Five apps for a better you in 2012
We’ve looked at Five things you can start doing today, Five things you can stop doing today — and now for those who are willing — here are Five apps that are just waiting to help create a better you in 2012.
Not all of these apps are device (or operating system) specific but I use them all almost daily on my iPhone so I’m writing from my limited perspective.
Education
TED Talks – Formed in 1984 as a conference to spread great ideas within Technology, Entertainment and Design, the organization now boasts an amazing library of talks from people around the world, ranging from Mike Rowe of dirty jobs to Brene Brown discussing vulnerability and Sunitha Krishnan discussing the ongoing fight against sex slavery. The iOS apps offer access to the entire TED Talks library and the iPhone app offers TEDRadio, which streams a constant audio stream of previous TED Talks.
Diet/Calorie Tracking
MyFitnessPal – This FREE app is a must have in my library. I’ve used several other similar apps in the past and this one beats all of them. It’s what’s helped me lose 19 pounds over the last 100 days. It boasts an extensive library of foods and their calorie counts and allows you to scan UPC codes of all sorts of food products to instantly add the items to your daily food diary. It also allows users to create/add their own recipes to get the best information on how many calories are in your grandmother’s potato soup. The app is also available for Android, Blackberry and Windows.
Exercise
My Run Keeper – This FREE has been a super handy app as I’ve started walking and jogging every weekday this past month. It utilizes your phones GPS for accurate tracking of numerous activities including walking, jogging, biking, rowing, swimming and more. After your workout you get a number of great stats as well as a map highlighting where your workout took you. There’s also a nice social aspect to the app and corresponding website if you so choose. Available for Android as well.
Pocket Yoga – This has been a great addition to my library this year. I wouldn’t consider myself an experienced yogi by any means, but this app (especially it’s iPad counterpart Pocket Yoga HD) has added a nice change up to my routine in the comfort of my living room. You can view a vast array of yoga poses, or allow the program to lead you through a number of different yoga practices, from 30 minutes to an hour.
Finance
Debt Free – A simple app that I recently stumbled upon that helps track and see the benefits to paying down your debt via the snowball method. Whether you choose to pay off the lowest monthly payment first, highest interest rate or highest balance, you can still quickly visualize how only paying the minimum payment each month really hurts you – or how adding $100 or even $10 a month to your debt payoff can really make a difference in the long run.
BONUS: DIY
Pinterest – One of the latest social networks on the scene (in fact it’s still not completely open to the public – hence the “BONUS” tag) has folks every where creating (or at least dreaming of creating) some amazing things. Think of Pinterest as your dream to-do list and you can find all sorts of great projects and recipes to keep yourself busy with. As a note, the app could use some improvement (I stick with the actual website when I’m on my tablet) but it’s a great resource for tagging new and creative ideas.
There are loads of other apps out there that are geared toward making a better you — these are just a small sampling.
What apps do you like?
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Thanks for posting these. I’ll look in to them. I’m already on Pinterest. I agree, it’s not easy to navigate–I’m waiting for a lesson from my daughter