Lose It!

Whew!  I almost forgot about writing a blog post today, and I already had my topic picked out ahead of time and everything.  It would have been a bummer if I'd missed one.  Be forewarned that I'm about to sound like I'm selling Amway.  


For a number of years, I've been unhappy with my weight.  I'd steadily put on a few pounds here and there every year until I was finally 40 pounds heavier than when I'd gotten married in 1999.  I didn't like how I looked and just didn't feel that good about myself as a result.


During both of my pregnancies, I'd been diagnosed with gestational diabetes.  Since I didn't have a big appetite for snacking in the earlier trimesters and had to stick with a strict diet for my health and the health of my babies, I ended up about 20 pounds lighter right after giving birth than when I'd gotten pregnant.  I loved being thinner and hoped to hang onto it, but I didn't take steps to do so and wasn't paying enough attention to what I was eating or making any lasting changes to my regular habits.  Gestational diabetes would go away, and I'd go back to the same bad habits.


On top of that, my willpower seemed nonexistent.  I'd want so much to be in better shape and to feel good about myself again.  Sometimes I'd think "Maybe I'm just going to be this size the rest of my life, and I need to stop feeling bad about myself," but I couldn't reconcile myself to being that overweight.  I knew it wasn't the healthiest way to live.


Some months ago, my friend Corey started to use the Lose It! app for the iPhone.  And over the next couple of months, he experienced a steady yet healthy rate of weight loss - he's still using it, and still losing steadily.  Soon, my husband started to use it, and he, too, started to lose weight and get into healthier shape.  He kept asking me for calorie counts on things I was giving him for meals.  (Frankly, I found it annoying at that point since he was the one who was using Lose It!, yet I was the one who had to hassle with figuring out calories for things he ate.)  Then Corey upgraded his iPhone, and he gave me the one he'd had.  When he formatted it for me, guess what was on it?  You got it.  So I figured "What the heck?  I'll give it a try and see how this works for me."


If you're not familiar with the app, here's how it works:

• You put in your weight, height, gender, goal weight and the rate at which you wish to lose the weight (1/2 pound, 1 pound, 1 1/2 pounds or 2 pounds a week).
• Lose It! tells you how many calories you have each day before accounting for any exercise, and it also tells you approximately when you'll reach your goal weight based on your rate of loss, if you are consistent with sticking to the recommendation. And they have a Maintenance option that you can use to keep track of your eating once you've reached your goal, to make sure you don't start going back up again.
• You track your food with the program, which has a large database of items (both generic and brandname, as well as a number of restaurant foods) and allows you to put in custom items or recipes. You also track exercise, and as you add exercise to your day, it gives you those calories back towards your eating allotment.
• If you have friends using Lose It!, you can create an account on their website and connect with friends so that you can see their progress and encourage one another.

It's been a real wake-up call to me to see what my daily calorie allotment is, compared to what I was probably eating even when I thought I was doing well. I've also been much more conscious of portion sizes and how much I'm putting on my plate, even using measuring cups and spoons for some things like carbs (potatoes, pasta, rice) and salad dressings.


And it's been something that has given me a concrete goal and a super-easy way to keep track. I'm pretty lazy about that, so having to write down amounts and keep track of it myself would be much harder for me to maintain. It's also a challenge to come in under my daily calorie goal, a challenge that's been surprisingly motivating for me! i started to think "Dangit, I can DO this!"


Best of all, the program is free! The creators said they want it to be free so that it's available for anyone who wants to be healthier, which is just awesome.


I've actually started viewing fat as the enemy to be vanquished, and I'm determined that it's going down.  I'm done with being overweight.  Now that I'm more aware of how much I'm eating and what a burger is really going to cost me, I'm much more likely to make a better choice, or I adjust my other meals so that I can enjoy a higher-calorie meal here and there.  Nothing has ever motivated me in the same way before, nor have I been able to stick to any other kind of plan previously.  If you're searching for a way to lose weight and have had trouble finding something that works, I highly recommend you check this out.