About a week ago, I downloaded a new app on my iPad . . . MyFitnessPal. For the first three days or so, I pretty much sucked at keeping up with what I ate, but then I actually took the time to sit down and track my food/exercise using the FREE app.
Now, I've used lots of online/electronic food journals -- when I was participating in Weight Watchers Online, I used their tracking app on my Droid. It was helpful, but lacking in a lot of ways. Needless to say, my enthusiasm was short-lived.
After I downloaded MyFitnessPal, I was skeptical.
BUT.
I've been using the app (dutifully) for just a few days now, but I am already fascinated. Like the WW app, you simply enter what you've eaten in the course of the day. And, like the WW app, there's a searchable database but, the database on MyFitnessPal seems to be a lot more robust -- for example, they actually had Costco rotisserie chicken in the database! This specificity makes it easy to track exactly what you've eaten and helps me feel like the records I'm keeping are actually, well, accurate.
BUT.
There are two things that I love the most about MyFitnessPal:
#1 -- it shows you a complete breakdown of the nutrients you've had in a given day, so you can tell where you're getting too much (i.e., sugar) or not enough (i.e., calcium). In the last few days, I have confirmed that I've got too much sugar and too much sodium in my diet, and that I'm not getting enough iron or calcium on a daily basis.
#2 -- at the end of each day, you click 'complete this entry' and a little pop-up appears telling you how much you'd weigh in 5 weeks if you continue to eat/exercise the way you did today. This is amazing because you actually get to 'see' how your eating/exercise habits directly affect your weight loss or gain!
For example, the other day I didn't do so well. I went about 360 calories above my target for the day and I didn't manage to get in any exercise -- the little pop-up told me that, in 5 weeks, I would weigh about 5 pounds less. Bummer. However, a few days before, I did 45 minutes of Zumba and ended up with a 206 calorie deficit for the day. Well, that day, the little pop-up told me that 'If Every Day Were Like Today . . . I'd lose -11.5 pounds in 5 weeks! That's huge! I know exercise is good for you, and its supposed to make a difference in your weight loss journey (of course) but I didn't realize just how significant the difference could be! Just by adding 45 minutes of exercise to my daily routine almost doubled my potential weight loss! Isn't that eye opening?!
This post has started to sound like an infomercial for the MyFitnessPal app, so I will close by saying simply this:
I think the key to weight loss and healthy living (for people who struggle with it) is to find the regimen that works best for YOU. I know myself well enough to know that I am best motivated by a regimen that allows me to see results quickly, and that my biggest challenges are getting started on a regimen and sticking-to-it for longer than a week. So far, MyFitnessPal has served to keep me motivated to eat healthy/exercise because, even though I may feel like I'm not seeing immediate results, the little pop-up tells me [immediately] what my future results will likely be -- for better or worse -- and that's enough to keep me interested and working out!
Yay for a little breakthrough and excitement -- especially when it's FREE! :-)
**DISCLAIMER: I am not a spokesperson or employee of MyFitnessPal. This is an independent review of a free product and I am not being compensated in any way for recommending the product. **
*Our amazing Christmas photos courtesy of my fabulous friend, Rebecca, of Rebecca Ferguson Photography! :-)
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