No even line!

I ended May at my heaviest weight ever. A trip home and bathing suit season reminded me that I really need to get this in control. So for the past two weeks, I’ve been using Calorie Count to track my foods.

Things I like about CC –

• It surprisingly has alot of foods in its database. I’ve only had to look up a few of them and enter them as custom foods. I also found the Live Strong counter had most of my foods too but I have a strange dislike of Lance Armstrong, so I decided to go with CC. Plus I’ve had an account there for a few years that I would use randomly for a day or two.
• It has an activity log and weight log. I use the weight log more than the activity log. It has a trending bar that helps show you your general track which I find helps me not worry over the ups and downs in my weight. I keep telling myself it is normal and going to happen.
• It really does keep me accountable. Anything that goes in my mouth has to go on the log. I’m being super strict for now to try to make it a good habit but I’m sure overtime I’ll lessen up about it. It hurt me a little to put the fast food from the other night in there – so it is definitely encouraging to stay on the healthy track.
• It has taught me a few things about nutrition. I never knew how much Vitamin A I get in one day. And wow if I were to eat all the bread I wanted to eat – I think I would blow up their counter! Oh, those carbs (what can I say, I love bread!)…

Things I don’t like about CC –

• My phone app doesn’t always sync with my online website. So sometimes it’ll double the food and frustrate me to have to go through and add it all back. Maybe I don’t wait long enough.
• The activity log include just general activities. I wish it was more of a journal so I could write more about what activity I did, how I felt, etc. There may be an option for it but I haven’t really explored it. I also don’t have a reliable monitor to see how many calories I am burning (maybe a future purchase to save to!)
• It gets tedious. I think any calorie counter can agree to this.
• Some nutrient information is definitely off. Mostly the potassium one, I think.

I’m trying my best not to get frustrated or bored and stick with it. I’m seeing some success! The first week I lost 1.8 pounds. This week I lost 1.2 pounds. I had lost 3 pounds by Tuesday but some food decisions (see fast food mentioned above!) and normal weight fluctuation meant that my Friday count is only 1.2, so that’s what I’m recording. Overall, as long as the number is going down, I’m happy.

I don’t have a specific number I’m trying to get to or trying to lose. There’s numbers that in my mind sound really good but I don’t know if that’s where my body will want to settle. I’m trying to focus less on a number and more on how my body feels.

Do you struggle with the perfect weight number? How do you know when you’ve hit your healthy weight?