There is no better time to stop and evaluate your goals than in the new year. New Years resolutions have started to get a bad rap, because people often set their goals too high and have no practical steps toward the goal or a support system to help them achieve them. Technology offers a unique realm of possibilities when it comes to meeting our New Year’s resolutions. Regardless of your goal, there is an app that can help you keep your New Years Resolution, somewhere in the App Store. Having apps on your iPhone helps by offering practical steps and support to achieve and maintain your goals. So I wanted to put together this list; If you’re wondering how to keep your New Years Resolution for 2017, here are the best apps to help you stay consistent.
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Goal: lose weight
MyFitnessPal
MyFitnessPal has been my go-to app for managing my weight for years. Having tried a multitude of exercise and food intake tracking apps, none are as easy to use as MyFitnessPal. Use the app to find out how many calories you need to eat to lose, maintain, or gain weight. Then track your eating and exercise throughout the day with MyFitnessPal’s extensive database. Track your weight over time with the chart and watch your progress by including pictures with your weighings.
Goal: get more exercise
CycleCast
Do you love cycling but hate classes? Soak up a sweat on your own schedule with CycleCast. Choose your coach and travel time and then start biking. It’s a cycling class for your ears with upbeat music and an instructor to keep you motivated. It’s not completely free, but you can try it for 30 days to see if you like it first.
C25K
Not interested in cycling? Use the free version of the popular Couch to Five Kilometers app to go from an all-day caregiver to a marathon runner. This app is perfect for getting back into exercise as it helps you build small steps of progress until you have completed your goal.
StrongLifts 5 × 5 Training
One of the two apps above can help you with your cardio, but weight lifting is an important part of building strength and muscles, regardless of your gender. But lifting weights can be intimidating if you don’t know where to start or what to do. That’s where StrongLifts comes in. Let the app discover your workouts and make it easy to track. You focus on pumping that iron.
Goal: eat healthier and cook more often
Delicious
Yummly has a large variety of recipes from several different websites. It’s great for getting out of the eating routine and trying new things. Not all recipes are guaranteed to be healthy, so look at the ingredients to make sure they are in line with your goals. You may also like recipes on Yummly and the app will give you recommendations based on what you like. Overall, this is the recipe box equivalent app you used to find in kitchens – it has good food and lots of it.
Objective: Less time sitting
Get up! The work break timer
Apple Watch has support reminders to help you remember to be on your feet during work hours. Sitting at a desk all day is an unavoidable thing for many people, but making sure you are on your feet for at least a minute every hour can make a big difference. Fortunately, an Apple Watch doesn’t need to be reminded to stand up; There’s an application for that. The Stand Up app allows you to customize the timer based on your work schedule. It will then remind you to remain standing at the intervals you have set.
Goal: stop smoking
My smoking cessation coach
My Quit Coach offers a personal plan to help you quit smoking. You can choose to quit smoking suddenly or gradually reduce your cigarettes and taper off. Keep track of how many days you’ve gone without a cigarette and take note of cravings along the way. View graphs of the progress you’ve made and unlock achievement badges to help keep you motivated to continue.
Goal: create good habits
Habit
Turn your list of tasks and objectives into an RPG with Habitica. Create a custom avatar that levels up when you complete tasks. As you progress, you will unlock armor, pets, abilities, and missions. You will also accumulate gold that can be used to obtain rewards, both in and out of the game. In short, if task management is a chore and you want to gamify your goals, Habitica is a great free way to do it.
Objective: relax more
Stop, think, breathe
This mindfulness and meditation app is one of my favorites available. It has a beautiful design and allows you to take a few minutes to feel zen and return to tranquility. The app also asks you to keep track of your emotional state before and after meditation so that you are aware of the benefits and can refer to them.
Pigment
Another great way to relax is to color. It allows you to turn off your brain in a way similar to meditation. Pigment is the best coloring app I have ever used. It has a lot of free beautiful images, plus it is the only coloring app that allows you to color, instead of just filling in sections. Choose from quite a few different mediums (colored pencil, marker, etc.) and color each section however you like without worrying about coloring outside the lines.
Goal: spend less time on your phone
Moment
I’m just as guilty of this as anyone else – we spend too much time on our phones. Not only do we spend too much time on them, but we also tend to review them much more frequently than is really necessary. If you want to spend less time on your phone over the next year, Moment is a great app to help you do that. Moment tracks the amount of time you are on your phone and the number of times you answer it. It uses green, yellow, and red to indicate whether you’ve spent a good amount of time, too long, or too long on your phone.
Goal: financial health and wealth
Envelopes
Knowing where your money is going is the first step in calculating your budget. Mvelopes allows you to connect all of your accounts so that you can easily track and limit your spending by category. It will also show you the balance of your income and expenses so you can make sure they match. App reviewers seemed to prefer mint, but if Mvelopes isn’t your thing, Mint is another free alternative.
Digit
Mvelopes helps you budget your money, while Digit helps you save it. Digit checks your spending habits and transfers small amounts from your account to savings within the Digit app. The app guarantees that you will never withdraw more than you can afford. If you’re having trouble figuring out how to save money, let Digit figure it out for you. A little money saved here and there will add up over the course of a year.
Objective: learn new things
Curiosity
Learn new and random things from a wide variety of different subjects with Curiosity. Read and watch short articles and videos, then share your favorites with friends on social media. From history and art to science news and technological advancements, learn something new every day with Curiosity.
Memrise
Do you want to study a new language in 2017? While Duolingo is a great free language learning app, Memrise is my personal favorite. I have used it to study French for the past few months and have retained more using Memrise than ever trying other language apps. If you really want to learn a new language, sign up for Memrise premium. Multiple languages in Memrise allow you to hear the words spoken by native speakers, helping to train your ear to use the language in the real world.
Objective: Daily more
Day One: Daily ($ 4.99)
This is the only app on our list that is not free, but I wanted to include it as an additional New Years Resolution app because it is one of the best. Many of the above apps help you with concrete goals like better financial health or a stronger body, but your mental health and inner happiness are important too. Knowing how you are doing is important to your overall health, and keeping a journal is a great way to be with yourself, as well as to keep memories of the great moments you will have in the coming year.
