Ever since I started my latest attempt to lose weight, I have been trying to use technology as much as possible to aid in my goal of weight loss and getting fit.
One way I am using my android smartphone and internet to help me lose weight is through an app called, myfitnesspal.
This simple app along with its web interface not only tells you how many calories you need to consume each day (along with macro and micronutrients), based on your current weight,lifestyle and weight loss goal. It also helps you keep track of the calories you have consumed throughout the day and how much calories you have burned due to exercise.
Even though it is mainly an international/US app/site, it has a large database of Indian food and recipes with their nutritional details. However I like to make my own recipes, since serving size and quantity of ingredients differs from household to household and it is best to measure the raw ingredients yourself and create the recipes to make them as accurate as possible.
With this data in hand, I can easily make amends to my diet or schedule extra walk at the end of the day to burn off any extra calories I might have consumed during the day or at times even reward myself with a treat, for consuming less than recommended number of calories.
Of course it can become a little addictive at times and makes you really feel guilty about eating food that you might have loved to consume otherwise, which in a way helps you stick to your diet. Heck the other day I stopped myself from eating rice and bengal gram for dinner (something I really love), because it would have put me over my recommended calorie goal.
One thing I really don’t like about myfitnesspal is the fact that while it counts and displays calories burned for cardiovascular exercises; it doesn’t do the same for weight training, which happens to be the staple of my exercise regime. Guess in a way it is good, because this way it doesn’t counts the calories I have burnt through exercise, making my calorie goal less than what it actually should have been, which ought to result in faster weight loss. But still it would have been great, if they had included to calorie burnt rate for weight training as well.
Overall, myfitnesspal is wonderful app that can aid in your weight loss, as long as you stick to it consistently and don’t cheat and makes dieting all the more easy and fun.
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