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EvolveYou Review: A Doctor’s Take On This Weight Loss App
Discover what my medical research says about the EvolveYou app
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As a doctor, patients often ask me for the best ways to lose weight. We all know that eating well and exercising regularly is the key, but finding the willpower to stick to this consistently can be easier said than done.
So, I’m always on the hunt for strategies that will help patients maintain their motivation. While browsing the app store, I came across EvolveYou, an inclusive fitness app that claims to help women of all ages, sizes, and abilities build strength and confidence.
But does the app meet these claims, and is it worth it?
From a medical standpoint, I explored EvolveYou’s workout programs, tracking features, and nutrition options to help you decide whether the app could help you achieve your health and wellness goals.
What is the EvolveYou App?
- Over 1000 personalized workouts
- Different exercise programs
- Weekly workout planner
- Extensive recipe database
- Supportive global fitness community and in-app forum
EvolveYou is a workout app designed to maximize fitness results for women. To achieve this, the app offers a variety of different workout styles, from more traditional strength training and cardio exercises to barre.
While helping users meet their unique fitness goals, whether they are aiming to improve strength or boost their everyday cardiovascular fitness, EvolveYou also claims to help build consistency and confidence.
It provides personalized programs that can be completed in the gym or from the comfort of the user’s home. These programs are designed to suit the unique needs of every user, from beginners to experts looking for challenges to unlock their full potential.
Who is Behind EvolveYou Fitness App?
EvolveYou founder Krissy Cela is a personal trainer turned fitness influencer who built her 3 million-strong Instagram following by making fitness accessible to all. She particularly helps women who may feel intimidated by the typical gym setting.
Together with fitness entrepreneur Jack Bullimore, Cela created EvolveYou based on these same principles, which help women to build strength “from the inside out,” according to their website.
It’s delightful when workout programs are designed to be inclusive to all abilities, and I found this to be an element of real importance to EvolveYou’s creators.
How Does EvolveYou Work?
After activating my 7-day free trial, I was first asked to answer some questions on my fitness goals, current ability, whether I’d like to work out at home or in the gym, and dietary requirements.
This allowed the app to get started with creating a personalized workout plan. Upon opening, I was pleased to see that EvolveYou had already selected a few appropriate workouts from the “Strong” program and assigned them to a weekly planner.
If the pre-selected workouts don’t float your boat, you can switch them out for others from your program or save your favorites from a variety of programs to create a perfect training style suited to you. However, it is recommended to follow each program in order, as these courses are specially designed to guide your journey over several weeks.
Each workout provides a detailed explanation of the exercises involved, as well as the equipment needed. I was impressed by this feature, as it makes EvolveYou ideal for beginners who may not yet be used to a gym or general fitness environment.
What Exercise Options Does EvolveYou Offer?
One thing I genuinely value is fitness apps that offer something for everyone. So, I couldn’t help but appreciate that EvolveYou offers a range of carefully created programs.
Whether centered around the gym, home workouts, or a specific training type, each has a different focus to help users meet their goals with exercises that they enjoy. So, here’s a breakdown of what each program has to offer:
- Pump: Focusing on compound exercises like squats and deadlifts, this program uses higher sets and lower reps to help you grow your glutes and overall strength.
- Build: Based on a traditional bodybuilding workout split, Build offers a full-body program with target area workouts for various muscle groups.
- Strong: Founder Krissy Cela’s signature program, which is centered on strength building and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) exercises like burpees and push-ups.
- Strong Lower Body: Designed to build strength in exercises like squats, lunges, and hip thrusts and sculpt the lower body.
- Sculpt It: Short and effective HIIT-based workouts that challenge cardiovascular and muscular endurance.
- Commit Gym: Combines heavy lifts, high-intensity exercises, and functional movements such as deadlifts and overhead press.
- Power Gym: Provides users with the tools needed to build explosive power and increase confidence in the gym.
- Energy Program: A high-energy, yet low-impact barre program that helps to improve core strength, posture, and flexibility.
