Free Weight Loss Apps For Counting Calories, Work Outs & More
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Key Takeaways
- Most fitness apps include educational material and resources to help demystify the process of weight loss and dieting.
- Most fitness apps have community features akin to social media platforms to help users interact with like-minded people and stay motivated.
- Most fitness apps require a detailed profile in order to be of use to the user. Therefore, it is important to provide accurate information before using any of these apps.
Beginning and staying committed to weight loss and fitness regimes can be difficult in the modern world. Fortunately, there are a host of free apps that can help users stay motivated, engaged, and educated on health and fitness.
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The Best Free Fitness/Weight Loss Apps
MyFitnessPal
As one of the older apps on this list, MyFitnessPal may not have the multitude of features and recent advancements of other apps on this list. However, it makes up for these shortcomings through its simplicity and is an excellent beginner app!
I personally used MyFitnessPal to improve my understanding of calorie consumption and dieting; I found this app helped to make dieting habitual for me before I moved onto more complex apps that assisted the dieting process once I had learned about the importance of calorie counting.
Consequently, MyFitnessPal does have features such as goal setting, a barcode scanner, and creating an account subject to your weight, height, gender, age, etc. It is at its best as a complementary app as a calorie counter more than anything else.
Fortunately, the app understands that calorie counting without a detailed food diary is null and void, so the app does include an easy-to-read food diary that highlights calorie consumption at the top of each entry.
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The calories are compounded and added if and when needed so that you can see your calorie excess or deficit over a month rather than just day-to-day consumption.
MyFitnessPal is available on both Apple and Android devices. While it does have an indefinite free version, you may opt for a premium version at $9.99 a month or $49.99 a year.
MyNetDiary
Speaking of the importance of food diaries and consistent metrics and figures over an extended period of time, MyNetDiary encourages active participation on the part of users in data collection so that they have a better idea of your weight loss journey.
Namely, while MyNetDiary will track calorie consumption and diarise the results with regard to the food you enter into the app, MyNetDiary also encourages users to weigh themselves every day and to upload this information to the app.
Consequently, MyNetDiary is considered one of the best apps for those looking to lose weight, as it helps users to determine whether their exercise routines and the foods consumed are conducive to their body type.
The app also allows the uploading of photos, along with weigh-ins, which has been a proven psychological method of improving one’s commitment to weight loss via the visualization of one’s progress.
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Just make sure that when weighing yourself, you choose a particular time each day and not after large amounts of food/water consumed, as one’s body weight naturally fluctuates throughout the day.
MyNetDiary is available on both Apple and Android devices. While it does have an indefinite free version, you may opt for a premium membership at $8.99 a month or $59.99 a year.
Fooducate
For many people, one of the biggest challenges when beginning a weight loss and fitness journey is the lack of motivation, given the solitary nature of fitness.
Fortunately, Fooducate understands the difficulties with self-motivation and thus created a virtual space to mirror a communal fitness space one would typically find at gyms, community centers, sports clubs, etc.
Fooducate also allows users to toggle motivation notifications to assist users in sticking to their eating and lifestyle habits to achieve their target weight goal.
With just a simple tap of the “Community” tab, Fooducate shows you recent and trending posts while creating opportunities to follow and message users/groups at your leisure, akin to social media software.
Once you download the app, you will be asked a series of questions regarding your lifestyle, height, weight, age, gender, eating habits, and fitness goals. Following this questionnaire, you will be presented with a calorie scale and diet recommendations.
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Further features of the app include a “Food Finder” barcode scanner, a ”Tracker” of calories and diet, educational material on the “Diet Tips” tab, and a “Recipes” tab to help you adjust your diet accordingly toward healthier foods and substitutions.
Fooducate is available on both Apple and Android devices. While it does have an indefinite free version, you may opt for a premium version at $6.99 a month, $34.99 a year, or $89.99 for a lifetime membership:
Daily Yoga
While yoga may be an ancient form of mental-physical wellness through artistic expression, physical movement, and meditative states, it has seen a massive boost in popularity in the 21st century, meaning there are various yoga apps on the market.
Daily Yoga is considered one of the best yoga apps, particularly for beginners, as the app provides guided yoga and meditation routines subject to the Smart Coach integration features that create programs based on your goals and personal information.
Daily Yoga is available on both Apple and Android devices. While it does have an indefinite free version, you may opt for a pro version at $9.99 a month.
Lose It!
Although fitness and weight loss should ideally be a lifelong commitment that requires daily dedication, slow input, and patience, sometimes it is necessary to improve one’s fitness and weight levels in a short space of time.
Whether you are looking to lose weight prior to an important medical procedure, before the start of the next football season, or just want to feel more confident during your next beach vacation, Lose It! will have the features needed to assist you.
