Weight Watchers vs Livestrong

Like millions of other Americans out there, I vowed January 1st that I would take off 10 pounds this year.  Yes, I have made this resolution in the past, and failed miserably.  The difference between then and now?  I have no idea, other than I am just plain sick and tired of thinking about those looming 10 pounds every day of my life.

I have tried Weight Watchers in the past and did find it somewhat helpful, although I still felt like I could pretty much eat whatever I wanted, i.e. candy, pop.  For some reason it just didn't force me to eat healthier, which was what I was looking for.  I didn't want to just lose the weight, I truly wanted to start a healthier lifestyle.  So when the first of the year rolled around I again thought about Weight Watchers, but then started to do some searching on my Ipad.

 I knew right away when I got the Ipad that I wanted a fitness/nutrition app to try and help me with my goal.  So I did a little research and found the Livestrong Calorie Counter to be exactly what I think I need. 

I think the application was maybe $2.99.  Not much to spend if it works.  So here's the deal.  

You enter in your weight, height, etc.  You enter in how many pounds a week you want to lose.  You have a choice of 1, 1.5, or 2.  Originally I checked out the 1.5, but found it way to restricting for me to start out (especially since I haven't started exercising yet, since I have been sick).  So I settled on the 1 pound a week.  Basically what happens is it tells you how many calories a day you can have, you enter in what you eat during the week, it subtracts the calories and tells you how many you have left (kinda like the Weight Watchers point system).  It has an immense database with any kind of food you could want.

The reason I like this application better than Weight Watchers is you really see how many calories are in the food you are eating.  Stuff that I would have just eaten without giving it a second thought, until I actually saw how many calories I was eating.  I have never been a big believer in the whole "writing down what you eat," but I have to tell you, I think it really does work.  I can't believe how many calories I was eating a day prior to this.  I have a horrible sweet tooth (plus a few more) and could live on candy and pretty much was for awhile.  I'm really not joking.  For me to finish off a bag of gummy worms in a 5 minute sitting is nothing.  This makes you really look at each and every item you are eating.  With Weight Watchers I felt like I would just take the points for the gummy worms and even out with some carrots later on, I had no idea how many calories I was really eating because I was writing down points instead of calories.  On this plan nothing is free, not veggies, not fruits, nothing.  Everything I eat has calorie content and gets recorded.

So wish me luck.  Here's to a happy and healthier new year!

(sounds so corny, but hopefully it's true)