Trying to Lose It!

I think the most popular New Year's resolution is to lose weight, especially since we all overeat during the holidays.  But for those, like myself, who keep procrastinating starting a diet, it can give a nudge for us to begin.  Now I admit that it isn't easy to get started, keep at it, and then maintain any loss you achieve.  That's been my problem over the several diets I've been on in my lifetime.  But, lately, I decided that dieting is not really the answer for people who need to lose. Healthy eating and exercising is more important.

Since I'm a librarian, I am aware of all the weight loss books out there, and any new diets that appear in print. Before Christmas, I read the Mayo Clinic diet and thought it might be good to try because it focused on healthy eating and exercising. I bought myself a copy for Christmas. I still hadn't started dieting until a few days ago because I had to find the right time to start. The ironic thing is that, just before I was ready to begin, I read a Facebook post about a website called "Lose It" where you can calculate your calories and exercises over the internet and also on your iphone. Since it was free, I thought I'd take a look at it.

Screen from iphone app

I was surprised to find that Lose It, for a free online program with an accompanying app, is so well designed.  I hardly needed to access help to use it.  Another good feature is the forums and friends option so that people using it can support one another.  The weekly reports, goals, and motivators are also nice to use, and the numerous reward badges are fun and inspiring. There is a book that actually was written after the program launched, and I have it on reserve at my library but only out of curiousity, as the program itself is self explanatory.  It can be used with any diet, although it is based on calorie counting.  Although the Mayo Clinic diet doesn't require calorie counting but habit changes, the two of them work well together, at least for the three days I've been on it.  I'm not sure if I've lost anything, but I've been keeping to it and will know on Sunday. 

What I like most about Lose It (and I'm not a rep), is that, for people like me who spend a lot of time on the computer (most of who are overweight btw), it is a convenient way of keeping track of what you are eating which is a very important part of dieting. And, when you are away from the computer, you can track things on your iphone, both sync perfectly.  Of course, the price itself makes it worth it to try.  Trying to Lose It with Lose It makes a hard undertaking a little bit easier.