Naturally Chic Life is the personal blog
Willpower has always been something I have had mixed emotions about. It is a term used most often when talking about weight loss and it seems those that have “it” are the ones most successful in their weight loss journeys. For me, “willpower” simply means gaining control of my habits and not spending 10 minutes justifying why it is OK to have that late night snack.
Over the past two weeks I have made a commitment to myself to gain control. I never realized just how important it is to be in control of not only my actions towards others, but the way I am treating myself as well. I have always taken comfort in food growing up and eating has always been a big part of my social life. Going out to dinner is an easy way to socialize, it’s what you do while watching movies, and there is a list of other activities food is integrated into.
I am learning how to separate some of these things from food and I count calories for the rest. It’s incredible how many calories you can consume in a single day and by forcing myself to keep track of everything I eat really puts that into perspective for me. This method is 100% effective for weight loss and counting calories is very simple, the hard part is actually doing it. I find myself some days almost lying to myself about how many calories are in something, this is where my growing ability to not try to justify things to myself comes into play.
Lose It!
Lose It!
The easiest way for me to count my calories has been an amazing app for my iPhone called Lose It! This app not only allows you to search for foods with existing nutritional information, you can also scan the barcode on just about any packaging to retrieve the information. This has been HUGE for me, I am doing a much better job tracking calories because scanning things is so much easier for me than searching.
You also fill out a short profile of yourself including your starting weight and target weight. Lose It! will then calculate the amount of calories you should take in each day to lose the amount of weight you want in a safe and healthy way (about 2lbs a week). You can also track all of your exercise and calories burned as well as your weight each day. The app is free and integrates into their online account (I have yet to explore this part).
Next on my self improvement to-do list is a more regular workout schedule. I actually went to the gym last night and consistently ran my fastest mile yet. While it felt great and was inspiring I know that I have a long way to go and that with a bit of “willpower” I can make it happen!
I personally use “My Fitness Pal” on my iPhone because it also has a web counter-part. Also, my friends can use the app on their phones and we can encourage each other. It’s like a small fitness social network. More than anything, it is eye-opening to see what you are eating and how many calories my Starbucks drink is! Eek! I think health should be a lifestyle not something on the side.
My Fitness Pal seems like the way to go! I am also pretty shocked to find out how many calories are in some of the things I’ve been eating!
I love Lose It it’s a great app, but I recently started using My Fitness Pal, and I love it even more. There is a bigger database of food to choose from and you can track not only your weight but your measurements also. I think measurements are more important than weight.
Nike Training Club is a great iphone app for workouts. The greatest out there and it is FREE.
I agree! The NTC app is awesome! I love the iTunes integration!
Ohh! I need to be better about taking my measurements, I agree, it’s more important than the weight. Thanks!
You go girl! I’ve been trying to gain control of my eating habits as well. I went on low-carb, low-sugar, high-protein, high fruit/veggie diet for 3 weeks and felt amazing! I definitely noticed a change in my body, however, it’s a lot of work- and I really missed some of my favorite foods, so I’m starting to indulge a bit more, while practicing some serious portion control.
Unfortunately for me, it’s the working out that I struggle with…regular exercise is definitely a challenge.
The Lose It app looks awesome. I have a Droid, I wonder if it’s compatible.
Good luck with everything, thanks for sharing your story
Thank you! Portion control is key, I can eat pretty much anything I want if I do it in small amounts! If Lose It isn’t available for your phone try the app My Fitness Pal.
Way to go girl!
I don’t use any apps, but when I finally dropped my excess weight it was by cutting out soda, and eating at home. I LOVE fast food and restaurants so it was tough at first. Once you get into a rhythm though it’s not so bad!
I eat the same breakfast made at home everyday which is the bulk of my calories for the day. 2 eggs, 3 bacon strips, an orange, and 2 baked hash browns. It’s a lot, but gets me going great and allows me the whole day to burn it off. I have a lean cuisine of 300cal or less for lunch, and for dinner I make one of many options from Trader Joes that are 300cal or less.
Another thing that is hard to remember is drinks. Water is your best friend! Drink as much water as possible and if you can avoid all other drinks entirely.
Staying active (i either walk or bike to work everyday)and following this pretty basic regimen allows me to eat and drink whatever I want when I’m in a social situation, or just need to treat myself.
Best Wishes to you! You can do it!!
Thank you!! That sounds like a delicious breakfast! My only problem is that i’d have to wake up really early (for me lol) to accomplish that kind of a meal. I am also not a morning eater, I need to try to fix that. I try to walk as much as I can but it’s over 10 miles to my job from my house with no real safe sidewalks.
I loved Lose It in the past, but since I began working with my trainer again, she suggested My Fitness Pal since she uses it to track other clients’ food diaries. Hubby and I have bed using it for 2.5 months now, and between that, WILLPOWER, lots of high intensity workouts, we’ve lost 10lbs each! I like it because we can see each other’s diary, which makes it easy for him to track since we eat so many meals together. We also leave messages to each other and our trainer.
It is indeed amazing the cognizance tracking every meal gives you. I’ve kind of always been a low carb, high protein girl. I ate “healthy,” or so I thought. Turns out that healthy diet, due to so much cheese and meat, was actually 50% fat! And Hubby finally realized what it really takes to burn off two Five Guys burgers. MFP helps you connect the reality of calorie consumption and expenditure.
Good for you for grabbing willpower by the reins! Every little but counts!
Oh, and I also love Runtasttic for tracking my many walks.
First, thank you for pointing out that there is no space in willpower. Second, thank you for the info! I am just starting to get the hang of this eating right thing. I could do much better but I am at least aware of what I am putting in my body and what it will do for me. I have pretty much tried to avoid dieting and just work on portion control and saying NO. The saying no part is really hard, I am almost always interested in eating, especially in the evening!
I just hit 130 lbs lost and I can tell you that I’ve used a few different methods over the course of that amount at different times.
At first, it was about keeping track of the food I was eating using Weight Watchers eTools since I’d had experience with Points and keeping track that way. That was my first realization – DONE with fast food and heavy prepackaged meals.
A difference came when I started balancing my protein and carbs and making complete meals, rather than just grabbing a sandwich or a burrito for dinner. While those seem like complete meals, they don’t have the balance that a lean protein-lean carb-vegetable will give you. While I think it’s a super expensive way to lose weight, the basic tenets of Clean Eating are also great rules to follow because you start to understand those differences between good proteins/carbs/fats and bad proteins/carbs/fats.
That being said, the part that really turned it around was working on my feet instead of sitting behind a desk. Now, I know that working can’t be helped, but thinking that way on a daily basis will create a turnaround in how your body reacts to walking/jogging. If you want Betty’s, you have to walk extra to get it by taking a longer route than the direct route. Same goes for any restaurant. It’s not a punishment, it’s a realization that some things require more exercise than others. I totally understand about the safety factor, believe me. After a few weeks of adding the extra walking every day, your body should crave more of it. That’s the beauty of exercise, your body wants that as much as food once it feels the adrenaline from it.
I am also a big fan of my fitness pal. I’ve never downloaded the app. I just go directly to their website. I also just completed a 1 month fitness boot camp. I got a great deal through living social, but I have a leg issue and I thought it was best not to over exert it unless I would end up in a caste. I tried jicama for the first time last night. It has an acquired taste, but it was filling and therefore, it helped me to avoid my 12 midnight water cracker binge. Also drinking lots of water has helped a lot.
i use lose it too! i’ve experimented with the public options, ie tweeting your exercise, etc. it’s nice to have accountability and back up from the community, but also nice to have privacy in your endeavors sometimes. I like that the lose it app allows both.