You still have to do the work

Hi, its Laura

My mom is today's inspiration.

My mom was sharing info about an article she read about 10 apps that you cannot live without.

She downloaded My Fitness Pal (I mentioned that I had that app once). She told me about it anyway (I love my mom).

So back in the day, she used to eat “Lean Line”, which I believe was the predecessor to “Weight Watchers”. (Have you noticed the WW commercials are back? I thought they would end after the New Year’s resolutions were over. They are probably back because bikini season is around the corner. You may remember my rants about Jennifer Hudson back in December.) “Lean Line” had all kinds of books (I know), charts (???) on paper and other things she mentioned (that I had no idea what they were) to figure out calories in and out and daily requirements. Now we have apps. and "HOW COOL" she says. 

They have prepared foods (we would not need to count calories if we ate real food) and list the sodium, calories and carbs. They even include specific alcohols so you can work a cocktail into your diet.
 
I admit it is cool, remember, I had the app. But all the apps work for the first 30-60 days. It’s a pain in the butt to find the food, add the food and fix the quantity. But after the first 30 days, you do begin to repeat yourself because we all tend to eat the same things over and over again. It works even better if you don't get sick and tired of trying to enter all that data and stick to it.

So now the app will tell you: how many calories you need, how many you ate and how many more you need to burn in order to make your caloric goals for the day. The one thing the app can't do is the exercise .You still actually have to go out and do it yourself (sorry). The app also can't yell at you or make you feel guilty for eating that slice cake or stop you from opening the fridge or going to the vending machine (ahem). You still have to stop yourself.

The experts all agree. If you write down what you eat you will hold yourself accountable for what you consume (for some maybe). That never worked for me. I can lie to myself with the best of them. I do not need to write down what I eat, I am very aware of my caloric intake (good and bad) and now every mile I have run and lap I swim.


Play hard!
Laura