Monday, April 1, 2013

Bee Accountable. Start a food journal using MyFitnessPal

  This time of year I want to burn off all the winter weight I put on.
I anticipate it being put on and am ok with it.....mostly :)   I know that if I let myself eat based on how I feel and even indulge throughout the winter, I am less likely to get sick.  Of course its lots of veggie soups and healthy comfort foods but I did put on a bit more than I like to and now that spring is here, its the perfect time to get moving!

  So, over the years I have gone up and down in weight.  Usually just a little but after having four sons I know what its like to gain and loose weight.   My heaviest was 192 and that was after I stopped nursing my son Jupiter.  My comfortable weight is 142.  I have managed to keep those 50 pounds off using a food diary.   I started using a food diary and was doing it old school after my third son was born and man was it nice to have an online diary on the PC and now on my phones.

   I highly recommend MyFitnessPal.  It makes it much easier to keep a food diary as it has a huge database of foods already programed in and they have the calories and nutritional info already there for you.


  How do you know what to change about your diet if you don't pay attention to what you eat.     It really comes down to shifting calories around and replacing foods that you might love a little too much with foods that you want to learn to love more.  Its fine to have a cookie but maybe replace that second cookie with a bigger salad for lunch.

  I won't lie.  Its tough to get started but only tough for the first few days.  You have to make a commitment to add every little morsel and bite that goes down your throat hole to your diary.   For the first week work on making this a habit and don't be too hard on yourself.  Thank yourself for doing this and caring about your health!!

  When you first sign up for the app it asks you to plug in your height, weight, and your goals.  For the first week and maybe even the first two weeks put your goal to "stay the same".  Just work on making the habit of adding foods to your diary.  Then when you have an idea as to how to proceed then change your goal setting.

  It's more about being accountable to yourself than counting calories.  Counting calories has really helped me but what I geek out on using this app is the graphs that show daily, weekly, and monthly visual representations of my path to weight loss. You can look back and see where you want to make changes.  Do you take too many bites when preparing food for others in your family?  Do you eat the leftovers after your kids finish?  Little things like that make a difference.

  A couple more things that are rad about the MyFitnessPal app are that you can connect with friends.  This is fabulous as its tough to go it alone especially if you are surrounded by family and friend who don't get your desire to become healthier.   It is available on iPhone, Android, and desktop PC.  It will automatically sync up.   And ITS FREE!!

  Do you use a calorie counter?  What tools do you use to loose the winter weight? 

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Cheers,
Angie Bee

4 comments:

a. said...

Hey Angie Bee! I'm a long time reader of your blog but normally skip the videos because i'm at work or reading on my phone etc. But i've looked the last couple one and I really like them ;) You are beautiful and so inspiring! Thank you for sharing with us!

I have to agree with you about food diary, it has helped me greatly in the past and still does! I use the food logger from Sparkpeople.com though and they work about the same. The only thing I'd like to see improved from MFP would be to have a range instead of strict numbers, that's a thing I like about SP. Can't wait for spring :)

chris mcpeake said...

My wife uses this app. its been a great help for her

Kenley said...

I have bee'n using mfp for about 2 years now. Lost over 25 lbs now, I love the ease of using it. Accountability is key. Thanks for sharing.

Jay Prajapati said...

Thank you for thhis

I provide Bradley Method childbirth education, doula, belly casting, placenta encapsulation, and post partum doula services.
I serve families in Kitsap County, Bainbridge Island, Poulsbo, Bremerton, Silverdale, Kingston, Port Townsend, Bremerton, Port Orchard, and the greater Seattle area. email me atangiebeehotz@gmail.com with any questions you might have
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