Lose It!

I've had this app called Lose It! on my iPhone for a year now. With it I'm able to input my weight and plan a weight loss program to fit my needs. Not only does it set a daily calorie budget, but it keeps up with how many calories I've taken in and burned through exercise each day. (It has a database of exercises and food items, including restaurant options.) One of the newer features allows me to invite my friends to join my "team" for encouragement and accountability purposes.

When I first installed the app on my phone, I was really excited about using it. Each week when I'd weigh in at the gym, I'd update my weight. It was fun to see it going down faster than I had planned. It was also good to see how exercising would cancel out some of my calories and I could see occasional times when I could splurge a little.

Then life got busy and I didn't want to make the time to keep updating everything. Then I stopped exercising and watching what I ate.

Lindsay has the app on her iPhone and she joined with another friend to keep accountable for losing weight. She asked if I wanted to buddy up, too, and since accountability is what I need to keep going right now, I agreed.

Today has been my first day using Lose It! since April or May. I've been more watchful of what I've eaten so I'll keep within my calorie budget - and I'm starving! I munched on a bunch of carrots sticks for my afternoon snack instead of eating another granola bar (I had one for breakfast) or eating a few mini candy bars that are hidden from view (but I know they're there). I ate a pretzel, hoping it would ward off that nagging hunger until supper. Not working! I'm going to try to hold out. Tonight is breakfast supper night (pancakes & bacon) and I only have a little over 900 calories left in my budget... At least I can make up for it with exercise tomorrow if I need to. :o)

There are so many things I like about this app, but one thing I don't like is that when you make a lot of home-cooked meals, it's hard to determine your caloric intake. If it's not a ready-to-eat, processed food, you have to figure out the portion size and calories per portion yourself. I don't have the time or interest to do that. I guess I'll be estimating calories for a good portion of my days.

I have a second fitness app on my phone - iFitness. It has an exercise database, complete with how-to videos. I can set up a routine, log my progress, and use the weight monitor (though I need to buy some bathroom scales) and body measurement features to track my progress more closely than with just the Lose It! app. According to iFitness' BMI calculator, I'm overweight for my height. I agree. However, if I were two inches shorter, it shows that I'd be obese. Huh? I doubt that, but then I don't know the definition of obese. It may be true.

It'll be interesting to see how my weight loss goes this time around now that I have an accountability partner - and two programs on my phone to help me keep track of everything.