Best Fitness and Nutrition Products – 2019

Are you looking for tried and true ways of staying on-track with your fitness and nutrition goals? This is a list of my best fitness and nutrition products as we begin 2019. The world of fitness and nutrition is ever-changing but the following products have proven their value to me. Comment with any questions or share your own feedback below.

Fitness

FitBit Charge 2

I love my FitBit! In late 2018, FitBit launched the Charge 3 but since my Charge 2 is still working perfectly, I will have to postpone a review of the latest model. My mom just became the proud owner of a Charge 3 and we’ve been comparing notes.  It appears the Charge 2 and Charge 3 are very similar.

My fitness regimen varies: sometimes I go for an outdoor run or walk, sometimes I go to the gym for a treadmill session, and sometimes I do weight training. FitBit makes it easy to log these different workout styles and view how they impact my fit goals. I especially love the tracking feature for my runs which shows my split speed, elevation and exactly where I went using GPS technology.

There is an enormous amount of personal insight collected, including sleep data, so I use these data to help me determine what aspects of my life are in synch (or not) with my goals. For example, it wasn’t until I started wearing my FitBit that I realized how sleep deprived I actually was and the impact of stress on my resting heart rate. 

My FitBit Charge 2 also allows me to track my nutrition. Since I don’t have time to enter all nutrition metrics for everything I eat,  the barcode scanner in the FitBit app, and the massive food database makes logging my nutrition a breeze. There are few food items the FitBit does not recognize (but anything can be manually added should that be the case). 

Aaptiv

Awhile ago a friend suggested I give Aaptive a try so I took advantage of the free 30-day Guest Pass trial. I was sold by day 5! Before I knew it I had invested in a full year of Aaptive. Why? Because sometimes I need someone in my ear cheering me on. Sometimes I need someone to pick the funky workout music and just tell me what to do because I’m too tired to figure this out after a long day at work.

Right now, I am using Aaptive for treadmill runs (but it does so much more including elliptical, cycling, meditation, yoga and boxing) and allows me to do actual fitness programs such as “Cross-Train to 5K.” When I travel, my Aaptiv trainers accompany me on my smartphone so my fit life doesn’t go astray. Actually, I could write an entire post about Aaptiv but I wont. I’ll just tell you it’s awesome… new workouts are added all the time too! 

See how I’m using Aaptiv to help me achieve my 2019 wellness goals below. 

Sweat

Overtime, I’ve noticed other women finding success with a digital fitness platform called Sweat. Sweat is not for the faint of heart; it absolutely means stepping outside the comfort zone and getting to the weight room at the gym. So, of course I had to try it. It took me awhile to love the app but now that I am using it, I’m addicted! There are various goal-based programs, it’s for women only and I love the calendar integration. I’m a planner so this makes my heart happy. It also has a nutrition plan but I’m not a fan of it. The resources provided by Sweat (aka Sweat Education) are top-notch highlighting areas such as exercise, nutrition and meal tips.

See how I’m using Sweat to help me achieve my 2019 wellness goals below. 

BodyBeast

You might wonder why I would want to involve another fitness program alongside Sweat and Aaptiv. Because I love it and because it works. It’s my forever swole-mate program.

A couple years ago I did Body Beast and the results I attained had me in total amazement (I got pretty ripped in just 3 months!). For my body type and metabolism, a higher dose of weight training is a must. Weight lifting is the only thing that has ever helped me achieve my wellness goals.

See how I’m using BodyBeast to help me achieve my 2019 wellness goals below. 

My 2019 Fitness Regimen:

• BodyBeast – my weight lifting regimen. I feel myself getting stronger each week. Strength is a major goal of mine because I lost most of my muscular strength when life went personally nuts in 2018. I do BodyBeast 6/7 days per week, in the mornings.
• Sweat BBG 1.0 – my cardio and light weight training regimen. On the Sweat low intensity days I use Aaptiv for walk or light jog routines. Low intensity days occur roughly every other day. Rob likes to join in with me on the low intensity days and is also a fan of Aaptiv. I do this Sweat/Aaptiv combo 6/7 days per week, in the evenings.

This regimen provides the weight lifting I love plus the cardio I need to help me manage my blood sugars and health goals. Each one on their own is sufficient but the variety provides me the balance I need to enjoy what I am doing.

Nutrition

I love cooking but I also love not having to stress about what’s for dinner. When I don’t have a plan, I gravitate toward eating crap. A meal plan helps me nourish my body in the most health-minded way I can with minimal effort. Win win win!

PlateJoy

I honestly can’t remember how I found PlateJoy. I remember I was searching for something to help me plan meals that considered my household nutrition needs (diabetes, Rob’s egg allergy, soy avoidance etc.) and PlateJoy suddenly appeared in my life.

I’ve been using PlateJoy for just over a month and I’m very impressed. In 2018 I gained a bunch of weight for various personal reasons and PlateJoy considers my weight loss goals and the specific nutrition needs of my household. Since I have a 2-person life, PlateJoy individually sets the nutrition needs for both Rob and I based on our individual goals. The recipes are structured so that I know how much Rob gets vs. how much I get. In addition, the nutrition information for each recipe is clearly displayed.

The other thing I absolutely love is the grocery list. The grocery list considers what I have in my pantry and feeds it (if I choose) into instacart! Basically, my meal planning and grocery shopping can all be done at the same time. I have saved so many hours and calories using PlateJoy. I’ll share more about instacart below.

eMeals

I have used eMeals for years. I wanted to include it here because my subscription is still active until February though I’ve opted to discontinue my subscription (due to PlateJoy).

eMeals has a wide variety of health-minded nutrition plans including low-carb, diabetic, paleo and more. The recipes are always amazing and I have zero complaints. Due to the various nutrition needs in our home, I wanted something I could customize at a different level. As diabetic household, eMeals made everything awesome and simple by providing nutrition information, grocery lists, the ability to send the final grocery list to Amazon Prime Fresh and so much more. 

instacart

instacart currently is the best grocery delivery service in my house. Why? Because I can shop at a variety of stores for one low fee and I can get my groceries the same day. I am also able to get wine delivered to my doorstep if I choose! Changes can be made right up until the instacart shopper starts shopping. There is so much flexibility!

My groceries are delivered right to my Boston doorstep and I don’t have to deal with the woes of traffic or parking. Please note that I’ve tried Amazon Prime Fresh, Amazon Prime Now and PeaPod, but instacart is the only service that is so versatile and affordable.