Well I’ve done it again. I have found a way for all of us to go carb-counting crazy! Now, I’m assuming your phone is as attached to your hand as mine. So I have discovered an iPhone application that not only helps you track the weight you gain and loose, but calculates how many carbohydrates you should intake per day. I overheard my friend Mitchell calculating his carbs while staring at his phone and there it was, the carbohydrate application from God. I’ll admit there weren’t any beams of sunrays rising from him phone, but it was definitely an immediate, “Omg, I have to share this with my HerCampus gals,” moment.
MyFitnessPalhas everything you need. It asks a few simple questions like your weight, age, height, and exercising habits. Then it does the rest for you. At the top of your daily diary it has a bar that displays your carbohydrate goal, carbohydrate food intake count, carbohydrates burned from exercise, net intake of carbs, and the recommended remaining amount of carbohydrates to intake for the day. At the bottom of the application it allows you to keep track of your progress through your personal diary, progress (average of statistics), and with your friends.
Now, this may sound overwhelming but I promise if I can figure it out anyone can. The picture above shows you my personal diary of February 10,2012. You can see that I kept to my own advice until I cracked at dinnertime. The detail of any food down to the exact brand is shown. This will allow you to quickly log if you’re having a hectic day, or you just want to escape the “wa wa wa,” of your professor!
My log will look differently than yours because I currently have had to take a miniature leave from anything with sugar, including all breads, and baked goods. So, that leaves me with, meat, cooked vegetables, fruit, nuts, and banana chips. Don’t get the wrong idea, this is NOT what I need right now. That’s why MyFitnessPal is perfect for me as well. It is helping me gain a ½ a week resulting in my weight maintaining a healthy steady or even gaining more weight (which won’t do much damage to my figure).
Anyone can use this app. You can use it specifically for it’s extensively detailed carbohydrate encyclopedia, which includes a keynote for this upcoming holiday (Chocolate Covered Strawberry is 48 calories). Or start a weight loss program or a weight gain program specifically for you. You would be surprised with the number of carbohydrates that are not in certain foods we eat. For example In’n’Out has less calories than a McDonald’s Big Mac (by 20 calories) but it’s still a big difference for those burger lovers out there!
In seconds this application allows you to make the best choice for every meal. If you aren’t obsessed with counting right now, you will be when you begin to use this app. But I have my own person rules when dieting. Which is, choose a meal on a specific day to eat whatever you are craving. You can work it off on the elliptical at the Rec! One Day won’t ruin it!