Can your Iphone help you lose weight?

Can your IPhone help you lose weight?  Yes.  Yes it can.

So, I know I was talking a few months back about the fact that due to stress I had lost weight.  I was actually to the point I was having trouble keeping weight on.

Poor me, right? Ha!

I generally eat very healthy. I also exercise daily. The combination basically lead me to not having to be concerned of my weight... and staying around the same weight for the past 4 years or so, minus the periods of stress where my weight would fall slightly for a short period..

Well, in the past month or so I found the weight creeping on.  When I stopped talking the Zyban I felt my appetite creep back up (and the cravings for cigs to increase slightly) causing me to indulge... a lot.  My relationship stress also had the effect of me emotional eating.. namely at the bags of Easter candy I bought on sale (because one person really needs 7 jumbo bags of Mini Eggs at $1 a piece)

On my recent trip to Mexico, I ate like there was no tomorrow.  Bowls of guacamole and nachos every day? Why the heck not?!  Jugs of banana margaritas? Heck yes!  Cheese quasadillas?  Yes please! Beers? Oh yes! 

Well.... Nearing the end of our trip and coming home I felt my clothes were fitting a weeeeee bit tighter than prior.

Try 6 lbs tighter!  Ayyyy dios Mios!

I tried to blame water retention (uhm, yes) for some of it, but my indulging caught up to me. 

Time to diet.

I am not good at dieting.  I am not used to dieting.  I really don't know how to diet well... Like I said, in the past I relied on my healthy diet and exercise to keep me where I felt comfortable.  How do I LOSE weight?

Well, I stumbled upon a wonderful app for my IPhone at the ITunes store: My Fitness Pal.

This app sets up a fitness profile for you according to your current weight, weight loss goal and how tells you many calories you should be consuming daily to achieve a 1, 1 1/2 or 2 lb wt loss a week. 

During the day, you input your meals for the day via inputting a food into the data base(I have not come across a product/food yet that was not there), scanning the barcodes of products(VERY COOL), or inputting a recipe and allowing the  program to calculate the calories for a portion.  ((The more foods you log,

The program also calculates your exercise for the day and adjusts your calories accordingly.

Easy! 

And yes, you COULD eat say, 1200 calories of butter a day and lose weight.  The program DOES calculate nutrients from your input and tells you how you are doing with the recommended fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbs, sugar (my apparent downfall), carbs and vitamins for the day.. So yes, it does encourage you to make better choices.  You are actually able to log on online and customize your nutritional goals as well.  Me, I just need to watch my sugar intake.

Have I felt deprived?  No.  This program forces you to look at portion sizes and make healthier choices.. but it does not limit foods.

I have actually had a few days where I had no choice (ha ha) but to snack on some chocolate at night to finish up my alloted calories for the day.

So, have I lost weight?  Yep.  3 of those 6 lbs are out the window!

All in all, I highly recommend the app for anyone wanting to shed a few pounds.