New Years Resolutions, Weight Loss & My Fitness Pal

Just about everywhere you look in the new year, you see resolutions that revolve around weight loss, fitness and health. Even though I don’t think you should wait until January 1st to get healthy, I do love the positivity around this time. I love that people are striving to get healthy and I hope it sticks for most (even if that’s not the reality.) My Fitness Pal (an app for iPhone & android) is a great way to help you with your New Years Resolutions. It can help you achieve your weight loss goals.

For the past two weeks I’ve been using My Fitness Pal. When I first found out about it I thought it would be more about, well, fitness, but that’s not what its all about. It’s mostly about food and tracking calories. I was interested in this app to basically get an idea of what I was eating everyday. I know from my clothes I still have a couple of pounds to lose, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

I generally don’t track my calories because I’m an intuitive eater. I eat healthy and pay attention to what I’m eating, but I don’t look super close. I have been guilty of mindless snacking and eating too much at meals lately, so I wanted insight into what I was consuming.

What I like about this app is that you enter your current weight and activity level. Although I exercise about 6 days a week, I’m pretty sedentary right now because I’m basically home all day long with Liv. You put into the app how many pounds you’d like to lose and it calculates how many calories you should take in. You can also add your exercise for the day and it will up the calories accordingly.

I know the number 1 New Years Resolution is to lose weight. If that is your goal, then the most important thing is accountability. This app, My Fitness Pal, 100% helps you with that. The app gives you a daily allotment and then as you enter your food, it will show you the amount of calories you have left for the day. I also think that just entering your food keeps you mindful of what you are eating. I know it’s worked that way for me. I’ll think twice about going back for thirds for dinner or eating a second dessert. (On days that I am hungrier, or REALLY want the extra food, of course I’ll eat it, no questions or second thoughts…but it does make me think about it which is super important!) You DO have to CHOOSE to eat healthier food because otherwise you can just eat junk and use up the calories you are allotted (which…I reluctantly add…could help you to lose weight, but you’re not going to be any HEALTHIER.)

I found that I was basically eating in the ballpark I figured, so it was good to know I was right on track. But like I said, this app helped me the most be mindful AND accountable.

I was also pleased that they had MANY and MOST foods I eat already entered. I will caution you to double check the stats though because I found a couple of mistakes (like with TJ’s Italian chicken sausage). I also was slightly disappointed it didn’t let you enter calories for strength training sessions and only cardio. On days I did strength workouts I added more calories for myself. Something I always knew, but wasn’t paying attention to, was how much little snacking added up. This app 100% helped me be more mindful of what I was putting in my mouth AND the quality of the food.

My Fitness Pal also has a community to help keep you on track and accountable. Not many of my friends (IRL & virtually) are on My Fitness Pal, but I will be looking for some more. I find it SO important to use online communities to help you stay on track and receive encouragement & motivation. Another feature that I find to be extremely helpful towards weightloss & health goals is that you can see the breakdown of what you are eating. You can see how many carbs, fats, protein, etc you are taking in. If you are still not losing weight, but staying within your calories, this can help you take a look at more changes you can make!

If you try out my fitness pal, let me know…and FRIEND me! (I’m NicoleCulver.) All in all, it’s a great way to help you reach your new years (or any time of year!) goals!

Have you tried My Fitness Pal?

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Tagged as: app, Calories, Exercise, Fitness, Food, goals, my fitness pal, new years resolutions