Excited as heck and on a mission to lose weight and shed a few pounds, 2014 began with the download of the LIVESTRONG MyPlate App. After completing the questionnaire, the app calculated the number of calories allowed each day. It was on!
After two weeks of meticulous data entry and a total calorie count well below the allotted amount – I’d gained four pounds. That’s right; the scale was UP four pounds.
Most apps ask about activity levels. If you work out moderately, three to five times a week, the app encourages you to choose “Lightly Active”. Meanwhile, the home screen of the app encourages you to enter your exercise each day, and it does feel really good to enter your workouts and see all those calories burned, except: you are counting them twice. You already counted that workout, when you set up your profile and told the app you workout a few times a week.
Every time you reach for your phone with your sweaty little hand and enter in that awesome workout so you can see how many calories you just burned, you are duplicating the workout the app already counted. Booooo!
The app is going to adjust the number of calories you need based of the fact that you are “Lightly Active” and the app will add calories under the assumption that you are working out as you said: three to five times a week, moderately. The only exercise you need to enter is anything beyond three to five times a week. This is confusing, right?
After realizing this, the best course of action is to track everything. Set your app to “Sedentary”, and then track all of your food and your exercise. This way, you avoid double dipping and counting your calories burned during exercise two times.
In short – select “Sedentary”, and enter all of your calories and exercise, or select your activity level, and do not enter in your exercise (again).
Did you lose weight, or make a resolution to do so? Leave a comment below… your words will inspire others!