MyFitnessPal & CardioTrainer, Weight Loss & Fitness With SmartPhone Apps
Posted: Monday, March 07, 2011
by Jean Horst
I realized around Christmastime that middle age was upon me and if I didn't want to buy another entirely new wardrobe, I was going to have to seriously tackle the creeping weight gain that had me carrying around 20+ more pounds than my normal adult weight.
I had already begun sporadically exercising but even when I worked out consistently for 6 months, I didn't lose much weight, it seemed like I just didn't gain more; not the result I was looking for! So I reluctantly admitted to myself that the only thing left was to do was change my food consumption! I had never counted calories in my life and didn't even know where to begin. I was familiar with carb counting but little else.
My Fitness Pal uses a simple step by step start up process with basic questions like; "How old are you?", "How much do you weigh?", "How much weight do you want to lose each week?". "How active are you?", "How often will you exercise?" It then gives you a daily calorie intake amount and a time frame of how long it will take you to meet your goals. When these questions are answered, the app takes you to a daily food diary area where you can begin entering in what you eat and drink for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, water intake, and specific exercises.
Here's where this app really shines - almost everything I search for to enter is already in their online database. I don't have to find the nutritional content on everything I eat, doing a simple search on the brand name and basic food description brings it up and I simply click, "add". It's not just grocery store items, restaurant menu items are also included. I've found things from local restaurants that only have one or two locations in my town. My favorite grocery store only has stores in Texas but their brand name items are in this data base as well. This simplifies things so much and makes keeping a food diary and easy thing, not a chore. Frankly, I was shocked at how much I was mindlessly eating. I am now much more conscious of portion sizes and where most calories come from. It helps me decide where I really want to spend my calories.
Your actual weight loss is on the honor system, of course. They recommend you weigh yourself on a weekly basis and enter your weight manually. You will then see a weight loss chart over time tracking your progress.
An additional benefit to how this app is set up is in the exercise portion. If I do a specific exercise, hiking for instance, that burns 400 calories, it ADDS those back to my calorie intake allowed for the day. If I'm allowed 1200 calories and then I burn 400 by exercising somehow, I am allowed 1600 total for that day! An actual reward for exercising!! I love this app!
A couple of notes about variations. The website & the iPhone app have a social aspect missing from the Android app. You can join with several friends and have some accountability. It does not show your weight or your specific food intake to your friends but it shows your exercise entries, consistency of log in and your weight loss. You can blog or just leave comments on each other's progress charts. There is a "finalize day" option on the web and iPhone as well that shows you a summary of each day and gives you tips. "You are eating too few calories", "You need to drink more water", "If every day was like today, you will weigh x lbs in x weeks". The Android app doesn't yet have that option either. I'm hoping for an update any day now.
That brings me to the second app I mentioned in the title, "CardioTrainer", which I don't believe is yet available on iPhone (if you have an iPhone, try "Run Keeper"). CardioTrainer is a cool, little side companion specifically of benefit to the outdoor exerciser. It works like a pedometer BUT it actually uses the GPS to show you a map of the route you ran or walked along with the distance, time lapsed, pace, number of steps, and calories burned. It will keep a history log so you can see the advantages of different routes. Oh, and IT TALKS! It gives progress reports every .10 of a mile. It is also will integrate with music like an iPod if you want. If you don't need a food journal of any kind, CardioTrainer is a very good stand alone companion for the runner, biker or walker. There is also a number of preset choices for ease of use. These rates of calorie burn are comparable to those listed in the MyFitness Pal app itself. I've used CardioTrainer to time myself and then entered them into the app and found the calories burned to be within a couple of percent.
I've not been successful in anything else I've tried like I have been with theses two apps - gotta love technology!
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More commentsHa ha! I had no idea you could do those things with a phone! I still use my mobile for making phone calls (how old fashioned!!) and sending the odd....very rare...text message.But they sound very useful if you are a tech-geek on a diet!! :-)Oh yes and by the way....nice picture, you look too attractive to need a diet!! ;-)Thanks Tony - there's a reason I'm still using a 4 year old photo!
What a treasure great health is! Thanks, Jean, for sharing your first-hand experience with us. I will check out the CardioTrainer...I'm a walker. ~mogama~Enjoy it, Mogama! I got all geeked out the first time I saw the little GPS of my exact walking route on the trail through the woods!
Thanks, Jean. I am installing it on my Touch as I write this. Yep, love technology.You know it, Lorrie!
For the record, I've lost 16 pounds since the beginning of the year using MyFitnessPal and my phone. I knew I could lose weight, I was just waiting for the right electronic device to come along!
Sounds so interesting to go about the usually-painful weight-loss programs in the past if this one does work effectively. Of course, losing weight and keeping fit entirely depends on the individual however good the program be.
Keep it up, Jean........Thank you, Hilda. I don't really consider that I'm on a diet. We had already begun cutting back on red meat and adding more veggies before I started using this app. What's changed the most significantly now is how MUCH I eat. We still go to our favorite restaurants and eat our favorite things but it's often in half portions since we know how much is in a whole plate (no one needs a plate of food that's 2500 calories at once!). I like leaving the restaurant feeling satisfied but not stuffed and uncomfortable. Information to make informed decisions is the key for me.
You have a Madonna-like visage( the holy version) and any extra weight is surely a minimal factor, given your beauty.What an incredibly lovely thing to say, Paul. Thank you.
Hi Jean. Thanks for this great information. So glad this is working for you! It all makes sense - I have 20 plus lbs that need to disappear as well. All gained in the last year since I moved to CA. Not good. Now that my treadmil is out of storage, it's time to add that to my morning routine. I would say that I will check out this site, but I would be lying. Let's just see if the lbs disappear first :-)Haha, Teresa! At least you are honest!
Very good article Jean. I almost wish I were overweight so I could work the app.Thanks Bob!
How incredible! I've got a problem - not so much with weight, but just a bulge in my belly! I don't alas have an Android phone (actually I don't even know what Android means, sounds vaguely sci-fi!), but your article has got the message through to me anyway - gotta be proactive about this. Thanks, Jean!Hi Jennifer, I waited about 3 years to become proactive. :) Figured I was about out of time.
Android is an operating system that internet capable cell phones use to run the applications. After iPhone from Apple, it's the most popular system.
This is truly amazing. I can not believe how far technology has come. I wonder what's next and at what point our bodies will be fully merged with computers, ha ha. Thanks for the article!I can be the Bionic Woman??!!
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