“As I reviewed the pictures taken during the trip I was shocked to see how much weight I’d put on over the years. At 45 years old my steady diet of junk food and extremely half-hearted attempts at exercise had converted my body into an awkward pear shape,” Alison writes. “A professional career of driving a computer everyday meant ready access to snacks and little natural exercise other than pounding away on a keyboard.”
“The stats weren’t pretty: at 5’11” I weighed in at 206lbs, solidly into the overweight category,” Alison writes. “I wasn’t sleeping well because I snored loudly and suffered from mild nighttime apnea; after lunch I nearly always needed (though didn’t get) a nice long nap. Instead I pumped my body full of coffee and soda to get through it. I was up to size 38 pants and XL shirts, and worst of all my blood pressure was running as high as 153/80. My doctor told me that I would need to get on blood pressure medication soon.”
Alison writes, “It was a new year so I set a very specific goal for myself: I would get down to 175lbs by my 46th birthday in June. That 31lb drop would put me at the weight I was when I met my lovely wife back in 1985, a weight I hadn’t seen on my scale in 23 years… What I found out about myself was that I was highly motivated by seeing my goal weight and every few days checking on my current weight to see how I was progressing against that goal. I had read some good reviews of Weightbot and figured that since I had my iPhone with me all the time it would be a good tool for helping me track my progress.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: By SteveJack: Most people’s problems generally start with the portions of food they are consuming. The portions that many people with weight issues are way too big for what their body needs; just way too many calories for what they’re burning (and too much of it is carbs and sugars). Human beings are just not designed to sit around all day eating pastries. Cut down the portions, stop the needless snacking, eat nutritional foods and you’ll lose weight. Exercise along with that and not only will you feel better, the weight will fly off. iPhone apps can be great motivational tools. What are your favs?
SteveJack is a long-time Macintosh user, web designer, multimedia producer and regular contributor to the MacDailyNews Opinion section who, among other things, basically described the iPhone on December 10, 2002. He also plays The Beautiful Game twice weekly and runs 20+ miles per week.
Actually you can eat large portions — just make sure they are vegetables and fruits and other naturally low-calories foods. See http://www.eatingbig.com for my book!
MDN: You’re partially right. The source of the calories taken in is important as the source of those calories determines how your body’s insulin levels store or use those calories.
Read “Good Calories, Bad Calories” by Gary Taubes.
Here
iFitness.. I love it. Though im not overweight I love how I can add in all my workouts for the week and check my progress and gains over time with a chart. It also shows how every exercise is done along with videos too. Only wish is it had nutritional section in it but for me it does all I need.
I’ve been using LoseIt on the iPhone and have lost 30 lbs with another 30 to go. It also works whether you need to track carbs or calories as well as exercise.
It’s also supported and syncs to the website.
Been using Weightbot and just downloaded Pocket Yoga HD for the iPad. There’s something about being reminded about your weight daily and being able to track against a goal that is super motivating.
On a related note, one of the site Kissing Suzy Kolber’s founders lost 60 lbs. with some pretty common sensical measures. Obviously, the recounting is also hilarious. NSFW for language.
http://deadspin.com/5545674/the-public-humiliation-diet-a-how+to
Lose It! is my favorite, great food database and graphic tracking of weight. And it’s free!
The first thing that helped me change my eating habits and lose 30 pounds was a little education. I really didn’t know how unhealthy/fattening all the fast food and junk food is. After coming to that realization, it was just a matter of preparation (having healthy snacks around me at work), and practicing self control.
I tried some iPhone apps to help track calories/weight loss, but I didn’t stick with any of them. They do help with motivations, at least at first.
The one app I still use is an exercise tracking app. RunKeeper.com is an AWESOME. I use it to track all of my runs, walks, bike rides. It’s really cool to see graphs of all your activities, keep track of your distances, and make goals. It also maps everything for you using the iPhone’s GPS. Pretty sweet app.
I found that just buying much larger clothes makes it look like I am losing weight. Many friends compliment me on my will power when in fact I have actually gained a few pounds. Try it. Much easier than all that exercise and starvation. There should be an app for that.
I tried 5 different weight recording apps and Weightbot was by FAR the best. It’s seriously worth the money…
I use Tap and Track — great calorie counter. Tracks exercise, too, though I don’t do enough of that.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
Until I starting using my iPhone to help me, I thought I’d never lose the weight I had put on over the years. In the past, I’d lose some weight and would gain it all back in no time. The iPhone and some Apps changed all that. I was able to lose 32 lbs in 6 months using the App “Loseit” to help calculate and control my caloric intact. And, I use the App “Runkeeper” to help me track the calories spent from various forms of exercise. Best of all, I’ve kept all the weight off for a year now.
Happened to me too. 40 pounds over weight sitting in front of a computer all day long. I took up jogging, at first it was a struggle to do 3 miles (with plenty of rest breaks), I was soon able to do 5 miles 5 times a week. Now (5 years later and 40 pounds lighter) I run (not jog) average 25 to 35 miles a week and can run for hours (5 marathon medals on my wall). I must say that I got addicted to running.
