Evaluating Weight loss app--Lose it!

    This morning on Good Morning America a woman said that she used an app called Lose It! and it helped her lose over 100 pounds so far. I decided to check it out. The first thing I liked about the app was that it was free. It was easy to sign up for the app both on my computer and on my smart phone.


     I filled in my current weight, height and I determined my ideal weight. The program didn't give any guideline for what my ideal weight should be. I, however, knew what my ideal weight was based on previous diet programs I had used so this wasn't a problem for me.

      Once I finished adding my weight info and I agreed to follow the program rules, I was taken to the home page where I am able to record my food and exercise intake. I like the fact that I can do both of these either on my computer or on my smart phone. The program showed me exactly how long it would take for me to reach my weight loss goal of one pound per week. It also showed me how many calories I could eat each day in order to reach that goal of one pound per week. How handy is that?

       I began the program by figuring out what I ate for breakfast. I ate three strawberries, one cup of Scooter's cereal, and a half cup of whole milk. The program didn't have "Scooters", but since "Scooters" is a generic for Honey Nut Cheerios I put clicked on Honey Nut Cheerios. After I put in all the information, the program was able to show me what the calorie intake I had in the food I ate, and what calories I had available to eat for the day.
     
       Next I did some exercises so I clicked on the exercise button. This brought up a number of types of exercises. I simply had to click on the exercise type and the program showed how many calories were burned doing those exercises. Because I had done a number of different types of exercises and I can't consider it overly intense, so I considered it low impact aerobic exercise. I clicked on it and the program automatically recorded the calories burned in the exercise. The exercise calories burned were subtracted from the calorie intake so that I had more calories available to me to take in that day.

      I enjoyed using this free program. It's convenient so that I don't have to go out of my way to keep track of my intake and exercise. I don't necessarily see this as a totally comprehensive program because it doesn't determine what should be in a healthy diet. It doesn't determine what my ideal weight should be, but I believe that for a calorie counting program that helps me keep track what I put into my mouth and how much exercise impacts my weight loss.

       At this point I'm going to use this program to help me record my day to day weight loss objectives. I would love to hear about others who decide to use the program and what they think. It's easy to sign up! Just go to http://www.loseit.com/index.jsp?logout then try it out. Comment below on what you think! I would love to hear from you.