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7 Best Weight Loss Apps In 2024
Updated on
- Written by Kate Barrington, Health Expert
Medically reviewed by
Dr G. Michael DiLeo, MD
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Noom
- Virtual health coaching is available
- Teaches you healthy eating and fitness habits
- Food database of over 3.5 million foods
Perfect Body
- Offers personalized meal plans
- The brand has a mobile app
- The program also includes workout routines
Up to 60% Off: healthcanal100
Cronometer
- Track micronutrients for balanced nutrition
- Includes intermittent fasting timer
- Low monthly fee for a premium membership
According to the World Health Organization[1] (WHO), nearly 40 percent of adults aged 18 or older were overweight in 2016, and 13 percent were obese. Obesity has become an epidemic: the majority of the world’s population lives in countries where being overweight and obese now causes more deaths than deaths caused by being underweight.
Maintaining healthy body weight is essential for wellness and longevity, but it can be difficult to achieve. Calorie counting can be exhausting, and it’s hard to develop good exercise habits when you’re just beginning to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Lifestyle coaches and personal trainers help but are a luxury not everyone can afford.
That’s where weight loss apps come in. The workout apps can help you reach your weight goal without spending a small fortune. They can help you learn healthy eating habits, teach you to develop a workout routine and provide you with helpful information to keep you going along your weight loss journey.
The best workout apps for weight loss are inexpensive and easy to use. They provide weight loss support in a way that works for you and help you track your progress.
Best Weight Loss Apps On The Market In (April. 2024)
- Noom – Most Personalized
- Perfect Body – Best Keep Fit
- Cronometer – Best Nutrition Tracker
- Weight Watchers – Best Support
- MyFitnessPal – Runner Up
- Lose It! – Editor’s Choice
- Fitbit App – Best Activity Tracker
- Nike Training Club – Best Workout App
A – B = C: Is It Really All About The Calories?
A lot of It is, but not just that; it’s also all about the calories you burn. Think of it as a budget: income minus what you spend gives you your net worth (money in – money out = what you have).
In dieting, your income is the number of calories you consume; what you spend is the energy used (exercise/activity), and your net worth is your weight. (A. Calories in – B. calories burned = what you gain or lose in C. weight.) Basically, it’s all arithmetic: A – B = C. As such, these apps help you stick to the plan by streamlining the arithmetic. We’ve assembled a list of the best weight loss apps on the market to help you decide which is the best fit for you.
Read on to see our top 8 picks for the best weight loss apps.
8 Best Weight Loss Apps for Weight Loss 2024
Noom
If you’re just starting your fitness journey, Noom is a great option. More than just exercise tracking and calorie counting, it teaches you how to make healthier food choices.
- Virtual health coaching is available
- Teaches you healthy eating and fitness habits
- Food database of over 3.5 million foods
- Fairly expensive
Noom is different from other diet apps. It’s not just a calorie counter or exercise tracker but provides you with useful nutritional information to help you make healthier choices. It is true that some food combinations are more than just adding their calories, e.g., combining high-fat with high-sugar foods[3], or choosing fast-food over full-service restaurants[4]. Even grocery shopping when you’re hungry[5] can affect your choice of more fattening foods. This app uses science and personalized advice to help you achieve your weight loss and fitness goals. By building healthy lifestyle habits, you’ll enjoy long-term results. After all, you can’t just diet until the diet’s over; you need to change your life[6], behaviorally[7], in the way you eat, permanently.
Each day, you’ll receive personalized lessons and practical information you can apply throughout your journey. Noom provides one-on-one coaching and support groups as well. You’ll receive the usual tracking tools as well, so you can monitor progress toward your weight loss goal.
Noom is more expensive than other options, costing $59 per month or $199 per year, but you’ll receive more personalized support than you’ll get from other fitness apps. Since dieting has such dynamic psychological effects, the support may be worth it.
Cronometer
Tracking calories is important, but balanced nutrition is essential if you want to enjoy optimal health and wellness. That’s where Cronometer stands out among other health apps.
- Track micronutrients for balanced nutrition
- Includes intermittent fasting timer
- Low monthly fee for a premium membership
- A subscription is required for the premium version
Most weight loss apps help you with exercise tracking and meal planning, but many are limited to merely counting calories. If you want to make sure you’re getting the right balance of key nutrients, something like Cronometer might be a good choice. This app provides accurate nutrition data to help you log calories, exercise, and biometrics. If successful dieting relies on lifestyle changes, permanent nutritional strategies are paramount.