- Focus: This program is centered around short, but effective full-body circuits that include HIIT-based exercises like jump squats and burpees.
- Back to Action: A strength program for those who are new to the gym or trying to get back into fitness.
What Are the Main Features of EvolveYou Fitness App?
It’s a pleasure to see weight loss apps that go beyond helping you work out, and I found EvolveYou to be one of them. Here are some of the app’s stand-out features:
#1 1000+ personalized workouts
I was genuinely pleased to see that EvolveYou offers a huge library of exercise programs, with every one providing a great selection of workouts to choose from.
For instance, while Makayla Merie’s PUMP program is centered on strength and conditioning, Emily Chadwick-Vint’s exercises are designed for those who’d rather get fit through barre.
A topic commonly discussed among my colleagues is ways to help our patients remain focused on achieving their health and wellness goals. So, using an app that has a range of personalized programs is a great way to keep users motivated on their unique fitness journeys.
#2 Huge recipe database
Along with the choice of workouts, I couldn’t help but appreciate EvolveYou’s large selection of healthy, yet delicious recipes that make sticking to a balanced diet for weight loss much easier.
The nutrition tab provides recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, including everything from vegan fajita bowls to a strawberry summer salad. I was pleased to see that each recipe comes with its own food shopping list and set of nutritional data, which is ideal for maintaining a calorie deficit to lose weight.
However, if calorie and macronutrient tracking is your main focus, you may find the extensive features of a nutrition app more beneficial.
#3 Strong community
One of EvolveYou’s main taglines is “Real women, real results”, which is evident in the user transformations and success stories shared on their website. A highlight for me is the app’s community tab, a feature that offers a safe and welcoming space for users to communicate and get their fitness questions answered.
EvolveYou’s regular challenges allow members to maximize their fitness results by working together, competing against each other, and challenging themselves. I tend to favor apps that allow users to interact with each other, as this creates a sense of support that keeps you motivated to reach your goals.
Benefits of EvolveYou App
I’ve been impressed by EvolveYou’s range of features, which provide several key benefits for users. Below, I discuss my findings in more detail:
#1 It was nice to have a free trial
A highlight of EvolveYou for me is that each workout plan includes a 7-day free trial. Personally, I found it useful for exploring the app’s features and getting a feel for how they could help my patients wanting to improve their fitness levels.
From my hands-on experience, offering a free trial can give users the push they need to commit to their fitness journey, and allows them to see whether the app could be useful in facilitating this.
#2 This app emphasizes a healthy body rather than weight loss
Getting fit and healthy is about much more than simply losing weight. As I often tell my patients, it should involve taking a holistic approach to wellness, including working on your body composition, improving your mental health, and building confidence.
So, while browsing the app’s workouts, I was impressed by the feature that allows you to add the weights you’ve used for each exercise. Drawing from my expertise in anatomy, programs that incorporate the principle of progressive overload, increasing the intensity of your workouts, are most effective for making progress in terms of muscle size and strength.
This encourages users to focus on how much progress they’re making in terms of things that they’ve gained, rather than what they’ve lost.
#3 Ability to track your progress
What really resonated with me is EvolveYou’s variety of tracking features. For instance, as well as logging the weights used during each workout and the pounds you’ve lost each week, you can also upload progress pictures with notes and positive reminders.
Studies show that tracking can boost motivation, improve motivation, and help users make progress. Seeing improvements with each workout can encourage you to keep working towards your goals.
#4 It offers a personalized approach
It’s common for GPs like me to encounter patients of various ages, from all walks of life, and with unique needs. This means that I tend to favor apps like EvolveYou that personalize their features to suit all experience levels.
As I’ve already mentioned, the app will recommend a workout program based on your initial quiz answers, along with some recipes that suit your dietary needs and preferences. However, you can alter your weekly plan if required to better suit your schedule.
Downsides of EvolveYou App
EvolveYou does offer some features and points that I’m not entirely convinced by, and it’s important to examine these before purchasing. Read on to explore the things I found lacking with this app.
#1 Workouts might seem too repetitive
One of my main reservations when it comes to long-term use of EvolveYou is that the workouts may not keep all users engaged. Although there are many workouts on offer, most of the strength training programs use the same few exercises, which can be frustrating if you’re hoping for a fun gym experience.
On the flip side, it’s worth pointing out that repetition and consistency are important for nailing exercise form, increasing your weights, and seeing progress along the way.
#2 The app may be buggy at times
My main critique of EvolveYou is the glitches, which I encountered regularly when trying to navigate the app. It seems that I wasn’t alone in this issue, with many other customers explaining how the app crashed when they tried to open it or access a scheduled workout.
EvolveYou could certainly benefit from technical updates, a move I’m sure would make the app much more user-friendly.
EvolveYou Fitness App Cost
A slight point of contention for me when it comes to EvolveYou is the price. At $99.99 per year, or $16.99 for a monthly subscription, the app is fairly expensive, and may be out of some peoples’ budgets.
Although I am slightly hesitant about the cost, it’s important to remember that this is likely to be cheaper than the average gym membership.
It also offers a variety of other features that you may not find or will need to pay extra to access at the gym, such as a personalized workout and meal plan, recipe inspiration, and an already established community of other women working towards their fitness goals.
Comparison Table
Over 1000 recipes
Includes an ingredients shopping list
Most of the ingredients can be found in grocery stores
Meal plans are created by nutritionists
Add training exercises to maximize results
Option for a personal consultation with a nutritionist
Great value for the membership price
Offers a personalized approach
Allows users to track their progress
Suitable for a range of abilities
Provides expert support
Concentrates on holistic wellness
Free trial
Provides an alternative approach for losing weight
Focuses on sustainable weight loss
Can adjust goals easily
Daily calorie budget
Step counter allows you to track exercise
Highly educational
No harsh restrictions on food groups
Unsuitable for those who are pregnant or breastfeeding
No physical recipe books
No free trial
Workouts can be too repetitive
App may be buggy at times
Relatively expensive
Fairly expensive
Daily food logging is time-consuming
Recommends users weigh themselves daily
A Word From Our RD
If you are trying to lose weight, the most important thing to concentrate on is staying in a calorie deficit. This involves burning more calories than you consume, which can be achieved through building a regular exercise routine and eating a low-calorie diet packed full of weight loss foods.
Starting your weight loss journey may feel overwhelming, but making just small changes each day can contribute to helping you reach your goals in the long run. For example, try swapping candy and baked goods for some low-calorie fruits or homemade healthy desserts to satisfy a sweet tooth.
Weight loss supplements are another convenient tool, helping to suppress your appetite, reduce cravings, and increase your metabolism. However, they shouldn’t be relied on for weight loss, and should instead be used as one small part of a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
FAQs
You can start your free trial of the EvolveYou app on the brand’s official website. Alternatively, you can download it on the Apple or Google Play app stores.
If you’re looking for an app that offers workouts for all abilities, can be personalized to suit your needs, and provides healthy recipes, then it could be worth trying the EvolveYou free trial. However, you may experience some glitches, and the repetitive workouts can be slightly de-motivating when this app is used in the long term.
Yes, EvolveYou is safe for users who are healthy and injury-free. If you are pregnant, the app offers a special prenatal program called Align, as well as the Revive postnatal program. However, in this case, you should always consult your doctor before trying any exercise app or plan.
Conclusion
So, is EvolveYou worth trying out? From my hands-on experience, I’d recommend the app to any of my female patients who are looking for help with their fitness journey, but aren’t sure where to start
I found EvolveYou’s glitches to be slightly off-putting, and the app’s price means that it may not be as accessible as the creators claim. However, if you’re on the fence I would suggest giving the 7-day free trial a go to decide whether this is the fitness app for you.
Before starting any new fitness or weight loss program, you should always consult a healthcare professional first, who can advise you on the safety and efficacy of your chosen regime.