Lose It App

Blatant-truth-is-not-secret, secret: I love my iPhone!  I got one last summer and, as someone who never had more than a simple cell phone before and yet loves the internet and all it offers, I fell off the deep end into a pit of gooey-techno-love.

So what does this have to do with weight-loss, you ask?  As I was having my morning Starbuck's today, I got to browsing to see if there were any apps that could help me out in this challenge, and in general.  A lot of the nice ones require payment, or subscription to a website.  I don't mind spending money if it gets results, but I kept searching to see if there was something that could do what I want for the low, low price of FREE.  What I found was Lose It.  It's pretty nifty, so far.  Basically, it helps you calculate how many calories you should be eating to lose the weight you want each week, then lets you input your daily food and exercise and keeps up with the balance of your daily caloric total.

I found this really interesting during the set-up (which was really simple, by the way):

After putting in my current weight (I was right, I've totally put on about 7 pounds over the holiday weeks) and my ultimate goal weight of 125, it asks how many pounds I plan to lose each week and tells me when I'll reach my goal based on that:

• 1/2 lbs. a week = goal by January 1, 2012
• 1 lb. a week = goal by January 2, 2011
• 1 1/2 lbs. a week = goal by September 3, 2010
• 2 lbs. a week = goal by July 4, 2010 (Ha, Independence Day, indeed!)

I settled for 1 1/2 lbs. a week, it tells me my calorie budget is 1,370, and gives me a nice little graphic about my progress.  It's super cool.  Anyway, the application lets you add friends who are also using the app, so if any of you guys want to set it up and friend me, that'd be sweet.  I'm signed up with glapsley AT gmail DOT com.

Also, I'd love to hear any other iPhone apps that you guys use.

My first two daily goals for this challenge:
1) Drink 60 fl. oz. of water or black tea
2) Keep to my calorie budget via "Lose It"