Kind of reads like a magazine cover, doesn’t it? In all seriousness though, there really are some simple steps that will help you achieve a weight loss goal…but you can’t do just one and kinda do the other two, or only kinda do all three. Do all three, keep you eye on the ball, and you’ll hit a home run.
Ready? Here we go…
Your Plan
1. Record your food intake daily. Include in your diet a variety of fruits and vegetables at 6-9 servings daily; 2-3 servings of lean protein; 3 servings of dairy; and quality oils.
Why? Keeping track of what you eat for a few weeks (I’m not talking forever people), can tell you several things:
* how many calories you are really eating
* what nutrients you are getting enough of and which ones are lacking
* why you may be sluggish at certain times of the day
* why you feel lightheaded and shaking an hour or so after a meal of snack (i.e, the meal may have too much sugar in it)
Food tracking sounds very tedious. At first, it is. But most of us eat the same types of things over and over, so once recorded, the hard part is done. Also, there are some spectacular apps now that help with food tracking. On the short list: MyFitnessPal.com(Free), MyNetDiary – Food and Exercise Diary for iPad ($9.99), and Calorie Counterby FatSecret for iPad (Free).
2. Find opportunities throughout the day to move (walk, climb stairs, do squats while waiting for bread to toast, etc.).
Why? All movement counts, so why not move whenever you can? How many times do you stand in front of the microwave and watch it reheat your morning coffee? You could knock out a set of push-ups in that amount of time, or some jumping jacks. Once you are in the habit of thinking about movement, you don’t have to think about it anymore and you’ll automatically take the stairs at work, or park farther away from the front door of just about everywhere.
There is an app for this too! Check out RunKeeper (RunKeeper.com) and find an app for just about every activity you can think of. If you like to walk, jog, or cycle, then MapMyRun will track your mileage for you.
3. Make goal-setting a habit. In a notebook, list 5, health-fitness-related goals for 2008 and record them DAILY. Review them 1-2 times per day. For example, “I weigh ____lbs by _____(date)” and “I eat ___ servings of fruit/veggies per day by _____(date)”
Why? When you write it down, the goal takes on a new life. As long as the goal remains in your head, it is just an idea you are tossing around. Write it down, and you can’t ignore it. Take this one step further: add the goal as a reminder on your smart phone, plaster it on your calendar, update your Facebook status with it, Tweet it…you get the picture. Involving others in your goal helps to hold you accountable, so the next time you bump into Aunt Edna at a family gathering and she asks, “I saw on Facebook you are training for some running race. How is your training going?” You’ll either sheepishly admit you bagged that plan, or proudly say, “it is going great!” Don’t be afraid to tell others your plan. You’ll find you have way more supporters than naysayers.
Helpful Apps: Life Goals ($3.99, iTunes), and Unstuck, winner of the 2012 Appy Award for Best Lifestyle App, (for iPad, free).
RunKeeper Pro
Compatible with the iPhone 3G and 3GX, this application offers anyone using a trail – runners, cyclists, hikers and cross-country skiers, etc., a way to track distance, speed, pace, time, elevation (something most apps don’t offer) and calories burned. You can then store this valuable information on your very own web page (check out runkeeper.com for more information). This is a great way to monitor your progress, as well as brag. Make your info. public, and you might be a few pats on the back! You also have a built-in option to post to Facebook or Twitter, so your peeps can see how you’re doing. Cost: $9.99 (A free version is also available but doesn’t have as many bells/whistles.)
iFitness
This is kind of like having an electronic trainer, and it must work, as it is the “#1 selling fitness app” worldwide, according to Apple. Choose from over 260 exercises, sorted by body part. There are written instructions for each exercise, or, if you really get stuck, there are over 100 instructional videos to help you along. You can add exercises of your own, or delete ones that don’t (and won’t ever) apply to you. And if you really want to take the thinking out of it, you can select one of 12, fitness-expert-created routines. The app also lets you track progress, graph your stats, and then give a shout out to your friends that you just benched your body weight, or whatever.
