Using Apple‘s Fitness Apps for Working Out & Weight Loss in 2024

As we kickoff 2023, many of us have health and fitness goals like working out more consistently and losing extra pounds.

If you own an iPhone and/or Apple Watch, Apple‘s ecosystem of fitness apps can certainly assist with these ambitions – but which is better for your specific goals?

Below I‘ll overview both the free Apple Fitness activity tracking app as well as the paid Apple Fitness+ workout subscription, outlining how each can help you successfully workout and shed weight this year:

Overview of Apple‘s Fitness Apps

Apple Fitness comes preloaded on modern iPhones and Apple Watches, offering basic activity tracking of steps, distance, calories burned and more. This utilitarian app lets you:

• Set daily movement and exercise goals
• View simple charts of your fitness metrics
• Participate in activity competitions

Whereas Apple Fitness+ provides guided on-demand video workouts complete with Apple Watch integration for metrics like heart rate. With this premium subscription service you get:

• 11 distinct workout types (HIIT, yoga, cycling etc)
• New fresh workouts added weekly
• Apple Watch stats displayed on-screen
• No equipment required for most classes
• Advanced class filtering/recommendations

The table below summarizes the key capabilities of each app:

Next let‘s review both apps in detail and see how they can assist with successfully working out and losing weight this year.

Apple Fitness App for Working Out & Weight Loss

The free Apple Fitness activity tracking app provides a solid starting point for monitoring your movement – crucial for weight loss goals.

You‘re able to track basic calorie burn metrics on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. So you can quantify fat-burning activities like walking, running or climbing flights of stairs.

Setting daily calorie goals provides structure, accountability and awareness for burning more vs less. This motivates you to move when seeing those activity rings filling up.

The app also lets you log specific workout sessions like runs, walks or hikes. This is great for beginning runners for example – tracking distance and pace over time shows real fitness progression.

Enabling activity competitions within the Fitness app provides accountability, camaderie and motivation with friends and family. When activities are quantified and visible, it spurs being more active.

So while basic, Apple Fitness supplies the activity tracking tools to set goals, quantify movement/workouts and ultimately motivate greater calorie burn. All helpful for incremental workout improvements and potential weight loss over time.

Apple Fitness+ for Guided Workouts & Weight Loss Accountability

While activity tracking is great, many looking to lose weight eventually hit an engagement plateau without more structure. This is where a service like Apple Fitness+ can make a major difference with your workout consistency and by extension, weight loss outcomes.

The key differentiator of Fitness+ is delivering guided workouts through streaming video classes led by world-class trainers. With 11+ workout types spanning different intensities, durations and focuses, it‘s incredibly easy to find fresh content daily that targets your exact abilities and preferences.

Having this on-demand workout variety eliminates the boredom many feel when first establishing home workout routines for weight loss. And the polished production keeps your energy and engagement levels high throughout each class.

Seeing your real-time heart rate metrics front-and-center throughout these guided workouts is also a game changer for motivation and intensity. This keeps your revs up and calories burning fast.

Closing your Apple Watch activity rings and tracking workout frequency/length over time also brings major accountability and quantifiable results. So you can correlate your improving fitness routine with pounds dropping on the scale.

The bottom line is Apple Fitness+ provides unrivaled workout accountability, structure and quantifiable results for those with weight loss goals. It‘s a complete game changer for establishing workout consistency.

Conclusion – Start with Apple Fitness, Evolve to Fitness+ Over Time

To conclude – the free Apple Fitness app delivers a great starting point for activity tracking, goal setting and movement awareness as you aim to workout more and lose weight.

But for most people struggling with motivation and accountability amid busy lives, the immersive streaming workout experience of Apple Fitness+ will deliver massively better long term consistency and quantifiable fat loss results.

So utilize Apple Fitness early on, but expect to evolve to Apple Fitness+ over time as your needs for workout structure and quantifiable results grow. The price is well justified by the incredible wealth of fresh guided workout content spanning all intensities and durations.

Within the Apple ecosystem, this combination delivers the best overall experience for meeting your workout and weight loss resolutions in 2024!

Hope this has clearly outlined which of Apple‘s fitness apps – and potential combination thereof – will best help you succeed with your exercise and fat loss goals this year. Let me know if any other questions come up!