Specific Apps for Bariatric Patients
As the saying goes, “There’s an APP for that!” and weight loss is no exception. When it comes to weight loss and bariatric surgery, there is a plethora of apps from which to choose. Navigating the maze to find the one which best suits you can be intimidating, so we’ve narrowed the field down a little by finding some of the more popular and useful apps and highlighted a few of their features. Here is a rundown, including links so you can visit each of their websites to learn more.
Baritastic
http://www.baritastic.com/
Video tutorial http://www.baritastic.com/app-overview/
A true Bariatric App designed to help patients both pre and post-surgery, Baritastic supports your progress before and after a weight loss procedure. From helping you qualify for a procedure with a pre-surgery checklist to reminding you to drink enough water later on, this app will walk your through each step. Here is a small sampling of what Baritastic offers:
- “Seminar to Surgery” checklist to help you get approved
- Bariatric food/water timer
- Barcode scanner for finding food
- Add your own foods not in the database
- Robust nutrition tracker
- Patient journaling
- Exercise tracking
- Social support
- Bariatric friendly recipes
- Set up automatic reminders for when to eat and drink
- Tracks specific nutrients needed post-surgery
- Create amazing reports that detail your nutrition, exercise and more to help monitor your progress
- Create your seminar to surgery checklist.
- Sends messages to keep you on track
- Review your food journals, exercise data, your progress towards surgery
- Reminds you of key milestones.
- Be alerted when you don’t meet your water goals and/or stop logging food.
- Be alerted when you gain weight and proactively reach out to help.
- Be alerted when you check off items on your checklist to get to surgery.
Bariatric Pal
https://www.bariatricpal.com/
- Update status, upload photos and maintain a blog
- Set and track weight loss and measurement goals
- Choose to keep your profile, photos or blog private or public
- A supportive, positive environment for weight loss surgery patients and for those considering or preparing for weight loss surgery
- Comprehensive informational section
- Separate Sub-forums for the major types of bariatric surgery
- Hundreds of thousands of bariatric surgery patients who are members to gain support from their experience, share recipes with, and get tips Via forums, private messages, and chat rooms
Non Bariatric Specific Weight Loss Apps
Sometimes just having a weight loss app is enough. Whether it’s prior to considering weight loss surgery or to maintain your weight once post-surgery goals are achieved, these apps provide the opportunity to gain support and insight during your own personal weight loss journey.
MyFitnessPal
https://www.myfitnesspal.com/welcome/learn_more
MyFitnessPal utilizes calorie counting to help aid weight loss. It calculates the daily calorie requirements and enables activity like logging everything eaten during the day and accessing a nutritional database which contains over 5,000,000 different foods. One of the best things about this database is that it includes many major restaurant items (something that isn’t quite so easy to calculate). Quite often, it is shocking how many calories are hidden in restaurant entrees! My Fitness Pal offers features like these:
- A nutritional breakdown of calories and nutrients
- Reports and pie charts to quickly identify carb, fat and protein intake
- A barcode scanner for many pre-packaged foods that logs calories and nutrition in a snap
- Tracking weight and exercise
- “Quick Add” feature to log calories on the fly
- Healthy recipes section
- A message board to interact with other members
- Integration with several fitness apps like FitBit that syncs calorie needs and deducts calories burned by exercise
- Basic version is free, with a premium package for upgrades
SparkPeople
https://www.sparkpeople.com/
Another app which is super easy to work with is SparkPeople. It does more than just log and track your daily meals, weight and exercise. It offers an interactive online community and informative health and fitness articles. There is also a large nutritional database which holds over 3,000,000 foods. Some other features are:
- A barcode scanner to keep track of packaged foods and easily log calorie count and nutrition
- Exercise videos, photos and descriptions to help make sure you are working out correctly
- A motivational “Points System” to log in goals and achievements
- Diet and coaching tips from professional nutritionists and fitness trainers
- Answers and support from community members and experts
- Diet and exersice challenges which provide opportunities to interact with and be mentored by other members
- Joining the SparkPeople App is free
Lifesum
https://lifesum.com/features/
Locate food faves, get new recipes, and research exercises in their large database. Enter grams or servings for each meal and log in workouts. Lifesum sends reminders throughout the day to eat, drink water, or log calorie counts. Members get access to a wealth of health and fitness articles and to the Lifesum blog. Lifesum also offers:
- A Macronutrient Tracker to fine-tuning your daily intake of carbs, protein, and fat
- Personalized Diets based on food preferences, goals and lifestyle, including High Protein and Clean Eating options
- Habit Tracker to help you drink more water, eat more fish, fruit, and vegetables, or eat less red meat. Upgrade your daily routine and get tips to help stay on track
- Daily Ratings system which helps you make healthy choices throughout the day and daily feedback to help you improve over time
- Body Composition offers detailed progress info on your weight, waist size, body fat, and BMI
- Auto syncs with FitBit, Apple Health, Google Fit, Android Health, Runkeeper, Fitbit, Moves, Jawbone, and Endomondo
- Save and create new foods or recipes
