When I created an account, I entered my height, age, current weight, and goal weight. Then told the app how quickly I wanted to lose weight. The options are 1/2 lb per week, 1 lb per week, 1 1/2 lbs per week, and 2 lbs per week. I chose 1 lb per week. Based on what I entered, the app calculated the number of calories I should consume in a day in order to lose one pound per week. As I lost weight, I entered my new weight into the app and the number of calories I should consume decreased gradually until I met my goal. The amount of calories that I began with was 1501 and when I met my goal it had reduced to 1396 per day. After I was finished losing weight, I went into maintain mode and my calories were increased to 1813 per day. I am still logging all calories that I consume until I am certain I can eat normally and not gain weight without the app. Here is what I have logged today so far.
Logging food into Lose It! is quite simple. If the food has a bar code on the package, just click scan bar code and the camera on your phone will activate and let you scan it and automatically add the food to your chosen meal. There is also a database where foods can be searched and selected from a list. In the food database most of the major restaurant chains are included and can be searched. I found that when we were eating out, it was beneficial look up the restaurant before going in to make sure that I knew the calories of the menu items. If the food you are eating is not in the database, then a custom food can be created and saved so that when you eat this food again, it is in the database.
The part of the app that was the most motivational for me was the community section. If you have friends who use the app, you can add them and follow their progress and they can follow yours. It keeps you accountable to multiple people every day. Others can see the amount of weight you have lost or gained (you can turn off your actual weight if you are not comfortable sharing and only the change will be visible) the last meal you ate, the number of calories you have consumed that day, and any exercise you have logged. Please feel free to friend me on Lose It! if you decide to join and I will try to assist in keeping you motivated! When Jordan and I joined we starting logging with another couple and it definitely made a difference in the food choices we made because we knew that they could see it.
Exercise can be logged to "earn" back calories for your day. Be careful not to over log your exercise or you will not see any weight loss. Before I enter any "earned" calories I should burn 2,149 calories in a day first. I track this with my Fitbit (which I will discuss in another post). The 2,149 calories are not only rigorous exercise, but calories burned during normal daily activities such as walking, sleeping, sitting, etc. The only days I usually log exercise are days in which I go out for a run.
If you decide to begin logging calories, don't forget your drinks! Sodas, milk, juice, and coffee additives all count too!
Disclaimer: I am not being paid by Lose It! to discuss this app.
Thanks, I'm going to try this out
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