Lose it! App

[exiledgator]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Perhaps not surprisingly, a woman I know who's using myfitnesspal has failed to lose any weight, I mean ANY weight. Yes, it tells her the calories in a given portion. But it leaves her at the mercy of estimating portion size.

In the end, these apps are like any other diet tool/scheme/technique: They're only as productive as the user is willing to make them.

If she's gonna lie to herself and the app, then why should she expect positive results? If she's willing to be honest about her intake, then these apps are immensely powerful tools, IMO.

[Gator_Tom66]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Perhaps not surprisingly, a woman I know who's using myfitnesspal has failed to lose any weight, I mean ANY weight. Yes, it tells her the calories in a given portion. But it leaves her at the mercy of estimating portion size.

I like mfp better than lose it, but with either garbage in equals garbage out.

[exiledgator]

Originally Posted by Gator_Tom66

I like mfp better than lose it, but with either garbage in equals garbage out.

Me, too. I've used both now (MFP for about 3 months total / LI! for about a month total) and I much prefer MFP.

[Dreamliner]

I suppose people can and do lie about food intake. But I'm rather inclined to believe that most people just suck at it. A recent ward study included participants who claimed to be eating next to nothing and who were complaining about not losing weight.

They estimated their daily caloric intake at 1,082 calories. Their actual intake:

2,081 calores.

[exiledgator]

Fair enough. I think that they're "sucking at it" is really just lying to themselves at some level.

When one enters food into these apps whether that be by scanning a bar code or searching for the item in the apps database, there are serving sizes attached to it. The sizes are right there:

Jiff Peanut Butter
Calories per serving: 280
Serving size: 2 tbls

^^ I'm making these #s up, but I think the point is clear. If they choose to look at 2 cups of Coco-Puffs and call it 2/3 of a cup, then they're either incredibly stupid (a real possibility) or choosing to lie to themselves at some level.

For me, I'd measure out 2/3 of a cup of cereal then pour it in a bowl. See what it looks like. Then I'd do it again the next time I had cereal. After that, I'd know how much to pour from the box into the bowl.

That's why I like these. They're free and they take the estimating away from the honest dieter. There's nothing we can do about the dishonest ones.

[Dreamliner]

I like the approach. It's akin to taking a snapshot of your meal. Whether calorie-counting or measuring, the nice thing is that you shouldn't have to do it forever, especially if you don't crave endless variety. I myself tend to eat the same 5 or six meals over and over again. I don't think in terms of "How many calories do I get to have ?" anymore. Rather, I think in terms of "This is the amount of food I can eat without gaining weight."

[Gator_Tom66]

Originally Posted by exiledgator

Fair enough. I think that they're "sucking at it" is really just lying to themselves at some level.

When one enters food into these apps whether that be by scanning a bar code or searching for the item in the apps database, there are serving sizes attached to it. The sizes are right there:

Jiff Peanut Butter
Calories per serving: 280
Serving size: 2 tbls

^^ I'm making these #s up, but I think the point is clear. If they choose to look at 2 cups of Coco-Puffs and call it 2/3 of a cup, then they're either incredibly stupid (a real possibility) or choosing to lie to themselves at some level.

For me, I'd measure out 2/3 of a cup of cereal then pour it in a bowl. See what it looks like. Then I'd do it again the next time I had cereal. After that, I'd know how much to pour from the box into the bowl.

That's why I like these. They're free and they take the estimating away from the honest dieter. There's nothing we can do about the dishonest ones.

Totally agree.

[exiledgator]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

I like the approach. It's akin to taking a snapshot of your meal. Whether calorie-counting or measuring, the nice thing is that you shouldn't have to do it forever, especially if you don't crave endless variety. I myself tend to eat the same 5 or six meals over and over again. I don't think in terms of "How many calories do I get to have ?" anymore. Rather, I think in terms of "This is the amount of food I can eat without gaining weight."

Exactly. I've gotten some friends into them and I tell them the same thing: Just do it at least 5 days a week for 6 weeks. After that you'll have accomplished two things:

1.) you'll have lost 6-10 pounds
2.) you'll forever know how much you're supposed to eat.

'Cause you're right. Most of us eat the same foods over and over - so one could likely learn what proportions to eat after just ~2 weeks. But it's fun to make that weight loss graph go down.

[BossaGator]

I'm down to 221 lbs, 1 lb over my target for mid-May. LoseIt stopped working on my phone weeks ago - I can't tell why - so thanks for nothing, LoseIt.

[LeafUF]

Doesnt sound like you need it if you are two months ahead of schedule.

[Dreamliner]

Sounds like LoseIt lost it.

[BossaGator]

Originally Posted by LeafUF

Doesnt sound like you need it if you are two months ahead of schedule.

Yeah, honestly I think I've been more conservative than necessary with my diet given my activity level. All these calorie counting apps are probably very useful, but I got pretty annoyed when I had logged all my intake meticulously for several days and the app just inexplicably crapped out. So I guess while its probably a useful app, the others get my vote by default.

[LeafUF]

Originally Posted by BossaGator

Yeah, honestly I think I've been more conservative than necessary with my diet given my activity level. All these calorie counting apps are probably very useful, but I got pretty annoyed when I had logged all my intake meticulously for several days and the app just inexplicably crapped out. So I guess while its probably a useful app, the others get my vote by default.

My sister just got pissed at whatever online tool she was using to track her meals because they just out of the blue removed ounces. She spent a lot of time entering meals and stuff and now will have to redo everything so I am sure she would understand your frustration.

I dont use an app but I do track with fitday, the thing is it takes a lot of set up to get it to where its useful as most of the things I eat are not accurate in there. Plus I am also at a place where I pretty much know where I am every day without having to track everything now.

After some trial and error you will probably figure it out too.