Lose It
The iPhone is a great tool for this. I’m a huge fan of the Fitness Builder app. It’s fantastic.
Lol!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
I’m 5’11 195lbs, and I think it looks great, I fill out my shirts well. 175lbs would make me a mouse-chested dweeb. My advice is to look in the mirror and see what works for you. Being a scrawny man getting sand kicked in his face at the beach may be good according to a ‘weight chart’ but not with the ladies, or in real life. Exercise is extremely important too, I just got out my basketball and football. It’s nice to play with robotic fitness machines at the gym but real sports get the testosterone and adrenalin pumping as you score points against your arch nemesis.
I was tipping the scales at 270 in January when my wife and I decided to turn the ship around and start eating better.
I use LoseIt and I see a trainer twice a week. To up the ante my wife agreed to buy me an iPad when I hit 240.
I am happy to say as of right now I am at 242.2 — nothing gimmicky, nothing diety… just eating the right foods and being active.
2 more lbs… I’ll have the iPad before I know it (if I can find one)
Nothing as significant or drastic, but still: since age 18, until I got married (ten years ago), I was 64kg (~141lbs) at 176 c m (~5′ 10″). I quickly went up to 69kg (152 lbs).
Last summer, I decided to beef up my breakfasts, switch from burgers/pizza to salads for lunch, replace full dinner with fruits and nuts, and bike to/from work (15-min ride each way through Manhattan). By the end of the year, at age 47, I was back to 64kg (my teen weight). I’m still there and have no plan on moving. While 5kg (10lbs) isn’t really much to lose (about 8% of my total weight), I feel better and have more energy.
I don’t have an iPhone, but my Sony-Ericsson has a pedometer, which provided additional motivation when needed. Once I get the iPhone, I’m sure I’ll get motivated to lose even more, not that I feel I need to. If nothing, regulating and expanding exercise will likely be easier with some well-written motivating app.
Was the obnoxious, self-righteous take really necessary, SteveJack? The author admitted he had let himself go and was taking steps to fix it. This article could have inspired people to use their iPhones to help them manage their weight, but your self-righteousness about your running habits completely popped the balloon. We come here for your opinions on Apple, not life.
I see nothing obnoxious or self-righteous about Steve Jack’s take. I’m working on weight loss myself, and his comments apply to me. I’m aiming for 10 kg loss, and have achieved 6 kg so far (it’s time for America to go metric
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />), by simply following the hackneyed-but-true “less food, better food, more exercise” mantra. Oh, yeah, and “reminders” from my wife help.
Steve:enjoy the month. It’s already off to a great start. Beautiful game indeed!
@micro me. Couldn’t agree more about the us going metric. I did that as much as possible five years ago, and it’s really not hard at all.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
November 2008: 5’11” / 227 lbs / 38″ waist / BP 180 over 130
started using LoseIt! / Wii Fit / jogging
At first I couldn’t jog a 500 yards. Now I run four to five times a week for at least 45 minutes (5 to 6 miles) and I’ve completed a half marathon.
October 2009: 5’11” (still) / 175 lbs / 33″ waist / BP 125 over 85
No lie, my iPod saved my life.
Author of the blog post here.
Steve: I appreciate you drawing attention to the article!
@Jay-Z: No harm done. I’m getting some decent traffic to the post from this page. My goal was in fact to inspire people and I’ve gotten more than a few e-mails to that effect so I feel like it’s doing some good.
@maclover: I thought the same thing – I’d look WAY too skinny at 175. I’m now at 170 but don’t look skinny, more athletic. You are right though, many people carry their weight very differently. As a now hard core cyclist, my body reflects my sports passion more than anything else. As long as you feel good and like the way you look in the mirror then you’re doing it right.
Great to see people using their iPhones to help them achieve their health goals!
I’m using LoseIt, both on my MBP and its sync with the application on my iPhone. Since being able to see at a moment’s notice exactly what my sodium ingestion has been throughout the day, I’ve lowered my blood pressure from 155/100 to 124/88 and avoid Rx of any kind. The key motivator here is the iPhone itself; always with me, I can monitor everything I need to be successful at counting my calories and nutrient levels.
Because LoseIt is interactive, a user has the ability to submit foods and corresponding detailed information through the iPhone right back to LoseIt. I’ve eaten a couple of obscure things which were not in LoseIt’s database at the time, but they are now.
LoseIt App all the way!!! Started with 243 lbs. back in february, I currently weight 215 lbs. and if everything keeps on going according to the LoseIt plan will be 185 lbs. by September.
By the end of July I will be 200 lbs. for the 2nd time in 12 years.
There are other good counting calories and diet apps. But LoseIt is in my opinion the best one.
Check out: CalorieCount, MyFitnessPal and Diet2Go (all of them free!)
Also, check ot Streaks for keeping track of the days when you exercise. I have 3 calendars: for Swimming, Walking/Running and playing Squash