I wanted to tell you about one of my favorite apps on the market right now. It's called My Fitness Pal. You can get it on your smartphones and your computer!
It is my favorite way to keep track of my daily calories and exercise. "Why should I track my calories" you ask? Well the great thing about calorie counting with My Fitness Pal in particular is that you can not only track calories but nutrients, exercise, water, and weight. It's completely customizable to your person. There are "Guided" goal settings or "Custom" settings. You choose how many lbs. per week you want to lose, and voila!
The above is a screen capture of what my profile looks like. (FYI, that is not my starting info, but where I am currently. I'll keep you posted on my progress. Or check out my weight loss ticker below. You can get one from My Fitness Pall too!)
I recommend going with the "Guided" set-up unless you have done the proper research and know how many calories you should be getting on a daily basis. Below is the "Customizable" settings.
If you do chose to "Customize" your goal settings be sure you do NOT drop too low and consume too few calories or you could go into starvation mode. I'll go more into detail on this at a later date, but the general idea is if your body feels you are starving it will slow your metabolism in order to preserve itself. You will not burn, but store fat! (Kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it?) Bottom line you need to eat to keep your metabolism humming.
Make sure you visit the "Tools" section and take advantage of the great calculators My Fitness Pal offers. The BMI (Body Mass Index) is a great one to use. It takes your age, height, and sex into account and gives you an idea of what your optimal weight range is.
Keep in mind this is only based on those few factors and cannot account for build and personal preference. For example, my BMI says I could drop to 133, (I'm 5' 7") but I have hips Marilyn Monroe would envy and and I LOVE my curves...as does my husband ;P so I won't be dropping quite that low.
I could go on and on but it's about time for bed here so I'll cut it short. (Proper rest is very important too.) Check back for my info on the BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). It's some very interesting stuff...YOU CAN BURN FAT WHILE YOU SLEEP!!! No kidding!
Oh, and be sure to friend me on My Fitness Pal and get your friends on there too! (laceye_g)
FACT: You can lose 20% more when you recruit friends!
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