The Best Diet And Exercise Apps To Help You Reach Your Goals

Forbes

19-05-2025

By Dominique A. Harroch and Richard D. Harroch
Diet and fitness apps allow you to see patterns and stay consistent with your goals.
Living a healthy lifestyle is easier said than done. We love sourdough bread, hamburgers, and french fries. With so many food choices, fitness routines, and conflicting advice out there, staying on track can feel overwhelming.
That's where diet and exercise apps can come in. These tools help you track what you eat, monitor your workouts, and stay accountable—because let's be honest, we sometimes think we ate healthier than we actually did. It may seem like a hassle and feel time-consuming at first, but tracking actually takes very little time and provides invaluable feedback that helps you reach your health and fitness goals. Your health is worth the time! Tracking eliminates guesswork, allowing you to see patterns, make adjustments, and stay consistent with your goals.
Many of these apps also offer insights into your nutrition, exercise habits, and overall wellness, helping you make data-driven decisions. Whether you want to lose weight, gain muscle, or just improve overall wellness, the right app can be a health game-changer.
To help you find the best options, we developed this article with research assistance and insights from AI, ensuring a well-rounded, data-driven approach to evaluating these health and fitness tools.
Many of us underestimate how much we eat and overestimate how much we move (these authors fall into that category!). Apps remove the guesswork, providing a clear picture of our habits. When you track your food intake and daily exercise:
Tracking isn't just about numbers; it's about awareness. When you keep tabs on your food intake and exercise, you're more likely to stay on track, make healthier choices, and achieve long-term success. Many of us snack mindlessly and wonder why we are gaining weight. This approach leaves no room for mystery.
Below are some of the best diet and exercise apps, with evaluations into how they work and why they can help you achieve results.
What it does: Noom goes beyond just counting calories. It takes a psychology-driven approach to help you build better habits for long-term weight loss.
Key features:
Why it's effective: Many people struggle with yo-yo dieting because they focus only on calories, not behavior change. Noom helps reframe your relationship with food, so you can make sustainable choices rather than falling into restrictive cycles.
Downsides: Some users find the daily lessons repetitive over time, and the personal coaching can feel generic rather than truly personalized. Additionally, Noom requires a subscription, which can be pricey compared to free alternatives.
What it does: MyFitnessPal is one of the most popular calorie and macro-tracking apps. It provides an extensive food database and lets you log meals, track exercise, and monitor progress.
Key features:
Downsides: The free version has limited features, and the app has frequent ads unless you upgrade to premium. Some users also report that the barcode scanner and food database occasionally have inaccuracies, which can lead to incorrect logging.
What it does: Fitbit tracks steps, heart rate, sleep, and workouts, helping you stay active and mindful of your movement throughout the day.
Key features:
Downsides: Fitbit devices can be expensive, and some features require a Fitbit Premium subscription. Battery life varies between models, and syncing issues between the app and devices are a common complaint.
What it does: Strong is designed for people who love lifting weights. It tracks your workouts, sets, reps, and progress, making it easy to build and adjust strength-training routines.
Key features:
Downsides: The free version is very limited, and many advanced features require a paid upgrade. Some users also feel the exercise library is not as extensive as other strength training apps.
What it does: Strava is a social fitness app that tracks runs, bike rides, and other cardio activities, providing detailed insights into performance and endurance.
Key features:
Downsides: Strava's best features, including segment leaderboards and route planning, are behind a paywall. Some users also report GPS tracking inaccuracies, which can affect workout tracking.
What it does: Cronometer goes beyond just tracking calories and macros—it also helps you track essential vitamins and minerals to ensure optimal nutrition.
Key features:
Downsides: The interface can feel overwhelming for beginners, and manual food entry can be time-consuming. The free version lacks some important features like recipe creation and meal planning.
What it does: JEFIT is useful for people who want structured workout plans with detailed instructions for strength training.
Key features:
Downsides: The app contains ads in the free version, and some users find the interface cluttered. The workout plans may feel too rigid for those who prefer more flexibility in their training.
What it does: Lose It! makes calorie tracking simple and effective, with an easy-to-use interface and goal-setting features.
Key features:
Downsides: The free version includes ads, and some users have experienced syncing issues with other fitness devices. Additionally, some users find the interface outdated compared to newer tracking apps.
While apps are a fantastic way to track your health, wearable technology like the Apple Watch takes it to the next level. With built-in fitness tracking capabilities, the Apple Watch provides real-time data that can enhance your diet and exercise regimen.
Key features:
Why it's effective: The Apple Watch acts as a personal fitness coach, encouraging movement, alerting you when you've been inactive for too long, and tracking progress in real-time. By pairing it with a diet and exercise app, you can ensure that your activity levels align with your nutrition and health goals.
Many of us have had that moment when we look in the mirror and feel like we need to lose a few pounds, or perhaps our doctors have advised us to lose weight for health reasons. Maintaining a healthy diet is essential not only for weight management but also for overall well-being. A balanced diet can reduce the risk of chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure while also improving energy levels, mood, and sleep quality.
However, making healthier food choices and sticking to them consistently can be challenging. This is where diet and exercise apps come in. These apps act as digital accountability partners, helping you track your food intake, monitor your activity levels, and set realistic health goals. By providing insights into your eating habits, nutrient intake, and exercise progress, they help you make more informed decisions about your health.
With the right tools and consistency, achieving a healthier lifestyle is within reach. Whether you are looking to lose weight, build muscle, or simply develop better eating habits, these apps can be an invaluable resource in helping you stay on track and maintain long-term success.
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Copyright (c) by Richard D. Harroch. All Rights Reserved.