Photos via Gormaya, MyFitnessPal, My Smart Pants, Sportaneous, Green Kitchen Stories

We’re minimalists when it comes to apps. While there just may be an app for everything — save for one that physically works out for you and cooks you dinner — we find that Instagram, Whats App and Twitter (accompanied by the occasional Words With Friends bender) covers all the bases. That said, we’re suckers for all things that feed into (and enhance!) our infatuation with health and fitness. Here’s our round up of the five health and fitness apps worthy of being added into even an app purist’s rotation.

  1. MyFitnessPal: This is the Google of the health and fitness app world. (If you could only understand the intensity of our company crush on Google, you’d realize that this statement is huge.) MyFitnessPal is the most comprehensive app when it comes to organizing, tracking and analyzing trends regarding daily activity and food intake. The app’s food database is huge and very detailed - allowing for more accurate assessments of what you’re putting into your body on a daily basis - and it even has a bar code scanner that rates the healthfulness of packaged products. Now we just need to get them to add ‘Bari’ as an activity…
  2. Sportaneous: While we usually miss out on Vitamin D during our workouts due to NYC’s less than consistent weather, we really have a soft spot for outdoor workouts. (During the spring and summer months, we seize every opportunity to take Bari to the pier.) Sportaneous organizes outdoor fitness games among users based on time, location and preferences - since playing tennis alone doesn’t quite work. It’s also a ‘fitness finder’ for indoor workouts; it recommends work out classes based on your ‘exercise DNA,’ your current preferences (high intensity, low key, etc.), your location and the time you have available to work out. We hope you try it out (and that it leads you to Bari!).
  3. Green Kitchen: Food porn for people who love eating their vegetables. This app comes from the bloggers at Green Kitchen Stories, and it boasts organic, vegetarian recipes galore. The app allows you to easily search and navigate their huge recipe database - and also upload ingredients to a shopping list for a quick and seamless Whole Foods trip.
  4. Gormaya Substitutions: Have you ever cooked for a gluten-free, corn-free, soy-free vegan? We have, and catering a recipe to avoid so many dietary restrictions can get complicated. Gormaya’s Substitutions app allows you to cater and tweak any recipe to meet your dietary criteria; whether you want to eliminate one ingredient or five, it offers up on-point swaps.
  5. Brain Trainer: We’re fascinated by memory; it’s the inspiration behind our sensory cardio sequences, and we think it’s such an important and under-emphasized element of wellness. The Brain Trainer app offers games, activities and exercises that improve your cognitive skills and enhance concentration.

Triber Talk: Tell us, what are your must-have health and fitness apps?