Mary Schatz, M.D.
Don't 'Lose it' When You Diet, Try ''Lose it!"
Mary Schatz, M.D.
I Love This App!!
Lose It! from FitNow, Inc. (www.loseit.com), is a great iPhone app for anyone who wants to keep track of their calories and change the way they eat, and it's free!!
About 10 years ago, I encountered the perfect storm for weight gain. A combination of factors that crept up on me so gradually that I hardly noticed what was happening, sort of like the poor frog that starts off in a pot of cool water and doesn't notice it is slowly being heated until it is too late. The factors? Middle age, genetics (my Daddy's near-terminal sweet tooth), a chronic health problem requiring treatment with steroids (the fat-accumulating, stress-inducing kind, not the muscle-building kind) and easy exhaustion making my usual level of aerobic exercise impossible.
I had never had a weight problem in my life, so I was not used to weighing myself often. I had always eaten a healthy diet with lots of fruits, vegetables and fish with some meat. But I had never needed to count calories. Weight consciousness was just not in my mind-set. When I could no longer wear my favorite pants and skirts with fitted waists, I just started buying clothes with elastic waists and put the old clothes in storage. The pounds kept on accumulating. I developed some stress-related eating habits when my medications made me fearful of having low blood sugar and feeling faint. At the least sensation of hunger, I would eat something.
I consulted a dietician, but I did not really want to hear what she had to say about counting calories. I was totally enjoying all the yummy things that the Atkins diet recommended….nuts, cheese, meats etc. and preferred to just count fat grams.
I now remind myself that I was like the New Orleans matron who described her diet plan as something like: "Atkins in the morning for the bacon and eggs, Sugar Busters at lunch for a salad and South Beach at night for pasta."
When my weight began to approach that of my 6'2" tall husband, I
decided enough was enough. I found two helpful books, The Big Skinny: How I Changed My
Fattitude
Both focus on counting calories and changing eating behavior. After learning lessons from these books, I discovered the iPhone app, Lose It! and started to use it to keep track of my calories and plan my meals. What a great tool!!
Using this app has helped me attain and maintain my goal weight by helping me keep track of my calories and plan my eating for the day.
The graph of my weight loss has been very reinforcing to keep on working at my dietary plan.
Knowing that I will put everything I eat in my log of the day helps me keep on track. It is amazing how quickly calories mount up. Knowing the calorie cost almost immediately begins to influence your food choices. When I realized that my Atkins snack of a handful of pecans was over 100 calories, I switched to an equally satisfying handful of Cheerios for 25 calories with a nutty flavor and lots of crunch. When eating out, choosing 4 ounces of a fish like Mahi Mahi (124 calories) was a no-brainer when compared with 4 ounces of lean broiled hamburger at 300 calories.
Knowing how many calories I have left to use during the day makes it possible to enjoy my food more since I know that I am eating within my limit.
Loseit takes in your current weight, age, height and weight-loss goal. Then it instantly calculates your daily calorie budget. As you list what you eat in the log, your remaining calories for the day are automatically calculated and displayed, both numerically and in a clear graph.
FEATURES:
- MY DAY: Shows your Daily Calorie Budget, your calories consumed, exercise calories burned, net calories for the day and how many more calories you can eat. "This week" gives you a day-by-day summary of calories and a look at your last 4 weeks calories as compared to your calorie budget.
- LOG: Here is where you enter what you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. It is easy to post what you have eaten to the Food Log. You choose from foods listed in the app, or you can create your own recipes. Serving size is easy to adjust if you eat more or less than the original entry.
- GOALS: This section is for entering your age, gender, height, current weight, goal weight and the rate at which you want to lose extra pounds. After you do this, your daily calorie budget is calculated. Your weight change is displayed on a graph that starts with your initial weight and shows your progress. Goals are easy to modify. Reinforcing statements (such as "I have lost 10.5 pounds so far" or "I am successfully maintaining my weight") are displayed on the graph.
The New York Times also published a review of Lose It! and a few other weight loss related iPhone Apps. Read the story on the New York Times site.
