Autumn Years Fall 2023

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

What’s Up with Apps By Luke Yeagley

LOGAN BARONE

F or better or worse, dieting and weight loss companies have been a staple in American life for decades. However, just a few months ago, the last Jenny Craig shut its doors, indicating again how much times are changing. A lot of people have been moving to mobile apps to find success in the dieting space, and there are plenty of apps out there. Most of them focus on maintaining an overall healthier lifestyle through diet, exercise and goal setting. From intense calorie scouting to scanning bar codes in the grocery aisle, below are some of the most popular apps in this space. Also included are some that look at increasing wellness from other perspectives, like setting goals for everyday tasks and decluttering the mind. These apps are generally free but some have premium subscriptions that unlock more features and additional con tent. Users also must create an account to use them and can sign up via email or social media accounts like Facebook. Also before taking advantage of these apps, work with your doctor to ensure they are right for you.

MYFITNESSPAL

MyFitnessPal is the most downloaded app by far on our list. It has been around for a while and is recognized as one of the leaders for viewing dieting from a purely quantitative perspective, meaning following the most basic formula for weight loss: (Calories in < Calories out)=weight loss. That then begs the question, how on earth does someone figure out how many calories he or she should consume when eating and how many calories are burned by exercise? MyFitnessPal is how. The app has users start by entering info like height, weight and target weight, and age to help calculate a target calorie goal. The app then allows them to scan and log specific foods and exercises to see that the equa tion balances out each day. The app even provides specific recipes and exercises that have known caloric values.

LIFESUM

Lifesum is one of MyFitnessPal’s biggest competitors in the calorie tracking space. It puts diet at the forefront as opposed to emphasiz ing exercise. Many of the key features are the same with just a differ ent focus. As with MyFitnessPal you can log foods by searching in its database, come up with a target caloric goal and track how much water you are drinking per day. It also offers meal plans and calorie tracking but many of the features have to be unlocked with payment. The differentiator is that Lifesum has users calculate a current Life Score to show how healthy they are now and then helps them calculate a new one to achieve their goals.

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FALL 2023 I AUTUMN YEARS