When you want to lose weight and get fit, there isn't one magic trick that will instantly transform you. But use the right health apps and your weight loss journey will be smoother and easier.

There are different stages to losing weight and keeping it off. You need to know how much you should lose, and what's a healthy way to lose it gradually. You have to be careful about what you're eating. And you need to track your progress. These five apps offer a great combination of all these basic elements.

Note: In this article, we aren't concentrating on exercise guides and tools. This write-up is more about apps to help set realistic weight loss goals and maintain them. For the rest, you can check out these workout apps to get in shape.

1. Omnicalculator's Ideal Weight (Web): What Should Be Your Ideal Weight?

Use Omnicalculator to find your ideal body weight and BMI

Before you embark on your weight loss journey, you need to know how much you should lose. Different doctors have different formulas to calculate what your ideal weight should be, based on your height. Omnicalculator gives you a dashboard and an average of all these formulas.

There are four main formulas: J. D. Robinson's formula (established 1983), Miller's formula (established 1983), D. J. Devine's formula (established 1974), and G. J. Hamwi's formula (established 1964). All four have different equations for men and women. And Omnicalculator helpfully shows you the calculation for each, as well as an overall average, without having to run your statistics many times.

All you have to do is add your height in centimeters, meters, inches, or feet-inches. Omnicalculator will show the ideal weight for each formula, for both men and women. Along with that, it also adds a minimum and maximum Body Mass Index (BMI) for you to target. These values will be helpful to set a weight loss goal.

2. Adlee (Android, iOS): Simple, Beautiful Weight and BMI Tracker

Adlee is a simple and beautiful app to track your weight loss
Adlee is a simple and beautiful app to track your weight loss

Adlee is among the simplest and most beautiful weight tracking apps that you'll use. It's ideal for beginners because of how uninvolved it is. Plus, it's completely free with no strings attached, making it one of the best weight loss apps for 2019.

In the first screen, choose your age, height, weight, and activity level. Based on that, Adlee will calculate your current BMI, on a scale for underweight (blue), healthy weight (green), overweight (yellow), and obese (red). You'll also get a calorie count of how much you should eat to maintain, gain, or lose weight, which shows how much you stand to lose.

The app won't bother you with notifications to update what you ate, what your weight is, or anything of that sort. It sits silently, waiting for you to update it when you like. The minute you update your statistics, Adlee will update its calculations. And all of your calculated data is available through the app's history, to track your journey.

Download: Adlee for Android | iOS (Free)

3. Recipe Nutrition Calculator (Web): Analyze Any Recipe

Verywell Fit's recipe nutrition calculator analyzes the nutritional facts for any recipe and helps you make healthy substitutions easily

You found a dish that you like online, or got one of your grandma's secret recipes. How many calories is it going to add up to? Verywell Fit's Recipe Nutrition Calculator can analyze the ingredients of any recipe to figure out how many calories a single serving would have.

Copy-paste the ingredients list into the text box, as you would see in any recipe online. That means each line is one ingredient, along with its quantity. Once you click Analyze Recipe, you'll find that some items aren't recognized, but Verywell Fit lets you quickly edit those to match something in its database.

Once it's all keyed in, you'll see the total calories per serving, as well as a breakdown of its nutritional facts in fats and saturated fats, cholesterol, sodium, carbs (fiber and sugar), protein, vitamins, calcium, iron, and potassium.

Because you have a full ingredients list to tinker with, you can try making substitutions to see how it would affect the overall nutrition. The calculation is updated immediately, making this an effective way to take a recipe you like and tweak it to be healthier for losing weight.

4. Offlife Progress (Web): Private Progress Pics

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You must have seen people posting their weight loss progress photos on social media. It's shown to be a successful motivator, but not everyone is made for such public exposure. If you want to track your progress through pictures but keep it private, Offlife Progress is for you.

Sign up for the free web app and upload your photo from your drive. It works on phones too, but it's a slightly better experience on desktops. Offlife Progress advises taking a picture in the same spot, at the same time, every week. Create a schedule that you can maintain, or use Offlife's Saturday reminders so that you get a clear and realistic view of your changing physique. And in every upload, add your weight too.

Keep at it regularly and you'll soon be able to see a timeline of your progress. Plus, Offlife Progress lets you share the progress journey as a cool animated GIF that shows how you transformed.

5. Poundaweek (Android): Weekly Weight Loss Goals Are Easier

Set weight loss goals in Poundaweek
Poundaweek automatically adds nutrition values and calories for common foods
Weight loss is easier with Poundaweek's weekly goal approach

Poundaweek has a healthy philosophy towards weight loss that could make you stick with your diets and fitness goals. You take things one week at a time, no more, no less. By tracking a weekly quota, you are more likely to stay on target.

Here's how it works. Once you key in your details and your goals, Poundaweek will tell you how many calories you should consume for that week, broken down with a daily goal. If you consume more today, no problem, you can offset it by consuming less tomorrow. The app will take care of that. It also gives you points for exercising, so you can get to eat more than your intended calories for good behavior.

At the end of the week, hop on the scale and update your stats. Poundaweek will now create a new calorie plan for the coming week, adjusting based on the previous week. So even if you go over the limit one week, you aren't too far away from getting back on track. It's a much more realistic way of maintaining your healthy lifestyle choices.

Currently, the app is available only for Android, but you can choose to be notified when the iPhone app is released.

Download: Poundaweek for Android (Free)

Make Money by Losing Weight!

The key to losing weight and keeping it off is motivation. You need to find an intrinsic motivator that keeps you going. It can be self-image, health and fitness, avoiding disorders, or just plain old money.

That's right, you can earn money by losing weight. You and your friends can bet money for a friendly weight loss competition. Or if you want to go up against strangers on the internet, try these body contest sites to win money for getting fit.