While there are many resources that you can access to know which exercises to perform and what to eat, performance and progress monitoring has always been somewhat of a grey area. However, with the smartphone becoming an essential part of your life, you can use a number of apps to monitor your weight and fitness levels. Three top choices:

Studio: For Those Who Are Running To Lose Weight

The Studio app, available only on iOS for $8.00 per month builds in a 9-week running plan for weight-loss that measures your performance and holds you accountable for variances. The best feature of the app is access to group running classes that enable you to compete with runners from all over the world in real time with your performance being displayed on the leader board.

There is even a built-in reward system that gives you the opportunity to win prizes. A recent study conducted by Stanford confirms what everyone has known for ages; you can be better motivated by friendly competition. You can take the app out for a spin for free for two weeks before the subscription kicks in.

Sleep Cycle: For Those with Sleep Issues

Even when you seem to be doing everything right, you may discover that you are not making any progress at all with your weight loss even with the help of a steroid. Often, this may happen due to sleep disorders. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism has carried a report that says that even a single sleepless night can result in a decrease in insulin sensitivity by up to 25%. This essentially means that your body’s capability to process sugar is compromised and you tend to gain weight.

The Sleep Cycle app, available on both iOS and Android for free, has been specially developed to monitor your sleep patterns and movements and then offer you suggestions for improving the quality of your sleep. It is also programmed to wake you when your sleep is in its lightest phase, which is the perfect time for you to wake up.

Interval Timer: For Those Undertaking High-Intensity Interval Training

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has emerged as one of the best ways of shedding weight as it burns more calories than conventional exercises. However, even though it is very effective, it requires constant monitoring and the Interval Timer app allows you to do just that. Instead of having to measure precisely the minutes for which you need to exercise intensely, all you need to do is to program the app, which will emit a buzz when the time is up and you need to rest and then buzz again when you need to repeat. The app is free on both iOS and Android.

Conclusion

Apart from the above-mentioned apps, there are other apps that you can consider like Aaptiv that delivers a variety of audio workout lessons designed by experts. You can switch it on whenever you have the time to work out and you can choose a lesson according to the sort of exercise that you feel like doing.