other group engaged in interval training, moving for twenty seconds and then resting for ten seconds for a total of 14 reps. The scientists were trying to figure out if prolonged exercise did more for the body’s endurance (ie., your ability to work out for longer, which translates into more calories burned) than the shorter/quicker exercise method. They found that both groups exhibited the same molecular changes that correspond with endurance gain, coming to the conclusion that we might be working out for longer than we really need to.

“There was a time when the scientific literature suggested that the only way to achieve endurance was through endurance-type activities,” Dr. Martin Gibala, a professor at McMaster University in Ontario, told the Times. He explained that people often choose to exercise casually for hours instead of just exerting as much energy as possible for a shorter amount of time. “We describe it as an ‘all-out’ effort,” Gibala said, noting that it is the kind of exercise that often forces people “out of their comfort zone.” While Gibala’s team has only studied this method for swimmers and cyclists, he believes that it might prove true for runners as well.

Gibala says that this method – pushing yourself to your limit for a shorter period of time – might aid in weight loss in addition to contributing to increased endurance in athletes and ordinary gym-goers alike. “The rate of energy expenditure remains higher longer into recovery,” meaning that you might continue to burn calories for a longer period of time after you leave the gym.

Less time at the gym?
More calories burned and increased endurance?

Put away the clocks and timers and get moving!

As someone that has never been able to look the other way when there are snacks on the table (and feel a constant urge to reach out my hand and grab a few them all), I have come up with some healthier options to help you stay slim and satisfied at the same time.

What not to make/eat: Grandma’s Seven Layer Mexican Chip Dip

Weve all sampled this delicious partner to the trusty Tostito. Made with one layer each of refried beans, sour cream, guacamole, cheese, salsa, olives and lettuce, you’re bound to gobble up hundreds of calories. Add tortilla chips or tacos to the mix and you’ll really be in trouble. Plus, it’s so good that you know you won´t stop eating after just a few bites.

What to make/eat instead: If you can´t kick your craving for something creamy, substitute a low-fat dressing (Ken´s brand Light Caesar and Ranch are two of my personal favorites) for the dip and fill a bowl with veggies instead of chips. If you can´t go the vegetable route (because the guys won’t stop making fun of you), buy low-fat Wheat Thins, Triscuits, or pita chips instead of the greasy Tostitos.

What not to make/eat: Mozzarella sticks, fried chicken wings, mini hot dogs (aka Pigs in a Blanket), French fries, or any other member of the fried ‘n oily family. In addition to being unhealthy, these foods are usually so small that you eat 20 of them before realizing that you have just descended into a pit of fat.

What to make/eat instead: Bruschetta is a great bite-sized substitute for the culprits listed above. Because it´s made with toast, you still get the crunch factor while eliminating tons of fat. The topping can be made in a snap by combining garlic, cucumber, tomatoes, onion, salt, pepper, olive oil, and vinegar. Drizzling your mini toasts with olive oil before baking will also add a lot of flavor. There are also tons of healthy alternatives to the typical Super Bowl fare, like baked buffalo wings or fries.

And for the drinks…

Everyone knows that alcohol is caloric, especially when downing multiple glasses of sugary margaritas, mojitos and Long Island Iced Teas. If you can´t get the party started without something to wet your whistle, however, look for Michelob Ultra: this beer only has 95 calories and 2.5 grams of those dreaded carbohydrates per bottle. And if beer isn’t your thing, mix yourself a little vodka soda for only about 70 calories.

In the end, no one will stop you from adding to your unfortunate holiday weight gain by downing unhealthy snacks during the Big Game. It’s all you. But, if you can’t commit to these healthy alternatives, try eating a handful of roasted almonds, dried fruit, or a few rice cakes before walking out the door. This will ensure that you’re not starving when you arrive at your friend’s house, and hopefully prevent you from gorging on barbecue chicken wings before the first quarter even starts.

"I'm running for the pizza. I'm running for the pizza!"

Ever wonder why those treacherous treadmill sessions haven’t turned you into the next Gisele?
Are you one of those people who thinks that you can eat a slice of pizza after leaving the gym because the body is supposed to burn more fat on days that you exercise?

Well, step away from the pizza, woman.

According to a recent article in the New York Times, the commonly held belief that you continue to burn calories for hours after exercising (commonly known as “afterburn” — you know, the idea that you get a “free meal” that day because you burned 400 calories on the elliptical) is actually a myth!

Researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver observed a number of different groups of people ranging from athletes to people that were both sedentary and obese to see how their bodies use calories and if the processes were different. Each group spent 24 hours in a room called a calorimeter (a special room that measures calorie burning activity) followed by riding a stationary bike for the same amount of time at the same level of aerobic intensity.

After all that was done, the scientists found that none of the groups (even the athletes, who are believed to have higher metabolisms after years of intense exercise) experienced afterburn, and surprisingly, most of the subjects burned slightly less fat on the days that they exercised.

