The weight loss journey starts with how keen we are to keep ourselves healthy and obesity-free. It is no secret that as the world is progressing towards a digital life the health risk factors, primarily obesity, go hand in hand with it. According to WHO, more than 30 % of the world population is obese. WHO also declares that there are more overweight than underweight people in the world, ironically, women fall more into the first category. According to Statista, 71.2 % of the women in the US tried to lose weight between 2013–2016. Obesity is defined as “the accumulation of fats that may have long term effects on one’s physical and also mental health” (WHO)

BMI (Body Mass Index) BMI is the index/range to measure the weight status of a person. Following a given range indicates a person’s weight status.

• 18.5 to 24.9 is considered normal weight
• 25.0 to 29.9 is considered overweight
• 30.0 to 39.9 is considered obese
• 40.0 and higher is considered extremely obese

There are many health hazards associated with obesity ranging from mental to physical. Obesity causes a myriad of medical conditions such as diabetes, hormonal imbalances, infertility, cardiac issues, behavioral and relationship consequences, and even shortening longevity. This sounds alarming, so what is the solution? First, keep in mind that losing weight or staying fit takes an effort of exercise and switching to a healthy lifestyle. Although factors, such as medical and genetics might complicate things with some people, in majority, virtual assistants help in counting calorie intake, tracking weight loss progress, keeping you motivated, and giving you social support with expert guidance. There are hundreds of thousands of apps out there. Our top 10 picked list is based on app ratings and reviews:

1. Noom

Noom works with the psyche of the person and believes in nutrition behavioral science. It tries to get the most information about the user’s health and medical conditions. One Noom’s best features include one-on-one coaching experts and customized diet plans.

Pros

• Provides personalized behavioral-based coaching
• Expert advice
• Customized diet plans
• Live chat option

Cons

• A subscription fee of around $40/ month

2. MyFitnessPal

Another popular fitness app that tracks your calories and macronutrients. It’s simple, you take a picture, scan it and here you go. Its best feature is the activity counter. They have over 11 million food recipes in their database.

Pros

• Acknowledgment on mindful eating.
• Prove to be a useful tool to effect a lifestyle change.
• Immediate feedback

Cons

• User-generated food database
• Macro/calorie correct count is not always available
• At times it may be misreporting

Sites Helping with Weight Loss

3. Daily Burn

It is one of the leading workout apps that has a library of more than 2000 videos and audio. Its best-featured programs include the summer challenge, the sweat challenge, and the13 diet plan. The social community is there to motivate you to lose weight with a healthy mind. It’s available on iPhone, amazon, android, and a 100% ad-free app.

Pros

• Daily live class
• On-demand videos
• Quite reasonably affordable

Cons

• No personal training option
• Customer service is catered by email only

4. WW (weight watchers)

An award-winning app that helps you lose weight smartly and healthily. Its best features include “what’s in your fridge”, which enables you to select the food and taste with experts’ recommendations, a weekly meal planner, customize the recipe, mini-meditation, 5 minutes coaching sessions, and a motivational feature called “Wellness wins” where users earn wellness points by building healthy habits.

Pros

• 24/7 coaching
• Social community network
• No food is off-limit as long as you track it

Cons

• Counting points is difficult for some people
• Subscription fee to access more benefits

5. Lose It!

It focuses on customized diet plans that help you reach your targeted goal. It has macronutrient count, calorie count, and water count.

Pros

• Simple to use
• Enormous food database
• Barcode scan of food and abstract of calorie content

Cons

• The food items may not include your brands
• It doesn’t keep track of vitamins and minerals

6. Cronometer

This app was developed by IT specialists, fitness experts and nutrition scientists. Their mantra is ‘eat smarter’. This app claims to be the most accurate nutritional tracker. Its free basic version provides all the nutrients info, which makes it different.

Pros

• It significantly tracks more nutrients
• It includes biometric, cholesterol levels and blood pressure.
• Provides forums and blogs for users

Cons

• Recipes are available for premium users only
• Costly ingredients of recipes

7. Fat Secrets

It smoothly paves your weight loss journey by providing most of the nutrition info for all foods, brands, and even restaurants. It tracks your calorie counts and exercise. This app enables you to grab all of this information and activities without paying any charges because it is free.

Pros

• Features a journal where your weight loss journey can be recorded
• It has a large food database that includes restaurant and supermarket foods
• Helps you monitor progress by providing your monthly calorie averages

Cons

• It may be difficult to navigate due to many components
• Some of its calculators like RDI (Recommended Daily Intake ) do not calculate properly.

8. My Diet Coach

This app helps you keep motivated in achieving your targeted goal through a user-friendly diet planner. The ‘Reminder’ feature makes it different in the weight loss app market.

Pros

• Reminders that prove to be effective
• Tips that help in overcoming eating barriers

Cons

• The app does not have restrictions on weight loss targets
• Food database on Apple lacks relevance for some regions.

9. Sparkpeople

Sparkpeople has updated articles on Nutrition and fitness. There are over 200 million food recipes in their database. It has a personalized fitness program that has workout and meal plans. They also have a ‘Team Wall’ feature, exclusively for its members, you can earn points by making a post there. Free subscription available.

Pros

• Access to exercise videos and tips
• Availability of health and fitness articles
• Interactive community

Cons

• Too many ads
• Blog posts are comparatively low on certain topics

10. Fitbit

Fitbit has features to track your physical activity while wearing a tracker. It also measures your heart rate. These trackers count your physical activity, water count, sleep activity, and weight goals.

Pros

• It provides tracking of all activity records and health goals
• Allows you to connect your family who uses Fitbit
• Allows you to log your food to help you stay in the calorie range

Cons

• Requires buying a Fitbit wearable
• Some of these devices are not budget-friendly

This was our top 10 list, review, compare, and select wisely the one that is suitable for you. And above all, while prevention is great, keep your motto of a ‘healthy life’ rather than looking for options that trim your body fast to look good to others, as it is correctly said ‘A HEALTHIER YOU IS A HAPPIER YOU’.

Authored by  Afsheen khan

Fujn is a platform that promotes women’s learning, success, intelligence, happiness, and emotional wellbeing. Join Fujn to learn, grow, get jobs, and make money. Launching in 2022. Building Fujn, one room at a time.

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