MyFitnessPal

So I got in a little bit of a slump with my running and with my eating after our miscarriage.  I knew running would cheer me up, and it did, but it was so hard to get out the door and I rarely pushed myself past 2 miles.  I'm a bit of an emotional eater and tend to pretend eating will fill the emptiness I am feeling.  It never does and just makes me more depressed because I gain weight and feel bad about myself.  I know that, but I still fall into the trap every time.  Maybe one day I will get it together...  One night we were sitting enjoying a meal with friends and I stopped for a moment to think.  I was full, the food wasn't super delicious, but I was still eating.  There was still food on my plate so I just kept eating.  In that moment I set my fork down and I admitted to myself that I had a problem.  I had become a compulsive eater and it needed to stop.  I was up to a weight I had only ever seen pregnant or in the months after Carter was born and I was still losing baby weight.  That was not okay.  I decided it was time to get it together and take charge of my body.  The only weight loss method I've ever tried, other than breastfeeding, is counting my calories.

After I ran a 5k in 20:59 back in April, I took a bit of a running hiatus.

When I did this in the past I would write down everything I ate and painstakingly look up nutritional facts while carefully measuring everything I ate.  I say that like I've done it millions of times, but I've only ever counted calories during two periods before both lasting about a month each.  I lost the weight I needed and went back to eating healthy and maintaining my weight.  Counting calories gave me perspective on what were the best choices and helped me eat healthy even when I stopped counting calories.  I loved having that control, but I hated having to look everything up and write it all down.  I decided to pull out my trusty iphone and see if there were any calorie counting apps.  I was pleasantly surprised by the options and chose MyFitnessPal.  The app is amazing!  You add what you eat throughout the day and it adds the calories up for you.  There's even a barcode scanner to scan the food you are going to eat and it will automatically input the information for you!  I made a recipe that I had found online and was able to type the name of the recipe into the app and the app found the recipe and calculated the calories for me.  Talk about easy!

Before when I was trying to lose a little weight by counting calories my goal was to eat 1500 calories a day.  I didn't take into account how much I had exercised.  So whether I ran 2 or 12 miles I ate 1500 calories.  If I took the day off running I still ate 1500 calories.  With MyFitnessPal you add information about how long and fast you ran and it calculates how many calories you burned.  Then it subtracts that from what you've eaten during the day, therefore giving you extra calories to eat.  I had never thought to do that and I love it!  The day I ran 8 miles I had a few bonus calories and although it wasn't a healthy choice I indulged in eating out for lunch.

The other really cool thing about the app is it also shows you what percentage of important nutrients you've eaten within a day.  By using the app I've discovered I am not getting nearly enough calcium or iron throughout the day.  That surprised me because I consider myself a decently healthy eater and eat at least 2 servings of fruits and 2 servings of vegetables a day.  I will admit that if I slack on something it is typically a vegetable.  So I've made it a point to check on my nutrients every day and do my best to hit 100% in all areas especially iron and calcium since I know that's where I tend to lack.  I've been so impressed with this app and decided if I get pregnant again I will continue to use it.  Not to count calories, but to track my nutrients and make sure I'm getting enough of everything.  It's so much easier to scan a barcode and have an app keep track of all that than to do it all with pen and paper like I have in the past.  Maybe I'm late in finding out about this app, but I'm still super excited!

Thanks to Harper I've also added in more exercise to my daily routine.  Typically I ran once a day and that was it.  Now that I'm working on getting Harper to lose weight, which is very important to me, I'm running once a day and also taking a walk.  Some days I even throw in some yoga to help stretch me out.  I'm not a big stretcher.  I typically just step out of my car or out the front door and take off running.  I figure as I get older that's going to start posing problems for me, so I'm trying to get into a better routine.  With all of these positive changes I've already lost almost 5 pounds in 4 weeks, feel better about myself, and enjoy cooking a lot more.  I'm so glad I finally got the motivation to make a change and I'm also thankful MyFitnessPal has made it so easy!  

Enjoying a family walk a few weeks ago.  Normally I have Harper and the wagon.