In addition to helping you track progress toward your goals, Cronometer offers tools and resources to boost your results. If you want to try intermittent fasting, the app has a fasting timer and helps you track the effects of your fast. You’ll have access to healthy recipes and support for diet preferences that include vegan, gluten-free, and keto.
If you’re looking into the best, free weight loss apps, Cronometer is free to download. If you want to access the app’s features on a premium level, however, you’ll have to upgrade to Gold for $5.99 per month or $34.95 per year.
Perfect Body
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Perfect Body considers your food preferences, water intake, and general health needs and goals. The brand’s website is designed to intake all your information once you log in
- Offers personalized meal plans
- Numerous delicious recipes
- Has a mobile app
- Is an easy-to-use app and website
- Helps you monitor your progress
- Makes a payment to use
The Perfect Body online weight loss plan helps you within these two essential constraints. The first way is it offers you unlimited recipes for healthy meals. With these well-curated nutritious meal plans, you get to enjoy healthy foods that are easy to make, and they are also delicious recipes you will enjoy.
The platform considers your food preferences, water intake, and general health needs and goals. The brand’s website is designed to intake all your information once you log in.
Perfect Body also offers an exercise plan for all its users to burn fat. They take your current weight and ask you for your fitness goals and your goal weight. From this information, the algorithm curates workout plans recommended by a professional personal trainer to meet your fitness and health goals.
The platform may help if one aims to stay on the right track, set by the experts on Perfect Body. So, if you would like to bypass all the faux tactics on weight loss and health diets online that lack scientific backing, this brand claims that using their platform will offer you the best experience that will help you shed a few pounds
Weight Watchers
Sticking to a diet and exercise plan can be tough and having a little in-person support makes all the difference. If you’re looking for a diet app that also provides access to in-person coaching and support, consider Weight Watchers, where you don’t have to brave it alone.
- Nutrition app with live and virtual support
- Receive an individualized eating plan
- Access to in-person events and live coaching
- A starter fee may be required
One of the most popular weight loss programs in the U.S., Weight Watchers (now WW) has been helping individuals lose weight for nearly six decades. The modern version of the program combines in-person coaching with virtual community support and a digital app to help you lose more weight than you might on your own. These make it much more psychologically effective[8] when it’s your own psychology that is interfering with success.
With the Weight Watchers Digital app, you’ll receive a personalized nutrition plan with easy-to-use trackers and access to a 24/7 live coach. If you sign up for Digital 360, you’ll enjoy exclusive access to live and on-demand workouts and wellness experiences, including nutrition classes and cooking demos.
WW programs cost about $23 per month, though they often offer discounts off the first month and frequently waive the starter fee. Again, as stated above, the psychological boost from in-person support can be very effective in a psychologically challenging activity like dieting.
MyFitnessPal
10% Off Annual Membership: 10AFFILIATE22
If you’re looking for a calorie counting app that adjusts to your changing calorie requirements, MyFitnessPal is one to consider.
- Adjusts calorie needs based on daily exercise
- Barcode scanner enables easy calorie counting
- Includes message boards to connect with other users
- Nutrition info entered by users may be inaccurate
- Adjusting serving sizes can be tricky
The key to weight loss is burning more calories than you consume, but your calorie burn varies from day to day depending on how much you exercise and how active you are. The MyFitnessPal app helps you calculate your daily calorie needs and enables you to set goals for exercise and macronutrient ratios. As you track calories burned, your calorie goal adjusts so you know exactly where you are for the day. In the A-B=C formula, this app gives the “B” its due.
To make food tracking easy, MyFitnessPal features a barcode scanner so you can simply scan the food label to input nutrition information into your food diary. You can also log food manually, drawing from a large database of popular food products, or input the number of calories if you don’t have time to look it up.
MyFitnessPal has a free version, though you can pay $9.99 to access the premium version. The annual cost for a premium is $49.99.
Lose It!
This easy-to-use app is designed for calorie counting and weight tracking. It’s our top pick because it helps you create a customized weight loss plan and track your progress.
