Lose it! is a website and also an app for your smartphone. When I first got it I think it was only available for iphone or an Android powered phone, if you have something different, just check wherever you get your apps. When you use both, they speak to each other. So if I start out the morning adding what I ate for breakfast, then I go out for lunch or if you were at work, you pull up the app on your phone and your breakfast shows up.
This app isn't just for loosing weight. When you first put in your information, you can say that you want to lose, maintain or gain! So this is for everyone! On the website, you can enter in a recipe and tell it how many servings it makes. It will add up the calories for you in a serving when you add it to a meal. On either one you can add custom food, which could be something that is not in their database or something you make at home, but it's not a full recipe. For example, I put taco meat in this category since it's only the meat and seasoning.
You also enter your daily exercise. Again, you can make a custom exercise if it is not in their database and you know how many calories you burn.
I do not put my exercise in until the end of the day, because I am loosing weight, and what this app does is when you put in exercise, say you burned 200 calories, it will add that many calories to what you could still eat today. Personally, I stick to the allotted calories no matter how many calories I burn, unless I have a crazy busy day, and my body needs a little more protein or whatever.
On the website version, you can make all kinds of reports. For example, if your doctor (this is me) told you to get more protein, you can click on reports and see how you're doing. There's one that's called My Plate (the new 4 food groups, or pyramid) and the parts of the plate will color in as you get what you need and it also tells you how much at the bottom.
The only caution is if you are putting in food yourself, you have to tell it all the nutrition information if you want to make full use of this feature. For example, when I entered taco meat I did not put in how much protein and other vitamins and minerals it keeps track of, so if I were to look at my plate I would not have a complete protein count.
And on your phone, you can scan the UPC label of a product to enter it into your meal! That is so cool!
I have really found this to be very helpful. I tried paper and pencil food journaling, 'cause really I like paper and pencil better, but this is way more complete! I started on January 16, 2012 and I have lost 15 pounds as I write this. And remember that I have a lot of physical limitations, not to mention I'm kind of a picky eater! So if I can do it, you can too. I plan to keep using it once I reach my goal weight to maintain.
Until Next Time.....
Franny
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