My Fitness Pal

Last Friday I went to happy hour at Green Truck with the girls from work. I think it's fantastic & I will probably make a whole new post about the place because I liked it so much. So much in fact, that I went again the next day for lunch, but that's for another time...

Anyway, while we were there talking about how out of shape and fat we all felt (a common theme among girls at happy hour) my friend, Lila, introduced me to my new favorite app: My Fitness Pal. Ah, an app to make me thin...if it were only that easy. And, for those of you who don't do "Apps"- there is a website for it as well. http://www.myfitnesspal.com

Here's how it works: You type in your 1) Height and current weight (I don't own a scale so I had to guess. Its hard to be honest.)

2) GOAL weight (for me, 125 would be nice)

3) Activity level on a day to day basis (For activity level the choices are: Sedentary, Lightly Active, or Active...there may be a VERY Active in there but I don't remember :) I chose Lightly Active since I am a teacher and move around a good bit during the day in a non-strenuous way. Don't worry, it gives you guidelines on how to choose.)

4) Exercise goals ( I said 4x/wk for 45 min. Remember- this is a GOAL. So far this week I think I've met it though!)

5) How many pounds you'd like to lose per week. (I said 1 pound/week. Slow and steady wins the race!)

So, next it spits out the # of calories you should be taking in per day in order to get down to your goal weight. My magic number of calories is 1330. I can only IMAGINE how many calories I was eating per day before I started keeping track. Whew....no wonder I was busting at the seams. Thanks to Lila and this handy little app, I think I can breathe a little easier already and its only been 6 days. Maybe its in my head, but either way- I'll take it.

How do I love this app, let me count the ways. 1) There is every food imaginable in the database, complete with calories, fat, carbs, & protein. I've always been into "nutrition facts", so this is right up my alley.

2) It even has restaurant meals included. Green Truck was not listed, Sad. I had to use a TGI Friday's Salad as a substitute for the one I actually ate. Lets hope it was atleast close in calories :/

3) I made Lentil Soup from my Martha Stewart Everday Food cookbook and to my surprise, my very recipe was already in the database. Real Simple ;)

4) After you exercise, you can type in your activity & add BACK the number of calories you burned. (This is ususally how I get to sneak in my desserts. Thank Goodness.)

5) At the end of the day, you hit a magic little button that gives you warm fuzzies when it says : "If every day were like today, you would weigh _________ in 5 weeks." It makes things seem do-able and not so far off.

Here is a sample how my day looked. I'm not ashamed to show you.

Wish me luck. I'll update you on my progress if its good. If not, forget I ever posted this!

Caroline