Once you download and create an account on Lose It! The first thing you will be asked to do is to indicate your weight loss goal and the time you wish to achieve it, whereby Lose It! will calculate the weight you’ll need to lose on a weekly basis.
Fortunately, Lose It! has the features needed to encourage continued weight loss and fitness by including “future plans” under your settings and goals and will send reminders to keep these goals updated.
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Lose It! is available on both Apple and Android devices. While it does have an indefinite free version, you may opt for premium membership at $39.99 a year.
JEFIT
While the majority of the apps on this list are aimed at beginners or those looking for guided assistance for dieting and exercising, JEFIT is considered a more advanced app to complement those who have detailed plans and who want to extract further information/optimize their existing plans.
This is because JEFIT’s focus is to give users unprecedented access to statistics through the Body Stat Tracking Feature and to provide hundreds of exercises and routines designed for specific anatomical improvement and exercises.
Consequently, JEFIT is a fantastic app for those looking to improve their works outs and find more dynamic exercises. JEFIT is better suited as a companion app to external sources or other exercise/dieting apps.
JEFIT! is available on both Apple and Android devices. While it does have an indefinite free version, you may opt for premium membership at $7.00 a month or $40.00 a year.
Nike Training Club
As one of the biggest manufacturers of sporting equipment in the world, as well as a sponsor for multiple professional sporting teams and events, it’s no surprise that Nike has their own fitness app.
The Nike Training Club app is considered one of the best apps on the market for home workouts and for developing training programs relative to one’s current goals and preferred exercise routine.
Sporting over 185 workouts ranging from HIIT to weight lifting to yoga, all of which include built-in training videos, the Nike Training Club is perfect for both beginner and advanced athletes looking to change and develop their exercise routines.
Most important of all is the fact that the more you interact with the app, the more the app will understand what exercises you enjoy and work for your body, whereafter it will recommend similar exercise routines (kind of like the Spotify of fitness apps!).
Nike Training Club is available on both Apple and Android devices. While it does have an indefinite free version, you may opt for in-app purchases.
Daily Burn
One of the key features of exercise that many people overlook, both beginners and seasoned athletes, is the fact that exercise routines shouldn’t remain stagnant but should adapt and evolve with your body and its natural resistance thresholds.
The Daily Burn is the compendium app to the blog of the same name and looks to get users out of their comfort zones by constantly evolving and changing one’s exercise routines in accordance with one’s progress and physical changes.
Consequently, rather than doing the same five exercises on rotation in the gym every week for, say, “leg day,” the app will automatically mix up your days and routines to ensure you have both adequate rest and dynamic exercises on a constant basis.
Daily Burn is available on both Apple and Android devices. While it does have a 60-day free trial, a monthly membership of $15.00 a month is needed to continue using the app.
Happy Scale
There’s no denying that the act of weighing yourself is an uncomfortable process for a lot of people. Furthermore, it can be an incredibly disheartening process when you notice weight fluctuation despite sticking to weight loss and exercise programs.
Happy Scale helps ease this anxiety but encourages users to engage with their weight loss journey positively and to provide clear, scientific information as to why weight fluctuates and how this is a normal part of our body’s interactions with the outside world and stimuli.
Although Happy Scale may not feature the host of features of other weight loss apps on this list, the psychological boost it gives users, along with detailed scientific information, makes this an invaluable compendium app.
Happy Scale is only available on both Apple devices at the time of writing. While it does have an indefinite free trial, you may opt for premium membership at $2.00 a month, $12.00 a year, or $30.00 for life membership.
Zero
While intermittent fasting began in some circles as a trend or fad, it has quickly been recognized as a scientifically viable and preferable method for a lot of people to structure their eating habits and dieting plans.
However, the process of tracking one’s progress, determining how long to fast, what foods to eat between fasting periods, etc., can all compound into an administrative and mathematical headache, all of which Zero negates through automation and tracking features.
Furthermore, Zero provides resources from top fasting coaches, nutritionists, and scientific information to help users educate themselves on fasting and how best to incorporate fasting in their fitness journeys sustainably and consistently.
Zero is available on both Apple and Android devices. While it does have an indefinite free version, you may opt for premium membership at $50.00 a year.
Cronometer
Although tracking calories is an important part of one’s weight loss and fitness journey, it is also vital to understand exactly how those calories are constructed and to not forego calorie intake at the cost of nutrients and vitamins.
Cronometer helps introduce new users to tracking and suggestions that include a calorie counter, along with detailed information on the number of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, lipids, and protein in one’s diet.
Cronometer also does a very good job at “demystifying” the process of losing weight and remaining healthy, but providing clear pie charts and figures on the number of calories consumed, the number of calories burned, and the number of calories that can be consumed on any given day, in line with your personal fitness goals.
