60 Days of My Fitness Pal

A little over 60 days ago, a friend on Facebook mentioned an app called MyFitnessPal.  It is basically a calorie counter.  I have always heard that people who keep track of what they are eating tend to eat less.  That is a decent idea, but had always seemed like a pain.  Keeping track with an app sounded interesting, so I downloaded it. Almost every food item imaginable is on there, so you rarely have to calculate calories of what you are eating.  It only requires a simple search. Also, you can log into your account using their website if you would rather not use an app.

Once the app was downloaded, I added my current information like weight and height.  I also entered how much I want to weigh.  I put about 10 pounds less (thanks to the 5 lbs weight gain over the summer), which is my ideal weight.  If I had entered my dream weight that would be an additional 5 lbs.  I didn't really have a plan, but decided to start with that.

It also gave me the option to link with other friends (I could search for them or use ones from Facebook).  It is the community thing so we can encourage each other.  That may seem intimidating, but it really isn't.  It does not announce how much you weigh, what you are eating, or even if you gain weight in a week.   It does let them know things like "frecklefacegirl burned 237 calories doing 60 minutes of walking" and "frecklefacegirl completed her food and exercise diary for 11/12/13" and "frecklefacegirl lost 0.2 lbs since her last weigh-in!"  Yes, these are all recent posts. Notice how exciting that last one looks with the exclamation mark and everything!!!  Yeah, 0.2 lbs!!!  Pretty silly since a whole week had gone by, but it is something.  I have about 5 friends on there and they all seem to be progressing at similar rates.  I have read that the slower you lose it, the longer it stays off.  I hope that is true.

Sixty days have passed and with very little effort, I am 9.6 lbs lighter.  While I completely realize that losing almost 10 lbs in 60 days is no bragging matter, I'm glad that I am doing it.  I have eaten things like Halloween candy, a donut, and even gone out to eat.  I just make adjustments during the day to allow for it.  It also tracks Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium, and Iron.  

If any one reading this wants to join, go ahead & add me.  I am using the name "frecklefacegirl." We can celebrate staying the same weight or losing 0.2 lbs together.

Americans Can Cook

Every afternoon (3:30 pm), Jordan and I stand outside of Lexi’s school to pick her up. There are four moms at that exit that walk their kids home on a daily basis, so we have casually talked every day for the past six weeks. For some strange reason, I am the only US born mom and consequently the only one without an accent. One is from France. One is from Venezuela. The third one is from Bolivia.

Last week, the one from France brought each of us a bundle of fresh basil from her garden. The next day, they were all curious about how we each used our basil. The French one’s father was a chef, so she regularly cooks with fresh basil. The one from Venezuela teaches gourmet cooking classes for parties at people’s homes. She planned to use her basil for one of the parties. The one from Bolivia was still thinking about how she would use it, but had thought about using it in a cream cheese mix for various different things. They all looked at me with curiosity. I told them I was going to make a homemade margherita pizza (posted a picture above as proof). They were surprised that I knew how to cook since I am an “American.”

Isn’t that funny that they thought that? Is it because Americans eat out a lot? Maybe they just think we stick to meat and potatoes, which I know a lot who do. I happen to be better at foreign dishes. To be honest, I love all things Italian. Indian, Arabic and Japanese rank high on my list of dishes too. We hardly ever go out to eat, so I have to keep it interesting. I don’t know how Americans got that reputation or if it is wide-spread, but perhaps it is time we show them that we can cook.

Incredible & Edible

This afternoon, the kids & I happened to come across a display of cakes created by a local cake decorating club.  We were all amazed.  I just had to take pictures to show them to my mom & sister.  As I was looking through them, I decided to share them on my blog too.  All I can say is WOW!