Phone Applications for Your Diet

For all of us on-the-go, maintaining a diet as well as staying on top of a busy schedule is as hard as balancing a book on top of your head while jogging down the street. Diet or exercise are usually the first ones to be thrown to the bottom of the list as stress deepens, the kids' schedules get more complicated, or the pressures of work performance get the better of your long days. Trying to eat healthy may add more of a burden for some and you may need an extra dose of determination and a few more hours in the day to prepare your meals. The solution for most of us these days is simple; we turn to the one thing that keeps us connected between work and home and ask: What can my phone do? Well, these new “smartphones” have us all fooled because there are multiple new applications that work to keep your calorie intake on track while balancing the rest of your duties.

Whether you are tech-friendly or tech-phobic, the iPhone, BlackBerry, or Palm Pre are supposed to be easy to learn and are the front runners in the all-in-one phone game. Here are some popular applications that just may keep your diet on top of your to-do list:

Calories – This app makes it easy to keep track of how many calories you consume in a day. Experts say that by cutting out 300 calories per day, you could lose up to a pound a week. Seeing how many calories you are putting in your body may just make you want to cut back so you can splurge later on a decadent item like a large dessert or a few cocktails.

My Net Diary – Popular on the BlackBerry and available for the iPhone, this application allows you to record your daily food intake. This is important because when you opt for a natural diet plan instead of a fad diet or fast-acting pills, people who list the food they eat each day lost more than those who opted not to write down their food and beverages. If you are not smartphone inclined, this app is available online from any computer and at less than $10 a month (less if you pay a few months at a time) you could see what you are eating and make the changes necessary to lose weight or stay connected to a healthy lifestyle.

Weight Loss Sensei – If you’re looking for a “Subway Jared” story to sell you on diet phone applications, enter Michael Schneider. A college student with no time to cook or shop, Schneider downloaded the Weight Loss Sensei for his BlackBerry and watched as over 50 pounds were shed over a six-month period. The Sensei is your food samurai, helping you with good food choice recommendations at your favorite restaurants in your home town, or wherever you go on vacation, as well as quick stops at fast food spots. Aside from giving food advice, your Sensei also sends you encouraging words to get through those rough hours—for example the weak parts of the day, maybe your 2 o’clock chocolate fix or a late night cheese bender—and offers fitness tips to help you gain muscle while cutting unnecessary fats out of your diet. Your Sensai is there for you 24 hours a day, works around your budget, and researches new food items to cater to your specific palate all while hoping to make you more comfortable in your body along with the freedom to go out to dinner even when you’re trying to watch your figure. All for less than $10 dollars for the initial application download.

Since our lives are so wrapped up in where our next destination is whether it is work, home, school, a dinner party, your relatives house, or that road trip you’ve been meaning to take the number one priority is usually to grab your cell phone. Regardless of the need to be constantly strapped into technology, most of us feel naked without our phones. If you are not trying to diet, check out these other healthy applications for your smartphone.