My Diet Coach is like having your own weight loss cheerleader at your fingertips. The motivational tips and words of encouragement can help you stay the course.

Losing weight is near impossible without focus and motivation. Well My Diet Coach by InspiredApps is a nifty little app to keep you moving forward or get you back on track after a slip.

It doesn’t have a lot of features, and I sort of like that. It’s not overly complicated and you don’t get bogged down with too many bells and whistles. You’ll find helpful reminders, from drinking water to meal planning, to keep you on track and build good eating habits.

Speaking of reinforcing good habits, I suggest starting out with setting 1-2 reminders. Playing with the app, I set up reminders for 10 habits. That proved too many as those little chimes drove me crazy all day. I’m limiting my reminders to 2 now and all is right with the world.

The app’s challenge section helps you get through the frenzy of everyday life – dining out, parties or sweet cravings to name a few. Just press a button and you’ll find multiple messages and tips to keep you focused.

I put that feature to the test last night as I wrestled with my old nemesis, night hunger. This one is a biggie for me, especially over the last few evenings.  Like clockwork, at midnight I went to open the fridge door. But this time I stopped and I pressed the “Night Hunger” challenge on the app. There I found a series of tips and messages to help talk me down. Awesome!

One of those messages (“Make sure you aren’t eating just because you are up late or bored”) was spot on. The app let me make that message a priority so when night hunger strikes again, it’s the first message I see.

For some reason the app is only for women. I’m not sure why that is as guys also have weight issues. Maybe it’s because guys look at weight loss differently then we do?

I started with the free version a few weeks ago but upgraded to Pro (only $0.99) on Saturday. The pro version includes a food craving panic button that helps talk you down. In an emergency, the app launches a countdown timer to help you get through the craving, which lasts 10-20 minutes on average.

You can also track your weight with the pro version (My Weight Watchers app tracks my weigh-ins, so I don’t use this feature).

Available for iPhone and Android, My Diet Coach is a great little app. It gives you the the little pat on the back or kick in the pants that we all need now and again.