Whether you recently had a baby or have been trying to lose the final five pounds, you know that weight loss takes a lot of work. It is much easier to achieve when you have the tools that can make this slimming process easier. I am not talking about a personal trainer or a food delivery system – both are great to have but I prefer free weight loss tools, wouldn’t you? Of course, you will need to dig deep for the will power to go with these, but if you have ever tried losing weight you should know this by now. So as a busy mom of two, I set out to find the weight loss tools that would help me on my journey of bettering myself. Here’s my list of top three.
Food Journal
Portion control and the right nutrition is more than half the battle when you are trying to lose weight. Weight Watchers was quick to figure this out by assigning points to certain foods and amounts. I say, why not learn what the foods really are? The best way to do this is to start a food journal where you note every morsel that goes into your mouth, assigning the amount eaten, calories and frequency. Once you start tracking the food you eat, you will notice the patterns. You will see which meal and which foods take up the bulk of your calories and then you can tweak them if necessary. Having a good breakfast is important, so don’t worry about more calories in the morning (as long as they are not coming from chocolate chip muffins). Having a heavy calorie count with your snacks, on the other hand, is not beneficial to your weight loss. You can also learn more about your portion size and understand restaurant portions better. Food journal can help you decide where you can cut down the calories to arrive at your goal weight. One pound equals 3500 calories, so you can calculate how long it will take you. A healthy weight loss speed is 2 pounds per week, or a deficiency of 7000 calories, which can be cut either from food or by exercise.
There are many online resources to track your calories. One that I found very handy for a mom on the go like me, is the iPhone application Lose It, which is a free application on an iPhone. I know iPhone is not cheap but if you have one, you will quickly discover the value of applications and Lose it is very helpful. This application is essentially a digital food journal. You can plug in your current weight and your goal weight and it will tell you how many calories you should be consuming daily. The application will adjust the calorie goal per your lifestyle (adding more allowed calories for breast-feeding moms, for example). All you need to do then is to enter every meal you consume – breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, along with your exercise, so Lose it can arrive at your net calorie amount. It will also plot the weight loss over time, so you can see the results of your hard work. Similar to other calorie counting resources (such as the Calorie King guide and site, probably one of the best out there), you can search for foods by name, brand or restaurant . Once you add an item to your log, it adds it to your list of My Foods, so then this becomes another search option. After you log the food you eat for a day, you can view your total calories and nutrition breakdown (sodium, cholesterol, etc.) by day and by week in your journal. This digital food journal is a handy weight loss tool for any mom on the go.
Result Incentive
The millions that watch The Biggest Loser likely watch it not only for the inspiration but to see the transformation of the participants. Another example is the ever-so-popular “People” weight loss issue, showcasing people that lost large amounts of weight and telling their stories. These before and after pictures speak for themselves – people regain not only their bodies and looks, but more importantly, their confidence.
What’s a better incentive than seeing other people transform themselves into healthier bodies? Seeing yourself in your new, healthier body. And you can do it without having to look at pictures from distant past. Enter the site called weightview.com – a virtual weight loss projection. You can upload a current picture of yourself, write your height and weight, as well as your goal weight and within 48 hours the site will send you the image of the new you at your goal weight. What can be a better motivation that visualizing your goals?
Fitness Group
Fitness is a huge part of the weight loss equation. Getting 30 minutes of exercise at least 3 times a week is necessary not only for your health but also for your mental well-being. If you are a mom, you need this break to recharge and have the energy to tackle the kids. While there are many inexpensive gyms (such as Fitness 19, for example, yes, just at $19 a month), you can find time for fitness both at home and outdoors. Wii Fit is a great new tool to have more fun exercising at home vs. just another exercise video. But that requires buying a Wii console. Plus, group exercise has been shown to help people stick with the fitness routine.
All you need to do now is to find a group. Visit meetup.com and find your local group of any kind, including fitness groups. New Moms will love stroller strides and other similar exercise groups – from yoga in the park to bicycle buddies. Don’t see the group you like in the area? Then start your own – it takes just a few minutes and you can see if there are enough people interested in this type of group, so you will have a good size group.
Community support doesn’t have to end with fitness. Join a parenting community on any of the numerous baby sites you may already visit and find or create a weight loss group. Remember that support from other moms is as good as family.
