Pamela Hernandez owns Thrive Personal Fitness in Springfield, MO where she focuses on weight training for weight loss. She writes a blog for her web site, www.thrivepersonalfitness.com, sharing vegetarian recipes from her kitchen, exercise strategies, lifestyle tips and stories from her own journey. You can also follow Pamela on Twitter @ThriveFit or pick up more tips on Facebook, www.facebook.com/thrivepersonalfitness.
Some days I feel really lucky to live in the day and age we do. Can you image trying to figure out how many calories are in your lunch or keep yourself entertained while running without modern technology?
I love the fact that I can check out nutritional information online before heading out for a meal or go to YouTube for a quick and easy demo of a new exercise. Technology certainly makes the journey to health and fitness a lot easier.
Of course the problem is deciding which technology to use. There are almost as many apps and online fitness tools as there are diets. You could spend hours exploring each and every one, trying to decide which one has the features you need. Or you could get so overwhelmed with choices that you don’t do anything at all.
To help you out, I want to share my top 5 favorite fit tech tools. They are all free (or very low cost) so you can play with them a bit before you commit.
1. Best place to keep a food log: DailyBurn I love www.dailyburn.com and the DailyBurn iPhone app. I’ve been a member of the community for over 2 years and I can’t imagine going back to my old method of keeping a food log in a notebook. (Disclosure: I am a guest blogger for DailyBurn.) Their database of 
foods more than covers my needs (although it’s easy to add new ones and create my own recipes) and what I enter into the app, it syncs to my log on the web site. A basic membership is free, as is the app. If you want to spend money for an added level of convenience you can purchase the Food Scanner app which will let you load foods to your log simply by scanning the bar code.
2. Best workout in your pocket: Nike Training (originally Nike Women) Nike Training is an amazing tool that will assure you never get bored in the gym. There are workouts for every level that can be done pretty much anywhere with limited equipment. I used this app on my recent trip to SXSW and loved the workouts. It allowed me to quickly choose a workout based on the time I had each morning that could easily be done in the not-so-well-equipped hotel gym.
3. Best grocery store guide: Fooducate This app allows you to scan or enter the bar code of a food, get its grade and see what better options there might be. For those just learning how to eat healthier, Fooducate can be a great help navigating through the hype and misleading labels in the grocery store.
4. Best hydration tracker: Water Your Body Lite My one complaint about the DailyBurn app is I can’t track my water like I can on the web site. I recently started using Water Your Body Lite. It allows me to tap my screen to add a water glass to my “table”, customized to the size of my normal drinking glass, every time I finish one. Quick and easy way to make sure I keep pace for the day on my water intake.
5. Best entertaining but educating distraction: Fat2Fit Radio I love the podcast Fat2Fat Radio. Russ is on a great fitness journey and Jeff is there to help hold him accountable. If you need sound fitness advice, tips on new resources and great recipes (Russ has a soft spot for Mexican food) then you must check out www.fat2fitradio.com or download the podcast at the iTunes store.
Technology is your friend on this journey. Use the best tools and the right tools to help you achieve your fitness goals.
___________________________________________________
Guest Blog Series: Look for the following badge on your favorite health sites to see if they have been a featured guest blogger on DietsInReview.com. See other posts in the Guest Blog series.
If you would like to apply to be featured as a guest blogger, please contact us.