In praise of food tracking with fitbit

[trishe]

I've had fitbit for a while, started with a One, wore it out, got a second One, then fell in love with the Alta. For a long time I was trying to track food on MFP and letting fitbit report activity into that app. 

And I continued to gain weight. My eating was pretty screwed up. I'd wait too long to eat, and then overeat. I would quit tracking, then restary, then quit, then resart. I got to where I hated tracking food. It didn't help that I became plagued with pain and injuries as I gained weight. Being middle-aged, overweight, and trying to work out like I could when I was 20 was a recipe for trouble. I became discouraged and would go weeks without even a daily walk,

Then I talked to a friend who'd lost 100 lbs, tracking her food with her fitbit. I decided to start tracking in the fitbit app, two weeks ago. I also bought the Aria scale to track weight and body fat. The % body fat was a real wakeup call. No wonder I kept injuring myself.

Wednesday morning, first thing, I weighed in. I was 2.5 pounds down after two weeks, and more importantly, 2% of my body fat was gone! After 4 years of gradual weight gain, I finally feel the tide turning. 

The "Zone" approach is brilliant, in my opinion.  I'm in a more constant deficit, being on the "kinda hard" meal plan.  My blood sugar feels much more even, as gauged by having even energy throughout the day. I log foods on the desktop app, because it tells me how many calories I can eat in that moment to get back to the zone. That is driving healthy snacks throughout the day, smaller meals at mealtime. Better food planning in general. It feels like less of a chore to track, and I feel like I'm FEEDING myself, not starving myself.

PS, since I like to work with weights and practice yoga, I downloaded a free app called simply 'Exercise Calorie Calculator'. It allows me to calculate calories burned so I can log them in the fitbit dashboard (desktop version), which I need for yoga and weights.

I am very glad I switched to tracking food with fitbit. I recommend it!

[WendyB · Accepted solution]

That's awesome you are doing so well! Congrats!