“The message of our work is really simple,” lead researcher Edward Melanson told the New York Times. “It all comes down to energy balance,” which means that unless you burn more calories through exercise than you eat, you are not going to lose weight. Melanson went on to state that people burn an average of 200 to 300 calories per session, which is less than a bottle of Gatorade and just a little more than a bottle of the misleadingly-named Vitamin Water. Just a little somethin’ to think about.

Melanson also reported that working out at an low intensity (ie. riding the elliptical at an intensity of 3 instead of 10, so you feel the burn less but move your legs more often and quickly) burns more fat calories than working out at a harder intensity. Furthermore, it’s important to keep your heart rate between 105 and 134 beats per minute, which marks the parameters of the fat burning zone.

So the next time that you think you get a “free” lunch, think again!
You may also wanna switch that post-workout beverage to G2….

It's time to try something new. And that includes wearing an actual shirt to the gym.

If magazines like Women’s Health or Fitness are considered a part of your required monthly reading (or, really, as long as you haven’t been living under a rock), you have probably learned that switching up your workout routine is vital. In addition to being a surefire way to speed up weight  loss by ensuring that you’ll burn more calories, varying the things you do at the gym will ensure that your body is up for any challenge.

Now, if only I had listened…

Last week, I returned home from school for the long-awaited Christmas break and was informed by my mom that I would be accompanying her to her training session. She works out once a week with a nice (and semi-attractive) man who seems to be pretty un-intimidating, and seeing that she is a 52-year-old mom and I’m a 22-year-old rock star in pretty good shape, I figured that it would be a piece of cake. I can run on the treadmill, right? I can do bicep curls with ten pound weights! Bring it on!

Instead, I was forced to endure pull ups (I cannot do these), lunge and squat around the entire room while carrying crazy weighted sticks, lie down on that squeaky medicine ball while doing sit ups, fling around little black weights that looked like cowbells and bruised the inside of my wrists, and lower myself into numerous machines while I pushed and pulled and panted until I could barely breathe. Meanwhile, my mom was just humming to herself and completing her tasks without a word.

Five days later, I can still barely move. When I lift my arms to put my hair in a ponytail, shooting pains soar through my shoulders. Every time I sit down in a chair, my thighs burn. My shoulder blades ache when they press up against the seat of the car. And every time I take a step, I have to hunch over a little bit to ease the pain resulting in a Hunchback of Notre Dame-esque stride that I know must be pretty unattractive. My parents, my friends and my boyfriend are going to kill me if I complain of soreness another time, and I might just lose it if I still have to roll out of bed like a toddler just learning to walk tomorrow morning.

Now, I don’t need Shape to tell me that what I thought was a pretty legit exercise routine – my usual 45-minute run on the treadmill or stride on the elliptical – wasn’t really enough. I wasn’t lifting enough weights (so my strength was suffering), I wasn’t doing enough core work or improving my flexibility (since I kind of hate sit ups and never take Pilates or Yoga classes), and I wasn’t switching up my cardio.

While getting 45 minutes of exercise in each day is good, that alone will not get the job done. Variety is important. And that means variety within your cardio workout – like interval training – and variety in the types of workouts you do – like weight training, core training and flexibility. In order to burn the most calories and see the greatest results from your exercise routine, you must train your entire body, and you really gotta spice those workouts up in the process. Otherwise your body will get used to your routine and it won’t have to work as hard to complete it. Which means, over time, that 45 minutes on the elliptical will burn less calories. And still be just as boring.

As we sit on the cusp of a new year, it’s time to think about what you want to look and feel like in 2010. I don’t know about you, but I know for a fact that I don’t want to feel the pain of getting out of bed. Or sitting in a chair. Or brushing my hair. And I wouldn’t mind getting a little stronger and leaner.

Basically, I’m ready to make some major changes in my routine and you should, too. Sign up for some weight training classes on campus. Seek out a Pilates studio and build up that core. If you’re an elliptical rat, get on a treadmill and start running. Not only will these small changes make your workouts more interesting and effective, but your new strength will increase your endurance, making you able to get even better workouts in down the road.

It’s a win/win. Unlike my current situation, which is a pain/more pain.

Attempting to lose weight can be seriously stressful when you feel like you have to follow a laundry list of rules—don’t eat after 7 pm, banish white flour, etc., etc.—in addition to hitting the dreaded treadmill and the stinky weight-room. According to Women’s Health magazine, however, it’s possible to shed pounds successfully without listening to every piece of diet advice that gets thrown around (or, you know, printed in Women’s Health).

What are the diet rules you can break?

Eat many small meals a day instead of three big meals:

Many people insist that eating small portions throughout the day instead of stuffing your face with three big meals will lead to weight-loss by revving your metabolism and keeping it going from morning until night. But Women’s Health points out that if you’re eating multiple times a day, you’re running the risk of consuming more calories than you might if you stuck to breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack. Instead, make sure that mealtimes are defined by fiber-rich foods and lean proteins (those will fill you up without packing in the calorie), and leave the daylong grazing to the farm animals.

