~ a better you ~
You have set your resolutions and perhaps even set a workout schedule. Now it's time make your fitness goals a reality! The key to success is tracking your real-time progress and following your schedule so you can get real, measurable results. People who are track their diet, exercise, and weight tend to lose weight more consistently. To make that easier, let me introduce to you MyFitnessPal.com.
First, let me say, I am no way being compensated to share this tool with you, and even better, using it is free. I have used it myself for about the last two months and simply love how it has changed my diet and exercise. Now, I consider myself a pretty healthy person -- I am in a healthy weight range, eat a well-rounded diet, and exercise regularly. Back in November when I started logging, I was simply looking for a way to track calories and exercise so that I could keep from gaining weight over the holidays and perhaps turn a little chub into muscle. Well it worked! Not only did I not gain weight during the holidays, I actually lost without even giving up my favorite holiday dishes. I entered in my information and my goals and it created a plan for me. After that I just had to input when I ate or exercised (which is super easy on the go when you have their iPhone or Android app). It has so many awesome features that help keep your plan on track. Here are some of the highlights:
It gives you incentive to workout. The site has tons of different exercises and is measured by the amount of time you spend doing that exercise. A lot of losing weight is about your caloric intake. If you are maintaining your weight by consuming 2,500 calories and you lower that to 2,000, you will begin to see results. Now if you eat 2,500 calories but burn 500 at the gym, you still net out at your caloric goal of 2,000. You see the incentive here? I love food and that 500 calories represents something totally delicious I would otherwise have to abstain from. I started to notice how much more I love my workout days over my "too lazy to get off my ass" days because I got to eat a little more. Also on days I know I have a party or a dinner out, I plan ahead by burning some extra calories to make up for it.
You can track weight, measurements and progress. Not only can you track your daily progress in your caloric intake, but you can track your weight and measurements week to week. It creates a graph so you can see progress since your last "weigh in." Tracking this shows your visible progress and gives you even more motivation to keep it up.
Connect with friends for motivation. Find other fitness pals or even share info with your actual workout buddies to keep you in line. You can choose to keep all your info totally private if you want, but sometimes having another person helps motivate you to be better.