Many of us know firsthand that losing weight and staying fit can be tough. Technology has helped me keep tabs on what I was eating and how many calories I was burning.
I used MyFitnessPal, a free service that lets you maintain a digital diary of your food choices, cardio work and strength training.
You can update entries using a phone app or a website. Apps are available for the iPhone, the iPad and Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone devices.
Information on weight, height, age and activity level creates a plan for how many calories you should eat and what percentage should come from protein, fat or carbohydrates. You can also set your own parameters.
You then enter what you’re eating (and drinking) for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as snacks, throughout the day, and the app records the calories, fat, protein, carbs and vitamins. While recording my food and exercise choices became part of my daily routine, tracking my progress helped motivate me to stay on track to getting in better shape.
For this, I enlisted the use of the Withings WiFi Body Scale ($159.99).
It not only measures your weight, body fat, lean muscle and Body Mass Index, but it also connects to the Internet so you can keep track of your measurements through its website or an iPhone app (iPad and Android versions are coming soon).
There are several options to help track your daily exercise routines. After trying a few different wearable monitors, including the Nike+ FuelBand, I found the most helpful tool was a heart rate monitor. I tested a Polar RCX5 ($349.95 for a basic set, with accessories for GPS and cycling available).
After entering my height, weight and age, I strapped on the elastic band around my chest and clipped in the heart rate monitor that transmits data wirelessly to a unit on my wrist.
It estimates what percentage of the burned calories came from fat.