Cost: $1.99 What a bargain!
GoodFoodNearYou
I LOVE this app! Let’s say you’re out of town on business, or traveling with your family somewhere you’ve never been, and you really don’t want to mess up all the hard work you’ve put in at the gym. Determined to eat healthy while on the road, what do you do? You get this app, that’s what. GoodFoodForYou helps you find healthy eateries based on your location, thanks to GPS technology. How cool is that? In addition to popular restaurants, it includes grocery stores and nearby convenience stores. When you tap on one of the suggestions, a list of healthy items from the restaurant’s menu appears, complete with calorie, fat and carb totals. This totally takes the guess-work out of healthy eating when eating out. Love it.
Cost: FREE!
Do you have a favorite fitness app? Share it here…
Recent studies show that individuals who track their daily food intake while adhering to a weight management program lose more weight than those who don’t. With this in mind, I’ve compiled a list of websites that not only help you track your foods and calorie intake, but offer diet and nutrition advice as well. A few of them will also give you a personalized nutrition plan to follow.
Here are the ‘blue sky’ website picks for
Food Tracking and Personalized Diets
http://www.myfooddiary.com
http://www.my-calorie-counter.com/
http://www.thedailyplate.com
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/
http://www.sparkpeople.com/
Surfing the world-wide-web for information can be the equivalent of looking for a needle in a haystack. Logging hours scouring pages of information from hundreds of sites is also time consuming. As I’m sure you’ve discovered, some website are a goldmine for information, while others provide little in the way of valuable.
I scout the net for information on a regular basis too, and when I find a website worth coming back to, I like to let people know. After all, the more time you save looking for answers, the more time you’ll have to work out!
Below I’ve compiled my picks for the best ‘healthy’ recipe websites, food tracking sites, and nutrition tips/advice.
Enjoy!
Here are my ‘Blue Sky’ picks for Recipe and Nutrition Websites
Cooking Light
FoodFit
Hodgson Mill
Food for Life
Mayo Clinic
Discovery Health
American Heart Assoc
Harvard Nutrition Source
More Matters
Kagome
Light Life
Whole Foods Market
Food Network
Have you ever considered how many calories you consume throughout the day, or even the quality of those calories? What percentage of them are carbohydrate, fat and protein? Are you getting your daily dose of vitamins and minerals? Logging what and how much you eat is a proven tool for losing weight and keeping it off. In fact, a researcher at the Kaiser’s Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore found that keeping a food journal can double weight loss! Hear that? Double it!
Tips for keeping track
- Keep a journal handy (i.e., “in the kitchen”) and record what you eat right after you eat it. If you wait until the end of the day, you’ll likely overlook something you ate earlier in the day.
- Record your healthiest choices first. When you have to smudge the list of healthy foods with some not so great choices, those choices really stand out, motivating you to keep the list to ONLY healthy choices the next day.
- Don’t give yourself a bad grade if you slip up. Everyone has a bad day. Leave it at that, and move on to the next snack or meal, concentrating on making better choices going forward rather than fretting over the past.
- Try not to reward yourself with food. When you have a string of healthy-eating days, it might be tempting to have a large dip of Ben and Jerry’s as your “prize.” Don’t do it! The short-term yum-effect isn’t worth the guilt you’ll experience later. Instead, treat yourself to a manicure, or a movie with friends (sans the popcorn and treats, of course).
- Don’t get bogged down with specifics right away. For the first couple of weeks, just get in the habit of writing down what you eat at least three days out of seven. Then, graduate to an online log that allows you to choose quantities of specific foods. These sites will tabulate your calories, nutrient intake and give you an accurate idea of what is missing in your diet, or what you’re getting too much of.
Here are some sites to try:
My Food Diary
My Calorie Counter
The Daily Plate
My Fitness Pal
Spark People
Calorie Lab