With the inclusion of a barcode scanner and detailed information on saved foods, the repetition of food eaten and their corresponding statistics can be done with just a click of a button in your food diary, rather than manually inserting food every time.
Cronometer is available on both Apple and Android devices. While it does have an indefinite free version, you may opt for gold membership at $39.99 a year:
LifeSum
LifeSum is considered to be a great beginner app for those looking to lose weight, improve their diet, and begin their fitness journeys.
Rather than having to use external sources to access dieting plans or to rely on trial and error to balance one’s nutrients with their calorie intake, LifeSum offers classic dieting plans depending on your set goals.
The app also features some industry standards to help update your diet plans accordingly, such as a food diary, barcode scanner, and a food diary, as well as the option to toggle notifications/reminders for various activities.
LifeSum is available on both Apple and Android devices. While it does have an indefinite free version, you may opt for premium membership at $21.99 per quarter, $29.99 semiannually, or $44.99 annually.
FitOn
FitOn is essentially a database of hundreds of workouts across multiple disciplines, all of which provide information on how to perform workouts, what these workouts target, and what exercises compliment these workouts.
These workouts include basic strength and endurance training to more niche areas such as yoga or dedicated celebrity workouts. Furthermore, online features such as leader boards help create a sense of community and gamification.
Although not the most complex app on this list, FitOn’s ease of access and displays of information allow users to incorporate and view a variety of workouts with minimal hassles and expenses, making it a perfect companion app.
FitOn is available on both Apple and Android devices. While it does have an indefinite free version, you may opt for in-app purchases.
Strava
Strava is a running, cycling, and swimming app that promotes community as a means of motivation, inspiration, and enjoyment. The reason why community is important as these activities, while solitary, often require external motivation.
Furthermore, endurance sports often result in the formation of clubs, large events, or the uncovering of interesting routes and exercise plans, all of which hold community at their source.
With built-in social media features, as well as the option to track the progress of and interact with top endurance athletes through the app, Strava is a great way for both beginner and seasoned athletes to improve their workouts while making like-minded friends along the way!
Strava is available on both Apple and Android devices. While it does have an indefinite free version, you may opt for in-app purchases.
StepsApp Pedometer
One of the simplest ways of improving one’s fitness in today’s busy world is to invest in a pedometer (an app or device that counts your daily steps.)
StepsApp Pedometer takes the simple concept of a pedometer and takes it one step further (excuse the pun) by giving users push notifications for reaching their personal goals or reminding users to make up their steps if they are lagging behind on any given day.
StepsApp Pedometer is available on both Apple and Android devices. While it does have an indefinite free version, you may opt for in-app purchases.
My Diet Coach
Not everyone’s reason for wanting to lose weight and improve their fitness is the same. Furthermore, the reason for fitness may be subject to change, meaning that trying to find the “why” and being reminded of your changing goals is important.
Furthermore, in order to make dieting and fitness a lifestyle rather than a chore, there needs to be a level of brevity and fun to the experience.
My Diet Coach capitalizes on these two factors and allows users to be reminded of their goals and reasoning for their fitness journey through constant reminders, motivations, and customizable challenges to create a level of “gamification”.
With attractive graphics, UI, readable information, and fun features such as daily quotes, picture uploads, and avatar customization, My Diet Coach is an easy and fun way to interact with your fitness journey.
My Diet Coach is available on both Apple and Android devices. While it does have an indefinite free version, you may opt for premium membership at $2.99 a week, $6.99 a month, or $29.99 a year.
C25K
The hardest part of any fitness journey or new exercise routine is starting, particularly for beginner athletes who may not know the best way to go about beginning a routine or who may lack the motivation or time to do so.
C25K (which is short for “couch to five kilometers”) promises to take sedentary users from not running to regularly completing five-kilometer runs in under two months!
The app does this by giving users guided exercises that take less than 30 minutes a day to complete just three times a week, whereby users should be able to finish a five-kilometer run with ease after two months of training.
Along with third-party integration with various smartwatches, C25K can adapt and change guided routines on the fly for ultimate ease of access.
C25K is available on both Apple and Android devices. While it does have an indefinite free version, you may opt for the pro version at $2.99.
Related Questions
Since the apps on this list are all accessible via the Google Play and Apple Store, they should be linked to your Android/Apple account, meaning that these apps should never ask for banking details.
While most fitness apps are standalone, certain apps such as MyFitnessPal can be integrated with other apps such as Strava.
Although there are some fitness/dieting apps that have workouts, recipes, calorie counters, etc., all in one, these “one-stop-shop” apps are seldom free to use.