Friday, August 10, 2012

My lifestyle shift & Lose it! app review

This is my goal.

It's a dress I've never worn.  It was given to me by my mother, who has worn it, and she bought it in Hawaii when she and my dad were meeting there while he was on leave from Vietnam in the late 60's.  There's no size in it, so I have nothing to go by except whether or not it zips.  Right now, it doesn't zip.

Back story:
Recently I went to the doctor expecting him to say I'll need to have my gallbladder removed.  I've had 2 bouts of severe abdominal pain in the last 6 months, and even the nurse practitioner at the walk-in clinic said it's most likely my gallbladder.  She said "eat bland food, avoid anything fried."

Ummm, what does "bland food" look like?

She replies "Chicken and rice. Nothing heavy, Nothing spicy."

Great.  I failed to mention to her that I absolutely love cooking yummy meals. Food is one of my passions and I don't eat many pre-packaged foods, if at all.  Have you met me before? HELLO?!

When I got home, I did what most paranoid people would do - Google.  Search: Gallbladder food not to eat.  And there's the list... as long as my arm-- basically an inventory of what I have in my refrigerator and pantry.  Deep sigh.  There are several articles.

Avoid spicy, fried, avocado, cold cuts, dairy, such as milk, ice cream and cheese, butter, shortening, oil, mayonnaise, bacon, cream, nuts, olives, cream soups, pasta, bread... just to name a few.

Needless to say, I had to break up with bacon.  Moreso, I need to change my eating habits and get healthier, gallbladder problems or not.  I decide whole grains, chicken and rice, and veggies are now going to replace chicken and dumplings and mac n cheese in my life.

I remember that Brooke told me about this new app she's using to track her weight loss and exercise. It's called Lose it! and she loves it,  it's free so I download it.

I enter my current weight: 190
I enter my goal weight: 165
I choose the date I'd like to be at my goal: October 20.
I choose how many pounds I want to lose per week: 2. (That's the maximum) 

Immediately, the app calculates how many calories I need per day to lose 2 lbs every week until October 20.

After 2+ weeks of using this app, I've lost some weight, AND no gallbladder attacks!   




What I love:
- It's a calorie counting app that's easy to find common foods and their calories are built in to the program.
- It even allows you to scan a bar code on foods you purchase.
- The layout is easy to see where you are in the day, how many calories you've consumed, and how many you've burned.
- Set up and customize "Motivators" to remind you to log your meals and exercises.
- Their website is linked, and you can do the same activities through loseit.com, plus there are forums where you can search advice, recipes and more ideas to help you stay on track.
- Goals can be modified.
- The date adjusts if you lose weight faster or slower.
- Sexual Activity is a calorie burner!