As a New Year's resolution, many people want to lose weight. Since it is so hard - only 5 percent of the people are able to maintain their target weight for more than a year - there are several applications that can help you.

Through my husband I discovered fitbit. Even if you do not have the "watch" you can still profit greatly from it. For starters, you can track what you eat and how many calories you ingest. This has proved to be helpful to help me control the binge eating I sometimes feel the urge for. It also showed me that I need to eat more protein if I want to gain more muscle. You can also monitor your weight and percent body fat (if you have the appropriate machines). This has also proved to be useful; I realized I was not eating enough on certain days, therefore messing with my improvements from the previous week. I literally lose 3 pounds between Thursday and Sunday.

And if you wear the wristband, you can also monitor your sleep. For the few days I wore it I realized that I either need to "learn" to sleep better... or to sleep elsewhere.

I don't really eat much during Christmas time anymore so its fine. My weight wouldn't go up much. It would more like drop. The only thing that puts on weight for me is my steroids meds. Also what helps me to lose weight is normally eating small portions of food. And to weigh that I always eat from a small bowl. It may seem not like much but if you do you'll lose weight a lot more. I hope this helps out anyone in a little way.

We got Fitbits for Christmas, too.  I haven't used mine much as of yet, but as I exercise more, I plan on using it more often.  I admit I felt somewhat daunted when I first booted it up and synced it to the program.  There's a lot of features.  I'm glad to hear someone is getting good use out of theirs.

I really want that, I saw it at target a few days ago but its way too expensive. I do watch things though, I work out a lot and I use the health machines at Rite Aid to measure my weight and blood pressure. I do really want the band though.

Eniitan : It is not so much about losing "Holiday fat" (unless it is for two full weeks) than trying to find motivation to reach your goals. You do not seem to need it; however should you get major health problems like diabetes you can easily keep track of the carbs you eat.

supernerd117 : I find it highly deficient when it comes to calorie "spending." It only uses average basal metabolism, and mine is nowhere near that. Even when I faithfully marked the activities I was doing it still showed I was 2k calories OVER. And yet my weight is pretty stable and my pants are still comfortable. However looking at the calorie intake is highly helpful, especially for the macronutrients.

zanderlex : Yeah, the HR version is still around $150. If counting your steps is your main goal, there are cell phone apps (if your recovered ) that do it for you, and I believe it is possible to synch it with fitbit.

janus : I know I should have said in general because that is how I eat all year around. Sorry about that. '-'

I can't do goals like go down to this stone what I do is eat how I normally eat. And when I go to the doc appointment I would seen how much eight I have gained or either lost. I've done pretty well even though its hard to do it at times.

Even if one of those was like $50 I probably wouldn't be able to get one of those, I only there were some really cheap versions, then I would get one. I have a few apps that do steps, miles, and calories burned, but they are sometimes inaccurate, and sometimes even count when you aren't even walking at all or even when you are in a car or on the bus or something so they can't always be counted on but they still work a bit.

Here's a better idea. Instead of putting "lose weight" and "stay in shape" on your New Year's Resolutions, put "get fat" and "lose your shape" because if you never end up keeping your resolutions then that means you won't get fat and you won't lose your shape.

Who needs silly little gadgets when u just have an imagination.

Well this just sucks. I had a Microsoft health app that did miles, steps, time, calories. However, the app was closes down and taken off the store in November. It wouldn't let me access the app at all but after some fiddling with it, I was able to use it again,

When my phone did its super crash a few days ago the app went completely inaccessible, so now I have to resort to one of the bad apps.

I'm going to kick my arse into fifteenth gear this year. I'm starting early to get a group to go regularly to the gym with, and also trying to limit my video game play exponentially, especially with the potential of having carpal tunnel in my left wrist (awaiting diagnosis), most likely from my severe overage in gaming. I hope I can change that.

zanderlex : step counters are usually pretty accurate when you walk on a hard surface (I have an uncle who found its faults while mowing the lawn). It may not look like much but one can walk quite a bit around! But yes, the calorie burning definitely needs improvement.

Galacta  I guess people want to use a more positive attitude when wanting to change their lives. The intent is there; it is just that many people lack the will power to actually make an effort. "Getting fat" is fairly easy and can be done without effort (unless you a Homer Simpson)

janus : On all the apps I used, the calorie counters worked fine, but the ones I used are all gone now, so I need to find a new app to work with.

I always try to lose weight and stay healthy.... I am rarely successful. ^^;

People shouldn't wait for New Year's to lose weigh and get healthy tho. I think a lot of people are unsuccessful because they are putting it off and "resolve" to do better next year instead of making up their minds right away to do so.

To get back on topic, there are a host of free apps that can help with weight loss and getting healthy... my personal preference if you're not using a fitbit is called MyFitnessPal. Its free and has a lot of features in addition to calorie counting.

zanderlex : Probably because your basal metabolism is within "normal" range. The only time I calculated it, it was at like 1800 calories... just to survive! Imagine what it looks like when I exercise...

Vanelan : Or course people should not wait.. However it seems to be traditional to "take resolutions" when a new year starts. With all the apps around there is no excuse for anyone .

janus : 1800? The highest I ever saw on it was like 300 or 400, I never heard of that.

400? Are you thinking of children? In my (college) phys ed classes I was told that males need about 1500 calories (1200 for females) jsut to stay alive.

zanderlex : I heard about the same as well... you need 1000 for metabolic functions. ^^;

Vanelan :
janus : I have no idea what either of you are talking about. No app I ever had even went above 1000.

janus : You're accurate with the 1800 calories.  That's your BMR, or basal metabolic rate, which is what it takes to maintain a functioning body without doing anyway.

I run a gym so it's a critical piece of knowledge to have.  You can base your caloric intake (nutrition, we don't say diet, we say nutrition) and your expenditure (exercise or 'activity') and do the math on how long it takes to burn off a number of calories, which translates into fat.

The math is there.  It's not easy but it's simple.  More out than in.

Fitbits and all the other gadgets are cool as long as people use them.  They're great motivators because it puts the numbers in front of you.  I like keeping track of all the miles I run, the push-ups and pull-ups I do, on an Excel spreadsheet.  I set goals and then I give myself a month to attain them.  They're short term and I make the numbers higher or lower based on what's going on in my  life.

But, whatever works is awesome.

Keep up the work.

Ghostbear1111 : I couldn't think of the actual name of it. ^^;

zanderlex : The BMR that ghost is referring to is the minimum amount of calories your body needs to survive. If you sit and do nothing, your body burns a certain amount of calories (I guess its 1800 ) per day to keep you breathing, your heart beating, etc.