My Fitness Pal

So most of my life, my weight has never been an issue at all.  I generally ate what I wanted, and worked out if I felt like it.  I actually did some swimwear modeling when I was around 21-22.  I am now,  dun dun dun...... 29 years old!  Things do not work the same anymore! 

for example, at my physical "prime"  I looked like this....and survived on a diet of bagels, Auntie Anne's pretzels, ramen, pizza, and lots of beer.... and I didn't work out.   If I ate that way now, I would be well over 200 lbs!  A few years after this picture, I got into running, and ran about 15 miles a week.  I think that counter acted any possible age related metabolism changes.   

That brings me to current day.  Ive had knee problems since last summer, which limits my running.   I also have a newish boyfriend, who enjoys indulging my sweet tooth by bringing me desserts regularly (hes gotten better lately, bringing one or two things as opposed to a whole dessert tray)

Ive been very frustrated about my knee problems and limited running, mostly because I love running, but also because it allowed me to eat whatever I wanted.   Now that I can only run about a mile at a time,  I've had to start watching what I eat much more.  Since I hurt my knee, and have been eating more desserts, I have definitely noticed that I have put on a few pounds.  Since i cant increase my exercise (I am limited to what my physical therapist allows)  I obviously need to adjust my diet. 

And here is where My Fitness Pal comes in.  I actually downloaded this app on my phone long ago, and never used it.   A few weeks ago i figured I would check it out.  You can use My Fitness Pal on your phone, or by visiting their website, myfitnesspal.com.

This app has nutritional information for EVERY food there is!  Its all entered by other users.   I searched for the McDonald's southwest salad, which is one of my favorites, and someone had already entered the nutritional information, for my modified version, which is without the tortilla strips, and half the dressing!  

Ive been entering what I eat, and you can also enter your workouts, so for example if you aim to eat 1200 calories a day, but burn 300 at the gym, it shows that you can actually eat 1500 calories.  Below I added a screen shot of my food for today.  

I have steadily lost weight since doing this. Not tons, but about 1-2 lbs a week which puts me on track to be back to "fighting shape"  by bikini season!