To help myself achieve my goals for the year I decided that I needed to start tracking my habits. Now, as much as I like writing things down I needed to find a way to track my habits that was quick and easy. I didn’t want to have to carry around another notebook. I didn’t want to have to write anything out. And I didn’t want the process to be too time-consuming. So, I turned to my trusty iPhone to see what apps were available.
I tried out a few different apps and landed on two that I really like. My decision basically came down to what I needed to track and how I wanted to track it.
The goals/habits I wanted to track include:
- Remembering to take medication (I am pretty good about it, but every once in a while I forget.)
- Water intake (I aim to get 2 or more liters/day.)
- Food (I want to hold myself accountable. I find if I have to report what I am eating I stay on plan a lot more.)
- Meditation (I wanted to be more regular with my practice.)
- Stretching (I want to improve my flexibility to improve my aerial yoga practice.)
- Upper body workout (I also need some upper body strength for aerial yoga too.)
- CycleFit workout (I want to get cardio in 3 times/week)
So with these goals in mind, I found I liked these two apps best:
YouAte Food Diary and Tracker (App Store, Free)
YouAte might possibly be the easiest food tracker ever in existence. All you have to do is take a picture of what you are eating or (if you can’t take a picture) write a short description. Then, you decide whether that food is on track or not. If you have time there are more details you can put like – why did you eat? – where did you eat? – etc. It takes me about 5 seconds to record my food and that is it!
Here are some screenshots so you can see how easy it is:
Today (App Store, Free or $2.99 for premium version)
Today is a habit tracking app. You can personalize it to track whatever habits you need to track. You can pick how often you want to do it in a week. You can pick whether you want reminders or not. You can pick a picture that represents your goal.
Then, once you start tracking your habits for a few weeks you can get a month overview to see how you have done. Also, if you work with other apps like Apple Health the information filters into there too. You can also make comments for each goal in case you want to provide more information.
All you have to do to track a habit is open the app, find the habit card you are looking for, and double tap. Your tracking is done! Another 5 seconds of recording.
Here are some screenshots of the habits I am tracking:
I hope you all find these apps to be as useful as I did. Do you use apps to hold yourself accountable? Or do you have other ways? I would love to hear some of your reviews!
