Whip That Figure Into Shape with My Fitness Pal

I know I totally fell off the wagon with the Health & Wellness post around here and that’s because I fell off in general. Late last year I was determined to lose a few pounds to get back to a weight that I was comfortable with. I started eating a bit healthier and did Wii Fit a few times a week to help lose the weight. I dropped 4 lbs and reached my goal weight of 150 lbs and I was happy. Then I was right back up to my old tricks, started eating whatever I wanted at all times of the night with no exercise. No good. Recently I noticed that my slacks, the ones I bought after I put on weight the last time was beginning to fit a bit snug. Then I went on vacation to Puerto Rico and wasn’t as comfortable as I usually am in my bikini. When I got back I decided it was time to make a change. I booted up my Wii Fit Plus to do a body check and was shocked to see that I weighed 157 lbs, the most I’ve weighed since I was pregnant with my son 10 years ago. This was enough for me to face reality and take action.

This time around I’ve decided to make a lifestyle change. I will be 30 in a few weeks and my metabolism is apparently not as it used to be. The days when I could eat what I want, not work out and still not gain a pound are done. My first goal is to drop 10 lbs, hopefully by my birthday, and then drop another 2 lbs within the next month to reach 145 lbs. Then I plan to maintain that weight by eating healthier and exercising on the regular. The best way to eat healthier, especially when dieting is to keep a food diary. This way you can see how much you’re eating and the amount of calories you’re loading on. For almost a week now I’ve been using My Fitness Pal and I love it!

My Fitness Pal is a free online calorie counter to help you count and calculate calories for everything that you eat. You create a profile with your height, weight, age, activity level and weight loss goals and it will automatically set a net calorie goal for you. Your net calorie goal is the amount of calories you take in from food minus the amount you burn exercising. To achieve your weight loss goal you should stay under this amount daily. Since I am trying to lose 10 lbs in about 6 weeks, this would be about 1.5 lbs per week (starting last wk). I set my exercise goals to 4 times a week. To achieve my weight loss goals I have to stick to 1200 net calories daily. I must admit that this has been tough for me since I never even look at calories, but it has helped me tremendously to realize that most of the crap that I eat is no good and that I sometimes eat almost a days worth of calories in one meal. What an eye opener. Anyway, My Fitness Pal has apps for Iphone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Mobile Phones. I use the Iphone app and this is the screenshots that I am showing you.

On the home page you get a summary of your net calories and you have your news feed, where you can see friends activity. I love the social network features, you can add friends and do status updates. I estimated that I weighed about 155 lbs until I weighed in at 157, hence my status update. I updated my profile and my net calories dropped from 1290 to 1200. You can also add to your diary here and view your daily nutritional goals and weekly calorie summary.

On the My Diary Page you can view and add to your diary, and see your calorie counter.

I love that fact that most food items are already in the My Fitness Pal’s huge database. There are over a million foods in the database and I haven’t been unable to find anything yet, even drinks are in there. By the way, a Blood Orange Margarita is about 150 calories! You can easily calculate calories for homemade dishes by creating a recipe, the calories for each ingredient will be added together and divided by the amount of people the meal serves to give you the calories of the meal. If this is something that you eat on the regular you can save it as a meal.

You track your weight loss on the Progress page…

On the Friends page you can see your friends activity and updates and on the More page you can Sync the app with the website (it does this automatically a few times a day), edit your profile, food and exercises, change your settings and learn more about the app.

There are also forums on the My Fitness Pal website where you can ask questions and have discussions with other members. You must create a profile to use the website and the app. This app has been awesome and is great for those trying to lose weight or eat better in general. It’s easier to eat better when you can see clearly how much you are consuming. You can still eat what you want but in moderation. I wanted Chipotle the other day so I used the app to help me construct a veggie bowl for under 500 calories. I was able to satisfy my craving and still stick to my calorie goals. I passed on a cookie in the office the other day since one cookie was 80 calories and I was not giving up my 80 calories for that cookie lol. It takes a lot of discipline to stay focused but I think after a while you will become accustomed to eating this way and it will get easier.

Along with tracking my calories in My Fitness Pal, I am doing my Wii Fit Routine a few days a week with Yoga and Strength Exercises to tone my body along with an indoor run for 1-2 miles. I am also running for about a half hour outdoors twice a week. I am tracking my runs with the Nike + Running App to help me input my calories into My Fitness Pal.  I look forward to exercising and burning calories and it feels great when I have enough calories left to sneak in a treat 🙂

If you are using My Fitness Pal or decide to use it later add me as a friend GlamMzMore. I will keep you guys updated on my new journey.

Disclosure: This is not a paid or sponsored post, just my personal opinion on this app.