Welcome to installment 1 of my 26 week journey to lose weight using the App Store and all its glory. If you missed the introduction article, check it out here. As of today I can say that the start has been… SLOW. I’ve lost a pound or two, but it fluctuates so significantly that I can’t say I’ve really committed quite yet. I’ve got a meeting set up with the weight watchers people soon, so I’ll hopefully use that as a motivator, as well.
Even though I don’t have a good update on progress for you, I thought it was important to introduce you to the first and most likely the main foundation app I’ll be using throughout the process. As the title of the article might suggest, it is indeed our 5-Star recipient, “Lose It!” First and foremost, Lose It! is free. Both Lose It!’s app and website provide free services to those looking to shed a few pounds.
When Lose It! is fired up for the first time, there are some simplistic set up requirements including current weight, goals, and other general information. Once established these serve as the framework for daily calorie intake, exercise requirements, etc. For myself, I put my goal as 2 pounds a week going down to 180 pounds by the end.
The app itself consists of 5 tabs along the bottom of the screen that divide the program up into useful tools. The first tab is the most important in my opinion; the calorie counter entitled My Day. It’s here that food and exercise for the day are recorded and compiled to see daily and weekly results. Additionally, nutrient information can be tracked by activating the feature within the options menu.
The nice thing about the calorie counter is that thousands of foods come pre-programmed from store brand foods to items on the menu at your favorite chain restaurant. There are obvious limitations in that the app isn’t able to categorize anything and everything ever made cooked prepared etc, but inputting custom foods is as easy as reading the label on the product. I’m finding that in regards to my store brand foods, the app has TONS of items I regularly eat.
The next tab in the app, Log, provides an itemized view of all the food consumed for the day, calorie counts for each item, and a running total versus the budgeted amount. Items can be added or removed, edited, and viewed in more detail all from this screen.
The final three tabs include a friends tab that allows the app to interface with loseit.com’s web enabled content, a goal tab that allows for updates to the goal itself and a place to record weight as it changes, and a comprehensive options tab including the ability to produce reports that show progress.
The issue I have with Lose It! is more or a critique of all calorie counting apps. I have a habit of cooking from scratch and throwing ingredients in without really accounting for their existence. It’s an uphill battle to fix, and I’m doing a lot of guesstimations on calorie levels. Hopefully I can break these habits and use it more precisely.
As of now, Lose It! has become my foundation app. Over the next 25 weeks I’ll be looking at different apps that might work better, replace certain features of Lose It!, or that can be used in combination with Lose It! I plan to do the research on available apps but if the fine readership at www.148apps.com have suggestions, send them to me through the comment section or to me email at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you.
