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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Using Your Phone to Help You Lose Weight

In the last few years we have seen an explosion in apps on or cell phones. Some of these apps are just for fun and plain useless. I have found an app on my Palm Pre Plus that allows me to me to keep track of my Weight Watcher points. The name of the app is Points Calculator. It allows you to figure out the amount of points things are based on calories, fat, and fiber. My favorite feature though was the ability to tally up points as you go along. I find it a pain in the butt when I am out in public places to pull out a tracker and write down everything I'm gonna eat or just finished eating. That sort of idea is what makes it hard to track because I will put it off to another day.

I always have my cell phone with me. So, I will never forget my cell phone like I forget my tracker. That and I really don't like pulling out my tracker in front of people because of all the questions. I would rather just pull out my phone, for all anyone else know, I could be texting. It has made keeping track of points much easier. Well, so far anyway, I have only been tracking like this for two days. The downside to keeping track of your points like this is you can't really check off all the other little goodies like fruits and vegetables, and liquids. To be honest, I haven't really been good at all about doing that. For right now, it is perfect because I just need something that will help me stay under my daily allotted points.

So, if your a visual person, it takes these things:

and compresses them into this:


Till tomorrow...

Josh

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Scheduling Time to Succeed

In last week's hand out, Weight Watchers said one of the weaknesses for some people is the inability to schedule yourself and needs above others. For example, not going to your meeting because someone needs your help. I ranked low on the quiz (meaning it was not much of a concern), and I think I am low in this area. I did however miss a meeting today. I had a job interview, though. I will always let that reason slide. However, originally, I did have the option of scheduling the  appointment later on in the day, but declined it as I love to get things done and out of the way. So, I might have had a window in there if I had tried. I AM going to instead go tomorrow at 11am or the 11:30am meeting.

The reason I brought scheduling up is not because it is a big concern of mine to put other people's needs above mine, but because I do not schedule the time to plan my day out in terms of what I am eating or going to buy. My main excuse is "what does it matter if I don't even have the money to plan for anything?" The truth is I have gained weight on pennies. So, money can no longer be the fall-back excuse.

Has anyone had successful ways of scheduling their activities for weight loss? Activities which might include tracking, budgeting, shopping, cooking, exercising, etc?

Monday, October 25, 2010

The Initial Step

Losing weight for most people is painful and dreadful process. After all, you have to restrict yourself to what you normally eat or you wouldn't have gained weight in the first place. I am personally always going through the initial stage of this kind of thinking as I lose determination and then get recommitted to the idea of eating healthy and exercising more.

I recently joined Weight Watchers. It's an interesting thing to be a man at Weight Watchers. I feel a little out of place by gender but very comforted that people around me have the same struggle I do to lose weight. My leader is a very genuine person. After you're first meeting, she sits down with you and talks to you about the program. I was most interesting in hearing her story of how she lost the weight and then kept it off. Keeping it off is the struggle for me as I usually gain so quickly. She said that she had joined Weight Watchers and would lose the weight and then would quit the program and gain the weight back again. It wasn't until she finally decided that this could no longer be considered a diet, you had to make it a lifestyle.

By making it a lifestyle, she committed herself to healthy eating beyond a temporary amount of time. That idea I have heard before but it never had any impact on me until she had said it being a giant factor in her success today. That idea of your brain being the key factor to losing weight is motivating. It is possible to control ideas but it does take some work with opposition that has been built up over a lifetime. So, with that in mind, this what the entire blogging experience is going to be about:

How do you make eating healthy and exercising a part of your lifestyle and not just a diet?