If you just ate too many jelly beans and chocolate bunnies, and
are vowing to get back to a healthy diet this week, consider using some
tech tools to help with weight loss. With some time ahead of us before
the next holiday, it's a great time to start tracking your diet and
physical activity. Tracking your food intake allows you to avoid denial
about your energy consumption, and keeps you honest with yourself on a
daily basis.
If weight loss is your goal, then the only way you will reach that goal is to somehow take in less energy than your body needs, or use more energy than you consume through food. To lose one pound of fat per week, you must go into a 3500 calorie deficit per week, doing so either with less food, more exercise, or combination of less food and more exercise! While crossing your fingers and "hoping" the weight comes off is a rather common occurrence, being systematic with your focus can mean the difference between hoping and happening.
Here are five of my favorite techie strategies for weight loss:
Use the Internet for Nutrition Information - If you "must" dine out often, you need to be aware of the nutrients and calories you are eating through food consumed away from home. While a full service restaurant is not required by law to give the calorie content of its meals, franchises with 20 or more locations are. This is very helpful to anyone who frequents Panera to P.F. Chang's. With some foresight and planning, you can access each restaurant website prior to eating there, and arm yourself with an effective eating strategy.
Online Food Documentation - Nutrihand is one of the online food tracking platforms I now offer my clients. Clients log in their food intake and day-to-day, we can both see if goals are met. Goals may revolve around not only calories, but also other specific nutrients such as carbohydrate, fat, protein, calcium, potassium, sodium, and fiber. There are similar programs on the Internet to serve a similar purpose, and it's worth your while to experiment with a format that works for you.
Using Smartphones for Food Related Decisions - There are so many helpful diet and exercise smartphone apps on the market, and more become available daily. Some are used to track food on the spot, some track your physical activity like a pedometer, and some help us make better nutritional decisions at the grocery store. With the cameras, pictures of foods can also be taken and shown to your dietitian for further discussion!
A Pedometer - While basic pedometers are not exactly high-tech, they are effective for assessing baseline physical activity. Some of the slightly more expensive pedometers allow for downloading of collected data (steps, aerobic steps, calories, distance) to your computer through a USB port and cable. This allows your results to be documented, graphed, and saved on your computer or shared with your dietitian.
BodyMedia Armband - This is the greatest assessment tool for determining how many calories you need for weight management. Worn on the left upper arm, it measures your calorie burn in a 24-hour period. It seems very accurate, and after the collected data is downloaded, you are able to look at your energy expenditure in sections of the day. This allows you to determine the activities and movements which are most effective at using energy and therefore facilitating weight loss. Another perk, it assesses your sleep quality which has been noted as being important in the weight loss process.
With the help of these technology driven self-monitoring tools, your behavior and diet will be both consistent and effective enough to help you reach your weight goals efficiently and effortlessly!
If weight loss is your goal, then the only way you will reach that goal is to somehow take in less energy than your body needs, or use more energy than you consume through food. To lose one pound of fat per week, you must go into a 3500 calorie deficit per week, doing so either with less food, more exercise, or combination of less food and more exercise! While crossing your fingers and "hoping" the weight comes off is a rather common occurrence, being systematic with your focus can mean the difference between hoping and happening.
Here are five of my favorite techie strategies for weight loss:
Use the Internet for Nutrition Information - If you "must" dine out often, you need to be aware of the nutrients and calories you are eating through food consumed away from home. While a full service restaurant is not required by law to give the calorie content of its meals, franchises with 20 or more locations are. This is very helpful to anyone who frequents Panera to P.F. Chang's. With some foresight and planning, you can access each restaurant website prior to eating there, and arm yourself with an effective eating strategy.
Online Food Documentation - Nutrihand is one of the online food tracking platforms I now offer my clients. Clients log in their food intake and day-to-day, we can both see if goals are met. Goals may revolve around not only calories, but also other specific nutrients such as carbohydrate, fat, protein, calcium, potassium, sodium, and fiber. There are similar programs on the Internet to serve a similar purpose, and it's worth your while to experiment with a format that works for you.
Using Smartphones for Food Related Decisions - There are so many helpful diet and exercise smartphone apps on the market, and more become available daily. Some are used to track food on the spot, some track your physical activity like a pedometer, and some help us make better nutritional decisions at the grocery store. With the cameras, pictures of foods can also be taken and shown to your dietitian for further discussion!
A Pedometer - While basic pedometers are not exactly high-tech, they are effective for assessing baseline physical activity. Some of the slightly more expensive pedometers allow for downloading of collected data (steps, aerobic steps, calories, distance) to your computer through a USB port and cable. This allows your results to be documented, graphed, and saved on your computer or shared with your dietitian.
BodyMedia Armband - This is the greatest assessment tool for determining how many calories you need for weight management. Worn on the left upper arm, it measures your calorie burn in a 24-hour period. It seems very accurate, and after the collected data is downloaded, you are able to look at your energy expenditure in sections of the day. This allows you to determine the activities and movements which are most effective at using energy and therefore facilitating weight loss. Another perk, it assesses your sleep quality which has been noted as being important in the weight loss process.
With the help of these technology driven self-monitoring tools, your behavior and diet will be both consistent and effective enough to help you reach your weight goals efficiently and effortlessly!
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