- Set personalized goals and track progress
- Easy to use and customize
- Set a daily calorie budget and monitor intake
- The food database is missing some popular brands
- Doesn’t track vitamin and mineral content
Counting calories is one of the most tedious, difficult, and inaccurate aspects of weight loss, but it’s important to get it right if you want to achieve a calorie deficit. That is, in the A-B=C formula, B must be greater than A. The Lose It! app makes it simple to monitor your daily calorie intake and track your weekly progress toward your weight loss goals. It even has a Snap It features that enables you to track food intake by taking pictures of your food.
This weight loss app makes weight loss easy. You can also use it to track water intake as well as macronutrient intake. This can be particularly beneficial if you’re following a specific diet like the keto diet. You’ll also receive weight loss tips to help you on your journey.
The Lose It! app is free to download but you’ll need to pay a monthly fee to access premium features or suffer the reminder pop-ups to do so. The monthly fee for premium membership is $9.99, or you can pay an annual rate of $39.99.
Fitbit App
It can be difficult to know just how many calories you burn each day, but the Fitbit App pairs perfectly with your wearable fitness tracker to provide accurate information.
- Track activity and calorie intake
- Receive notifications to your phone
- Monitor water intake and sleep quality
- Requires Fitbit device for optimal performance
- May not work with apple watch
Exercise is an important component of any weight loss plan. It’s the “B” in the A-B=C formula. The more you exercise, the more calories you burn and that helps you achieve a calorie deficit that promotes weight loss. If you have a hard time estimating how many calories you actually burn throughout the day, a wearable fitness tracker is a great option.
Wearable fitness trackers are great, but their function is limited unless they’re paired with an app that interfaces with the data from your wearable device. That’s where fitness tracker apps like Fitbit come in handy. This app pairs perfectly with Fitbit devices to help you track daily exercise and calorie intake. It also tracks your water intake, sleep habits[2], and weight goals.
To help motivate you along your fitness journey, the Fitbit App sends notifications to your phone to update you on your progress. You’ll also receive awards for milestones along the way.
Nike Training Club
Exercise is a key component of any fitness or weight loss plan, but all fitness apps are not created equal. The Nike Training Club App is designed for everybody and every level of fitness.
- Wide variety of workout plans
- Nutritional advice and wellness coaching
- Includes goal-setting tools
- Premium content requires a monthly subscription
When you’re first getting started with your fitness journey, you may need a little help. Nike Training Club offers an easy-to-use app interface with a wide variety of workouts so you can find the program that works best for you. You’ll also receive goal-setting tools and plenty of daily content to help you progress toward your goals.
Boredom makes for tedious diets, and tedious diets fail. But with Nike’s Training Club, with activities from HIIT to yoga, its app ensures that you’ll never get bored with your workouts. You’ll also receive access to nutritional advice and wellness coaching in every category, including mindset, movement, recovery, and sleep.
Nike Training Club is a free weight loss app. You’ll receive access to over 100 workouts, but if the free version isn’t enough, the premium subscription gives you access to all the extra content.
How To Choose The Best Weight Loss App?
There are plenty of fitness apps and food tracking apps on the market, but how do you find the best weight loss app for your needs?
You must keep in mind the intuitive formula for weight loss: A – B = C. Once you’ve settled on the apps most appropriate for you, individually, the best place to start narrowing them down is by identifying your fitness goals. Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to improve your fitness? Having some idea of what you want to achieve is the key to narrowing down the options and finding the best fit.
Here are some other factors to consider when shopping for weight loss apps:
Food Database
Calorie tracking (the “A” in the formula) is one of the most important features of a weight loss app. While you could certainly just keep a log of how many calories you’ve consumed, it helps to be able to just type the name of the food into a database and have the app log it for you. Look for an app that uses verified nutritional information but also allows you to create custom foods that may not be listed.
Tracking Tools
Knowing how many calories you’re consuming is important, but you also want to know how many you should be consuming. A good weight loss app helps you calculate your daily calorie needs, based on your daily activity and energy expenditures, and make adjustments for your goals.
Workout Plans
Exercise (the “B” in the formula) is a must if you want to improve your fitness, and it can help you lose weight (the all-important “C”) as well. If fitness is part of your goal, look for an app that provides workout advice or customized workout plans. At the very least, the app should give you the space to input the number of calories you’ve burned with your daily workout.
