There are two “apps” that Casey and I use on a daily basis to track both our calorie intake, and our exercise. For those with smart phones, I HIGHLY recommend downloading these (or something like it). They are super easy to use, and give you a great guide when you’re tracking calories. And I stress the importance of tracking calories, because YOU CANNOT COUNT CALORIES IN YOUR HEAD. Believe me. You will underestimate calories easily, and “fuzzy math” will deceive you, leading you to believe you’ve eaten less than you really have. I stick to a 1,200 calorie diet (unless I’m exercising heavily). Casey has a 2,800 calorie diet.
The calorie tracking “app” we have is called “My Fitness Pal” – it is also a website, and if you don’t have a smartphone and want to track calories online, you can use it there. It is free, and not only has lots of foods (both restaurant and grocery store foods) but a cool feature where you can actually scan barcodes of the food you’re eating and it will (usually) have that food in there. This application also sets goals for you for your input of fat, fiber, carbs, vitamins, etc. This is an EXCELLENT way to look at whether or not the food you eat is meeting your needs nutrionally.
There is an exercise tracking component to this tool, but we use the “Cardio Trainer” application for tracking exercise because it can actually track you WHILE you’re exercising (put it in your pocket while you walk/run and it will track your speed, distance, steps, and calories burned!). It can also support you in interval training – prompting you and setting up exercise guidelines. You can set up alarms to remind you to exercise, and it will set up an exercise schedule based on the goals you set for yourself. Both applications can track your weight, and give you recommendations based on your own personal goals.
I know there are several applications out there that do this type of thing – and I’m sure they are great. Use whatever you can, because being accountable to something will help you stick to your plan!
