Having a great app on your phone is like having a PA in your pocket and if you’re looking to lose weight and get fit for your wedding day an app can be like having a personal trainer or diet guru on hand all the time. Here are some of our favourites for brides-to-be…
Nike Training Club
This app is like having your own personal trainer, with a choice of over 100 custom-built workouts. Want to work on your ‘core’ muscles? Then try the Serena Williams core workout. Need a bit of a boost to get going? Then use the quick start drill sergeant for some serious motivation. Oh and it’s designed specifically for women!
App price – Free
My Fitness Pal
Many of our Facebook brides recommended this one. It’s free to download and enables you to track your calories, weight and activity. You set your daily calorie goal and then keep track of the calories you’re spending, offset by the exercise you’re taking, so you can see how long it takes you to work off that Kit Kat on the StairMaster.
You can join a friends’ chat room and share your progress with each other and there’s a good visual weight chart, so you can see how you’re getting on. “I used My Fitness Pal on my iPhone. I logged everything I ate and tried to keep within my calorie goal,” says Facebook bride Laura. “I found it really worked for me and was much easier than trying to follow a set diet. I ate whatever I wanted but kept to my daily calorie limit.”
App price – Free
Carbs Control
Some people swear by cutting carbs to lose weight and if you’re one of these then you could find this app suits you perfectly. You set your carbs goal per day – say 60g and then log what you eat.
You can preload the carb bill of your favourite foods and also there’s a handy restaurant section which tells you the carb values of what you’re eating. You can log in your daily rate and see how you’re doing on a handy chart and email the results to yourself or anybody else.
App price – £1.28
Pedometer
If you’re trying to lose weight by upping your walking, or want to check on how much walking you actually do each day, then you should investigate this one. You enter your height and then your weight on the app, set it to start and then it logs how far you’re walking every day and how many calories you’re burning.
App price – Free
Weight Watchers
This is a really convenient way to keep to your programme if you’re following Weight Watchers. You can track your food points, your weight and your progress. You can create shopping lists, find out where your local Weight Watchers meetings are taking place and there are even some useful cheat sheets!
App price – Free
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Nutracheck
Tracks your daily calories for you. Scan items using the barcode scanner when you’re out shopping in the supermarket so you can see exactly what your calorie bill is going to be.
“You go on, say how much you want to lose, how long you’ve got to lose it and the app will tell you how many calories you have to eat a day and how much time it will take you,” says Tracey. “It stops you giving yourself the excuse for deciding to give up the moment you eat something that’s out of bounds and gives you the encouragement to carry on.”
App price – £5.99 a month
Couch to 5K
Running is an effective and fast way to get fit. You don’t need any special equipment (just a pair of decent running shoes) and you don’t have to pay gym fees to get out there and ‘just do it’. Getting started on running the right way is crucial and that’s just what this app does – gets you up and running so before you know it you’re regularly running 5ks.
It’s important that you avoid setbacks due to injury – often caused by doing too much too soon – and this programme gently eases you into a running programme. Maybe you’ll be doing a marathon one day!
