IPhone App Review: Tap & Track Health and Fitness App

For those who have an iPhone or ITouch, the number of available programs for it, called "apps" (i.e. applications) can be overwhelming. Particularly when you first obtain an iPhone, exploring the available apps at iTunes can be mind-blowing and even a little confusing. How can you find the apps you will use and enjoy? Is it really possible to ferret out the app that will fit your lifestyle? First, it's wise to check out the reviews of any app before purchasing it.

Improving your Eating Habits and Exercise Routines using Tap & Track on iPhone

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, 33% of adults in the U.S., as of 2008 are considered obese. If you hope to adapt a healthier lifestyle, you are probably looking for methods to help you. To get a handle on what you eat, how often you eat, and how long you exercise, consider purchasing a health and fitness app for your iPhone from iTunes. Portable and easily accessed, using a health and fitness app is always with you when it's in your iPhone.

Cost of the Tap & Track App

Out of several health and fitness apps at iTunes, this writer decided to purchase Tap & Track, written by nonobitsoftware.com to see what it has to offer. After all, it only costs $3.99. Even so, as apps go, $3.99 is mid-range. Most of the health-related apps cost between $0.99 and 2.99.

ITunes Reviews of Tap & Track

In Tap & Track's case, the overall average rating on iTunes was 4 stars out of 5. As over 250 people have rated it, that is saying something.

Tap & Track's Uniqueness

The breadth of food calorie counts in Tap & Track numbers over 110,000. Plus, it breaks out foods by brand names, if you prefer to look up foods using the manufacturer's name. It's convenient to use this function to quickly determine if the food item is found in Tap & Track's food listings.

Speaking of the food listings, Tap & Track has calorie counts for foods offered at over 400 restaurants. If you routinely watch your food intake, you know how handy it is to be able to tap open a restaurant's specific listing and look up menu items. In addition to calorie counts, Tap & Track shows proteins, sugars, carbs, sodium, fiber, and fats for foods.

Another unique aspect of Tap & Track is the ability to graph your weight loss. All you have to do is enter in a "start date" and an "end date" and the program will compute a line graph showing your weight loss for that period of time.

Calorie Expenditures for Various Forms of Exercise

Most people increase their exercise when they are trying to lose weight (or keep it off). It can be difficult to know how many extra calories to add in to your targeted amount to eat to compensate for the exercise. However, it's necessary to increase your calories when you exercise frequently to keep your metabolism burning off the weight. Tap & Track's easy-to-see calorie line across the top of one of the app's screens tells you how many calories you are allowed that day, based on your sex, age, weight, and level of work activity that was entered into the program initially. This feature can really keep you exercising, too. You are more aware you ought to exercise when you need to enter it so it will "count" in your food program.

Little guess work is necessary as the app is pretty complete. It includes lists of calorie-burning activities that simply need to be tapped to access the "wheel". Using the wheel, you "dial" in the amount of time spent on an activity using 5 minute increments. This feature is really helpful as you can get credit for almost any amount of exercise, even if it lasts for just 5 or 10 minutes.

After loading in the info about your exercise, the app will calculate the number of calories you expended on the activity. Those additional calories "earned" from the exercise will be included in your targeted calorie intake amount for the day. As you update your weight in pounds on the app, it will re-calculate your day's targeted calorie amount. Calories expended through exercise that you enter in the app will then be added to your targeted amount that day.

Accessing Tap & Track Food Lists

The app does not have to be online to work properly. The food listings can be accessed quickly and easily no matter where you are. This feature is especially helpful when you are in areas that have no internet access.
In the event a food you looked up is not on the list, no problem. You can simply tap in your foods from the nutritional info on food packaging into the "Favorites/Custom Food" section rather than look them up, if you prefer.

Final Word on the Tap & Track App

Virtually everything a person needs to adjust nutritional intake and increase exercise is included in the Tap & Track app by nonobitsoftware.com . The only downside is that the app eliminates foods from your "Previously used" listing, if they are not selected for a period of time, which can be annoying. This means you must either re-look up the food or re-enter the information. Doing so takes a matter of minutes, if not seconds, so this fact should not deter you from selecting Tap & Track as your app to get your weight and exercise programs up and running.

Rating

Four out of 5 stars.