For many, 2014 started with good intentions, hopes, new dreams, and aspirations. We all fall prey to making our new year resolutions of doing more exercise, adopting a healthier lifestyle, losing weight, being more punctual, getting physically fit, quitting smoking and the list goes on. But chances are that by end of January we’ll most likely be adding them to our to-do list for the next year. Why? Because it requires determination and commitment to get oneself tied up in the struggle against becoming a better person in the New Year. Thankfully, we're living in the age of technology and can beat the odds by achieving our goals by taking advantage of the thousands of apps available to us on our tech devices.
Track How You Move, Eat and Sleep
There is no lack of abundance of health tracking gadgets and apps, but finding the right one - the one that makes it easy to track activity AND keeps you motivated - can sometimes be like finding a needle in the haystack. Topping our list this year is Fitbit. Fitbit offers a variety of activity trackers and smart scale gadgets that you wear. The gadgets, and their free app, track your daily goals and progress over time, help in monitoring calories in and out, and much more! An added plus - Share your hard work and progress with friends and peers to create some friendly competition, which works as a great motivator! A few additional fun trackers to check out are the Nike FuelBand and Jawbone UP.
Lose Those 10 (or more) Pounds!
Research shows that those who track their calories each day are more successful in reaching their fitness and weight loss goals. There are a number of great apps that help you track calories by logging your daily food intake. One of our favorites is Lose It! With cool features like the creation of a personal weight management program, recipes, challenges, and scanning the barcode of the foods you are eating, this app has helped its users lose over 27 million pounds. It is available on android, iOS, Nook, Kindle, and the Web. Another great app is fatsecret. Much like Lose It!, this app lets you track daily calories, create a weight management and fitness program, and offers hundreds of recipes and nutritional information on the food you are eating. It is available for android, iOS, Windows
Go For a Run
If your new year's resolution was to get out and run more, or to start running, then you'll want to check out some of the cool running apps like Runmeter GPS. Runmeter GPS is an iOS app that turns your device into a powerful fitness computer - with maps, graphs, splits, intervals, laps, announcements, zones, training plans, and more. Another favorite of beginners is Get Running (Couch to 5K). This app, for iOS and android, does exactly what it says - takes you from couch potato to running a 5K. By following it's customized training program, you'll be hitting the road, running, and feeling fantastic in no time!
Get Organized
If your new year's resolution has nothing to do with getting fit but is all about getting organized...well there's an app for that, too! My absolute favorite and the one I use every day and couldn't live without is Evernote. Create 'notebooks' for all aspects of your life and create notes within them to hold all the information you need at the touch of a screen. With a cool web clipper tool that lets you clip directly from the web or email into a notebook, you can keep everything from workouts, recipes, craft ideas, your favorite home design ideas....really anything and everything! You can then share those notebooks and notes with friends and family.
Whatever your resolution might be, take advantage of these cool tools that will help you achieve success and make 2014 a fabulous year!