Personalization
Everybody is different, so it’s important to find an app that is appropriate for your needs. For example, the best weight loss apps for teens might look different than the best weight loss apps for adults or older individuals. Gender–and even ethnicity–can impact[9] the chances for success. Look for an app that has options for personalization so you can customize your experience. Potential options include meal planning that accounts for dietary preferences or workout coaching that can accommodate mobility issues.
Monthly Cost
While many weight loss apps are available for download for free, the majority seem to require some kind of monthly subscription fee if you want access to premium features. There’s no harm in downloading an app to try it before you decide if you want to commit. But don’t fear the cost of a subscription, because obesity is far more expensive–and not just in dollars!
The first weight loss app you try may not be the perfect fit, but don’t give up! Weight loss is a journey and not one that you should rush. Also, the apps stay the same, but you change; thus, the right app for you now may not be the right one for you six months from now. If your needs change, your app should, too. Also, it’s better to lose weight slowly and consistently than to drop too much weight at once. With the right app to support you, you can track your progress and make adjustments to your habits to help you reach your goals in time.
Final Thought: It’s Still A-B=C
Achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight is one of the best things you can do for your long-term health and wellness. Diet and exercise (the “A” and the “B”) are two pieces of the puzzle and the right weight loss apps can help you achieve your health goals (the “C”).
The best diet apps support your weight loss efforts by helping you track your caloric intake and adjust for exercise. Many track nutrition as well, so you know which nutrients may be lacking in your diet. A calorie tracker combined with additional features like advanced meal planning, custom workouts, and virtual community support can help you progress from your current weight to your goal weight over a healthy period of time.
With so many apps to choose from, it can be overwhelming trying to choose the best weight loss app. Whether you’re looking for a free weight loss app or you’re willing to pay a monthly fee, the options on this list are a great place to start.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, calorie counting is the primary feature of most weight loss apps. They help you monitor food intake and count your daily calorie intake, comparing it to your recommended daily calories. Many also offer fitness tracking and meal planning features.
A food log is simply a daily accounting of the food you’ve consumed and the calories in it. Also known as a food diary, the food log is how most weight loss apps track progress toward weight loss. You’ll also need to update your current weight from time to time.
Many weight loss apps are free to download but the free version may be limited. If you want to access premium features like live coaching or meal planning, you may need to pay a monthly or annual fee.
Perhaps you’re not losing weight as quickly as you’d hope. Losing it the right way is a slow, gradual process. Alternatively, you may not really be doing everything “right.” If this is a possibility, you should consult a nutritionist or licensed dietitian to see where you’re failing; they have the “book knowledge by which to assess you.
+ 9 sources
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- World (2021). Obesity and overweight. [online] Who.int. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight
- Apa.org. (2022). APA PsycNet. [online] Available at: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-35537-004
- International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition. (2022). Are High-Fat, High-Sugar Foods and Diets Conducive to Obesity? [online] Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/09637489609006954
- Kolodinsky, J.M. and Goldstein, A.B. (2011). Time Use and Food Pattern Influences on Obesity. Obesity, [online] 19(12), pp.2327–2335. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1038/oby.2011.130
- Tal, A. and Wansink, B. (2013). Fattening Fasting: Hungry Grocery Shoppers Buy More Calories, Not More Food. JAMA Internal Medicine, [online] 173(12), p.1146. Available at: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1685889/?amp=1
- Psychology & Health. (2018). “It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle”: a longitudinal, data-prompted interview study of weight loss maintenance. [online] Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08870446.2019.1579913
- French, S.A. and Jeffery, R.W. (1997). Current dieting, weight loss history, and weight suppression: Behavioral correlates of three dimensions of dieting. Addictive Behaviors, [online] 22(1), pp.31–44. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306460396000020
- Gardner, R.E. and Hausenblas, H.A. (2004). Understanding Exercise and Diet Motivation in Overweight Women Enrolled in a Weight-Loss Program: A Prospective Study Using the Theory of Planned Behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, [online] 34(7), pp.1353–1370. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2004.tb02010.x
- Cachelin, F.M. and Regan, P.C. (2006). Prevalence and correlates of chronic dieting in a multi-ethnic U.S. community sample. Eating and Weight Disorders – Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, [online] 11(2), pp.91–99. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF03327757
Written by:
Kate Barrington, Health Expert
Medically reviewed by:
Medically reviewed by:
