Left: Tim Gluth back in November 2010 with BMX rider Dave Mirra. Right: Tim last Friday, more than 35 pounds lighter.

After losing more than 35 pounds over the past year and a half, I’ve picked up a few tricks that have helped me improve my personal fitness. The main thing I’ve learned is that it pays to keep track of one’s food intake.

After you realize how many calories you have been taking in, it is easy to cut back and make adjustments to ensure you’re getting not only the right amount of calories for your needs, but also the right amount of overall nutrition.

I have also found an array of apps and tech tools to help me stay on track and make this journey fun.

LoseIt.com (free) – A great site and mobile app combo that gives you tools to monitor your weight, set loss goals and track your calorie intake. While you need to measure your food portions (in some cases) to track it with the LoseIt tools, I’ve found it isn’t a big inconvenience.

Moves (free) – A newer entry to the pedometer and fitness tracking world, this iPhone app keeps tabs on your steps, distance traveled and time spent being active. That’s it (in a nutshell). Along with this tracking information, it provides a timeline of your day, allowing you to see how active you are at various locations (home, work, gym, etc.), how long you are inactive, and your activity level at other times, such as while traveling or commuting. Being dead-simple to use, it’s a great tool to keep on your phone, and in your pocket.

Pedometer PRO GPS+ ($2.99) – This iPhone app goes beyond being a basic pedometer. Pedometer PRO GPS+ will give you details on distance walked, the number of steps taken, number of calories burned, real-time speed, average speed and time taken. You can also enter your weight for a more personalized readout. I regularly use it to track my lunchtime walks and love comparing my walk times and distances. That in itself is a great motivator to push you along.

Calorific (free) – A unique take on calorie monitoring, Calorific breaks the foods that you eat into three categories; Great, OK and Bad. From there, it employs a measuring system of tiny, small, medium and large. This system allows you to reimagine what you’re taking in, not in cups or quarts, but as handfuls. This basic breakdown of calorie counting is a refreshing change from measuring and eagle-eyed monitoring of each food item you eat.

FitBit/Nike+ FuelBand/UP by Jawbone ($59-$149) – If you’re looking for a device that will track your activity, but you want more information than a standard pedometer can offer, there are a variety of wearable tools that will do just that. With prices ranging from $59 (FitBit Zip) to $149 (Nike+ FuelBand), many wearable fitness trackers not only track your activity, but some can also track your sleep patterns, stairs walked and more. Tying these all together are apps that complement each device and act as your fitness dashboard, giving you an overview of your activity and calorie burn.

Honorable mentions:

While I don’t use these apps and services personally, I do have friends that swear by them, and I’ve seen the results to prove it. All of these are free, too:

• MyFitnessPal.com
• Pedometer
• DailyMile.com
• Weight Watchers