Brown rice and whole wheat breads and pastas are better than their evil white flour twins:

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if your pasta is white as long as you’re consuming the recommended six ounces of carbohydrates each day. Women’s Health says that a study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association reports that people on high-carb diets were slimmer than their carb-banning counterparts even when they consumed “bad carbs.” While you should make sure that half of your daily carbohydrate intake comes from whole grains, white bread isn’t going to lead to weight gain any more than whole-wheat bread if you keep your portion sizes small.

Don’t eat after dark:

Women’s Health quotes doctor Ann G. Kulze, who explains that the body handles calories in the same exact way no matter what time they’re consumed. Figure out how many calories you should be consuming each day – this number depends on your age, height and activity level – and stick to it. To make sure that you have enough energy to fuel your daily activities, you should spread out caloric intake throughout the day. But if you eat two cookies at 9 p.m., you’re not going to gain any more weight than you would if you ate them at 6.

Ban desserts:

Putting foods on the do-not-touch list only makes you want them more and can lead to binges. Eating dessert is okay as long as you tweak your diet accordingly, which means eating less for dinner and picking desserts like chocolate-dipped fruit and sorbets instead of ice-cream sundaes. Women’s Health points out that restaurant dessert portions are often ridiculously large and high in calories—an Applebee’s chocolate chip cookie sundae, for example, contains 1,620 calories, more than many people should be consuming all day long! The magazine also suggests re-thinking the traditional idea of dessert when you want to indulge. Your after dinner treat doesn’t need to be chocolate; a craving for something sweet can be met in the form of a yogurt and cereal parfait.

While most people’s gym routines differ – I, for one, have always been an elliptical girl and hate the stationary bike – it’s safe to assume that almost everyone incorporates a “cool down” into their cardio program. After running for 30 minutes at 7 miles per hour, you’ll knock your speed down to 3 and spend five minutes jogging or walking before you hop off the machine. Many pieces of gym equipment even include a 5-minute cool down automatically, tacking it on to the end of your desired workout. All of this is supposed to prevent soreness or muscle damage and relieve strain on the heart.

According to University of Texas physiologist Hirofumi Tanaka, however, there’s no proof that a cool down has any positive benefits on the body. “Everyone thinks it’s an established fact, so they don’t study it,” he said in a recent New York Times article. The article notes the ambiguity of the concept as a whole, noting that it’s not even clear what a cool down is supposed to be or how long it should last.

Apparently, the cool down became standard gym practice after it was reported that muscles become sore after exercising due to the accumulation of lactic acid. This theory has been reported false, leading people to believe that reducing the intensity at the end of a workout (which was supposed to let the lactic acid dissipate slowly) is unnecessary. The article does note, however, that blood can build up in your legs and feet if you stop running (or biking or ellipti-cizing) shortly, making dizziness or even fainting a possibility.

The article adds that because lactic acid has been discovered to be beneficial, it might be better not to cool down. A study of a group of cyclists showed that cooling down wasted the lactic acid; when they just stopped without reducing their speed gradually, the lactic acid was turned into glycogen, a muscle fuel.

So what does this mean? It means that you don’t have to waste that extra ten minutes at the gym cooling down. In fact, for better results, it means that you shouldn’t. Finish your desired workout, grab your things and head home. Then use that extra time for something more productive, like studying, making a healthy snack… or stalking your crush on Facebook.

Your mind says no, but your body says yes, yes, yes!

About to pop the lid off of that pint of Ben and Jerry’s? Ripping open a huge bag of salty chips? Read this before digging in.

New findings from the University of Texas Southwestern’s Medical Center suggest that the fat found in certain foods actually make their way to your brain before they add the dreaded cellulite to your hips and thighs. Once there, they order the brain to send messages to your body’s cells, telling them to ignore the appetite-suppressing signals that stop us from stuffing our faces (well, sometimes).

And the worst part? This only happens when you’re eating good (read: bad) food, so you’ll end up overeating foods high in calories and fat instead of healthy options like fruits or veggies.

“Normally, our body is primed to say when we’ve had enough, but that doesn’t always happen when we’re eating something good,” said Dr. Deborah Clegg in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, where the study was published this month. “Our findings suggest that when you eat something high in fat, your brain gets ‘hit’ with the fatty acids, and you become resistant to insulin and leptin.” So our brain abandons us, and we’re left with an empty bag of chips (or three) and an unhappy number on the scale the next morning.

According to the study, we can blame this all on palmitic acid, the saturated fat found in butter, milk and beef. While this acid encourages us to keep eating, oleic acid (found in “good fat” foods like olives) has no negative effects on the insulin and leptin activators. So that’s why you’re pretty unlikely to overeat carrots, or celery, or anything else that would prevent you from dreaded weight gain. The study shows that this mechanism is triggered in the brain long before physical effects can be seen on your body.

And the last piece of bad news (as if we need any more)? While conducting the study, researchers found that the palmitic acid often quieted the body’s appetite-suppressing signals for about three days. This explains why you often find yourself starving on Sunday morning even though you and the roommates demolished a pizza pie only a few hours before.

Get a lock for the refrigerator? That’s the only option I see…