# Fitness Apps to Monitor Health and Exercise.



## Happyflowerlady (May 2, 2018)

First came the little pedometer that clipped on, and maybe next, it was incorporated into a watch. I remember having one of those watches that would keep track of my steps when I walked. 
Next, I had a Fitbug, which was a little gadget that clipped on to my clothes and tracked my steps and then synced it into my iPad and iPhone.
  I had to change the battery every few months, so I looked for one that charged up with a usb connection, and got one of the older Jawbone UP trackers. This one also tracked my sleep; so I could see how well I was sleeping each night. 

I used that until last fall , when my daughter upgraded to the new Apple Watch cellular, and gave me her old Series 2 watch. 
I didn’t think that I would like it and having to wear a watch again after all these years of not wearing one; but I now just love all of the things that this watch does.
It is not only a watch and a wrist-phone; but also as a device to help me monitor my health. 

The Apple Watch tracks my steps, how many calories I actively burn each day, what my heart rate is at any time, as well as keeping track of how well I am sleeping. 
When I go swimming, I can set the activity tracker for swimming, and it tells me how far I swam, how many laps I swam, and how my heart rate was when exercising. 

The Apple Watch syncs with my iPhone, which sends the information to another app called “Health” .The health apps logs in all of the activity information, plus my food intake. 
I have an app called “CarbManager” and when I eat, I record it in the app, and it keeps track of how many calories, carbs, fats, and fiber I get every day. 

The health app takes the food information and shows me how many vitamins and minerals I am getting from the food that I eat, so I can easily track my vitamins and minerals, and see what I might need to supplement with, and which ones I have enough of in my diet. 

There are a lot of health and fitness apps available for people who care enough about their health that they want to keep track of everything, so regardless of what kind of phone or computer you use, there are programs that will work for it, and apps that integrate easily with most phones. 

What I would like next is one of those scales that works with a phone app and shows not only your weight, but your BMI and other related info. 
I know that one popular food tracker is called “My Fitness Pal”, and I have seen all kinds of sports and walking/running apps ; but the ones that I have do what I need to have done. 
Which other apps are any of the rest of the folks here using, and why do you like them the best ?


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## CarolfromTX (May 3, 2018)

I have a Garmin fitness monitor. Water resistant, counts steps and reps, keeps track of heart rate, and has more features than I use. I love it, just because it lets me know how much I have done. I need at least 8,000 steps to get to sleep at night. I could have bught an apple watch, but I would freak out about breaking/losing it. Garmin is under $200, so I don't worry so much.


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## Falcon (May 3, 2018)

I  bought a  "Talking"  watch which is run by a group  in Colorado.  It's accurate to the split second and  actually  says the  hourly  time  and also

"says"  the time whenever I press  the button.  I never have to wind it,  get a new battery etc.  I can't shut it off.  At night I have to stick it in a drawer
lest it would  keep me awake  every hour on the hour.  I wear it every day  and it comes in handy when we have to change the settings  on our clocks twice each year.

If it's dark out, I simply  punch a button and the little man inside  announces the  EXACT  time of day  or night.

This watch is prized by blind people who want to know the time.

As I mentioned before, it is operated  by the group  somewhere in Colorado.

If you want one..."Google"  it.  I think it was around  $30  something or other.


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## Happyflowerlady (May 4, 2018)

CarolfromTX said:


> I have a Garmin fitness monitor. Water resistant, counts steps and reps, keeps track of heart rate, and has more features than I use. I love it, just because it lets me know how much I have done. I need at least 8,000 steps to get to sleep at night. I could have bught an apple watch, but I would freak out about breaking/losing it. Garmin is under $200, so I don't worry so much.



If you look for an older model, or a refurbished one, you can have an Apple Watch in the same price range. I see that at Best Buy all of the time, starting at around $200. Ebay is also a great place to find a used one. 

I can’t say enough about the Apple Watch, Carol !  I thought I just needed a fitness tracker,  but the Apple Watch does SO much more. I used to miss phone calls because my phone was in the bottom of my purse and I didn’t hear it when I was in a busy store, like Walmart, or even when i was driving. Now, it vibrates right on my wrist, and I can talk like “Dick Tracy” with my wrist phone. 
It has an emergency button in case you need to call for help and can’t get to your phone. You just hold the button down and it calls 911 for you. 
Any exercise that I want to do, I can start it as an activity from the watch, and afterwards, it has total specs of what i accomplished during the exercise. 
Mine is a Series 2, so it is safe to wear in water, but if you are going to be swimming, then you need something newer than a Series 1, which can get wet but is not waterproof. 

Because of my heart problems, I also want to keep track of my heart rate, and this is so easy to do with the Apple Watch also. 
So, if you want more than just a step counter, this device is really worth checking out.


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## C'est Moi (May 4, 2018)

I have an Apple watch, a Fitbit Charge 2 and a new Fitbit Versa.   I prefer a Fitbit for fitness tracking since they have superior battery life as compared to my Apple watch.   I also prefer the Fitbit app and interface compared to Apple Health.  The Charge 2 is my absolute favorite but I recently bought the Versa since it can be used for swimming.

As for apps, the Fitbit interface is probably the best, but I have also used My Fitness Pal, Lose It! and Weight Watchers for nutrition tracking.


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## Happyflowerlady (Apr 30, 2021)

C'est Moi said:


> I have an Apple watch, a Fitbit Charge 2 and a new Fitbit Versa.   I prefer a Fitbit for fitness tracking since they have superior battery life as compared to my Apple watch.   I also prefer the Fitbit app and interface compared to Apple Health.  The Charge 2 is my absolute favorite but I recently bought the Versa since it can be used for swimming.
> 
> As for apps, the Fitbit interface is probably the best, but I have also used My Fitness Pal, Lose It! and Weight Watchers for nutrition tracking.


I now also have a Fitbit Inspire 2, and the battery lasts at least 10 days, maybe more, in between charging, and my Apple Watch has to be charged up every day. 
The reason that I have both is because of my Humana Medicare plan.  They have an activity incentive program called Go365 and you can get points for things like doctor visits and also for walking at least 500 steps each day. The problem is that the Go365 doesn’t sync with Apple Watch, but it does sync with a Fitbit. 

My Humana OTC catalog had activity trackers on it, so I used up my OTC amount and got the Inspire.  Since all it needs to do is tell Humana that I am walking every day, I got the little clip-on case for it, and wear it clipped onto my bra. 
Once I knew that it was working right, I no longer even look at it, because I track everything else with the Apple Watch .  I just charged it up today, and it has been around 2 weeks since I first got it and charged it up. 

The inspire is capable of tracking a lot of things, as well as waterproof for swimming, and I would definitely recommend it for someone looking for a basic fitness tracker.  It comes with a free year of Premium, which gives you more options and information (which I never pay any attention to anyway).


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