Weight Loss? There's an App for That!

I accidentally started a diet on Friday.  

Let me quantify that statement by saying that I hate dieting. I really hate it. No, really. I really, really hate it. I hate that empty feeling of being hungry all the time. I hate giving up the foods I love to eat. I hate eating things I don't like because they are supposed to be good for me - that's right, I'm talking to you, oatmeal! And I hate when people find out I'm dieting and start questioning everything I eat. Or when they offer me something yummy and then quickly retract saying "Sorry! I forgot you're on a diet and can't have this delicious thing."

But I also hate outgrowing my clothes. And after a very lazy, indulgent summer, I'm on the verge of that right now. So the idea has been in the back of my head that I have to do something.

About six months ago, maybe more, my daughter had talked me into downloading a free app called Lose It! that she had been using. I downloaded it and never looked at it again, though I kept it on my phone.

Friday morning at breakfast, I was about to check my Twitter feed when I saw that little Lose It! icon sitting there. I decided to check it out. Well, there's no just checking it out without entering all your information (height, weight, age, goal weight, etc.) so I thought, what the heck?, and I entered my information. It came back to me with a recommendation of losing 1 pound a week by eating 1979 calories a day. This will bring me to my goal weight in April of 2013. I thought, well, this sounds reasonable. And 1979 calories sounds like a lot of food. So, I decided I would conduct an experiment. I would go about my day as I normally would, eat what I normally eat, and just see how many calories I actually consume in a day. Because, honestly, I have a lot of internal whining going on about how I don't really eat that much. Sure, sometimes I overeat, but not that often. And it's not fair, I feel like if I eat anything I gain weight. It's genetic! It's not my fault! And on and on.  

Well, reality slapped me in the face half-way through the day. I was kinda horrified as I logged those calories and watched them add up. And being conscious of how much I was actually consuming made me change my behavior immediately.  

Every Friday night, Mr. Richards and I go to Caper's for cocktails and dinner. Quite often, we'll have two martinis and their prime rib special and we'll clean our plates. I ordered the prime rib special and then asked Mr. Richards how big a piece of meat he thought it was so I could enter it into Lose It! He said 12 ounces, easily. I looked it up. 1200 calories. Again, with the horror. I only had 958 calories left! 1200 calories just for the meat! How would I account for the side dishes and the two martinis? Fortunately for me, Mr. Richards is smart. He told me to calm down and just eat half of it. Which I did. I took the rest home (and weighed it, there was 6 ounces left). I still went over my limit that first day but only by 97 calories. And now I'm starting to sound like a tiresome dieter.  

The point is, it was incredibly eye opening to realize how quickly things add up and how thoughtlessly I shove food in my mouth. I'm not good with diets. Especially the kinds where you can only eat certain things. I don't know how long I'll stick to this but having that little app on my phone, which is with me all the time, may be just the tool I need.

The opinions expressed here are the blogger's and not necessarily those of the local editor's or anyone affiliated with Patch.