Favorite iPhone App

There has been one particular iPhone app that has helped me out more than any other as I work on losing weight.  I use it every single day, throughout the day.  And the best part of it, it was FREE!  The app is called "Lose It!", also if you don't have a smart phone they have a website at www.loseit.com.  On this app I can track all of the food that I eat throughout the day, check total carbs, protein, sodium, fat, etc.  I can make custom foods.  They also have a number of restaurant foods and those calories counts.  My favorite part is the recipe builder.  I can enter all of the ingredients and amounts into the app, then play around with how many servings that would be and it will tell me calories per serving.  You can also track your exercise throughout the week.  It has a ton of different things listed with approximate calorie counts.  Or if you have a heart rate monitor (which I do) then you can go in and manually enter exactly how many calories you burned for that exercise.  The whole thing is pretty customizable too.  You enter your current weight, enter your goal weight, then pick a plan.  Do you want to just go slowly and lose 1/2-1 lbs a week?  Or do you want to lose 2 lbs a week?  Pick a program and it will tell you your calorie allowance for each day as well as tell you what day you should hit your goal weight by!  There is a graph that shows your weight loss too, but that's the one thing that I like better on the website than the app.  Too small of a graph on the app.  BUT, everything that I put on the app is automatically updated on the website.  So whenever I need a little boost of confidence or a push to keep going, I pull up the website and look at that graph and see how my weight has gone down. 

For me, the only way to make a true life change is by counting calories eaten and calories burned.  I've tried many of the different fad diets where you have a list of approved foods and then you don't have to count amounts and stuff.  But for me, those just aren't something that I can stick with long term.  But if I am counting calories, I can let myself have that occasional treat.  I tend to make lots better choices with that treat, but I also don't say that I can NEVER have something.  That's not reasonable for me or sustainable.  I am trying to make a LIFE change, not a temporary change.  But like I said, I tend to make better choices this way.  Instead of buying an ice cream that is 230 calories for half a cup, I'll look for something like Dryer's Slow Churned Vanilla that's only 100 calories for half a cup.  And instead of covering it with chocolate syrup, I'll probably have fresh fruit or pureed strawberries, or something along those lines.  Tracking calories has also opened my eyes to just how many calories some of my old favorites have in them. 

I've truly realized just how it is that I got to where I currently am at.  I don't let that discourage me though.  Because with the help of this app, I am now making lots better choices and I WILL reach my goals because of that!

Current Weight Loss: 12 lbs