Have you ever paid attention to what you eat? If you haven’t, give it a try (see what 50 grams of sugar really looks like by weighing it on a scale to get some perspective). On the other hand, if you have, you also certainly experienced people criticizing you by saying something like this: “Oh, you watch your calories? How do you live like that”? Now, that’s ok, everyone has their right to live the way they want but never be intimidated or feel judged by others. The simple answer to a question like that is: I live healthy and fit, that’s how!
Working out it extremely important, it strengthens your muscles & speeds up your metabolism. However, if you are trying to lose weight and keep it off, you need to eat healthy & count your calories, as well as your carbs, your sugar & your protein. There is simply no way around it. It’s not about a diet per se, it’s about a lifestyle.
In today’s world, where technology is king, there are various ways to digitally record what you eat. My favourite one is the My Fitness Pal app (available on iphone & android). I’ll be honest with you girls, I am not at all a tech lover & you can probably count the number of apps I have on my iphone/ipad on your hands, so it means a lot when I say that this is my favourite app.
My Fitness Pal allows you to record everything you eat throughout your day. If you have a bar code on the box of the food you are eating, you can simply scan it, and it will automatically pop out on the app. You can then modify the number of servings based on how much you have consumed. If you don’t have a bar code or don’t have it readily available, there is no problem. You can simply search their database for the name of the food. It will find exactly what you are looking for or at least a very close approximation. It tells you everything you want to know: calories, sugar, protein, vitamins, etc. It logs all this info in a journal, which you can view in many different ways: by day or by week, in a pie chart or in a table. The app is completely free and very user friendly. You can also link it to a digital scale & set a weight loss goal. If you don’t have a digital scale, you can still set your weight loss goals without it. It will automatically set your macros and tell you how many calories (as well as other metrics such as carbs, sugar & protein) you need in your daily diet to achieve your goals. What is also fun about it is that you can add friends and work at your goals together.
I have been workouting out and eating right since March, using My Fitness Pal the entire time to plan my daily meals and I have lost a total of 18 lbs. This app simply works!
Hope you girls enjoyed this post and will you give this a try?
Although I’m not a fan of counting calories, I found your article very useful because you said something very important and that is: “It’s not about a diet per se, it’s about a lifestyle.” very motivating and informative.