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Livestrong MyPlate iPhone App

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There are a lot of web services and mobile applications that you can use to track weight, exercise and calories.

I’ve been playing around with a few and will post reviews of several in the coming weeks.

One of the ones I’ve played around with is the Livestrong.com MyPlate app on the iPhone.

As applications go it’s got one of the nicest and easiest to use interfaces I’ve come across and is pretty much “idiot proof”.

Livestrong MyPlate main screen

Livestrong MyPlate main screen

Once you’ve setup your profile the app will let you easily track your food intake every day with ease. The database of foods they have is pretty impressive too, so it’s not impossible to find what you’ve eaten (a weakness with Tesco Diets).

Tracking foods you’ve eaten with the app is simple. You just choose which meal it fits under and off you go:

Searching for Food to track using the LiveStrong app on iPhone

Searching for Food to track using the LiveStrong app on iPhone

Unfortunately, however, the app is more than a little confused with measurements. It’s pretty clear that it’s an American app and that the support for metric weights and measures was an afterthought. So while some parts of it might mention grams etc., you’ll find most of it referring to ounces, which is more than a little annoying.

On this screen, for example, you can see a breakdown of a particular food, but the actual portion size isn’t that clear:

Tracking food with the LiveStrong app

Tracking food with the LiveStrong app

You can also track exercise that you’ve taken and the app will calculate how many calories you’ve burned off.

Overall it’s a nice app, but the confusion around measurement units is rather annoying if you’re using Metric.

It would also be much more useful if it hooked into my Withings, which some of the other apps and services do.

 

Breaking Out A Little Bit

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Polski: Keks English: Fruitcake

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This weekend was my birthday, so I “broke out” a small bit and had a couple of slices of fruit cake.

That cake was much more “expensive” than I was expecting.

A slice of fruit cake (no icing or anything extra on it) weighs in at around 160 calories!

When you’re counting calories against a daily limit a slice of cake becomes a lot more than a mere “slice” – it is now a percentage of my daily limit.

And of course it’s not just calories that matter, or else you could eat rubbish and keep below the limit.

 

 

Starting To Exercise With Dumbbells

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Pro Fitness Dumbbells with standA couple of weeks back I bought a very basic set of dumbbells in Argos.

They’re not complicated and they’re not fancy.

The set is made of 2 x 1kg, 2 x 1.5 kg and 2 x 3kg with a handy little storage “tree” to keep them tidy in my room.

Like so many things that I buy with good intentions the dumbbells sat in a corner in their box until this weekend, when I finally decided that I needed to start using them.

Of course I didn’t really have a clue what I was meant to be doing with them – apart from lifting them 🙂

Fortunately there’s a basic leaflet in the box that gives you a couple of exercises you can try to start with, while there’s also quite a few sites with tips, advice and nicely illustrated exercise routines that you can follow.

Doing a few repetitions per day isn’t that hard and should get easier and better over time.

Now if only the weather was a bit nicer! Going for a walk at the moment might get me exercise, but I suspect I’d end up damp, miserable and worse off!

 

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Pitta Stuffed With Cheese & Tomato

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Ricotta cheese.

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My sister finally answered the question that had been driving me mad for the last couple of weeks.

How on earth can you slice pitta bread open without losing your mind?

The answer is incredibly simple – just pop them in the toaster (or microwave) for a few seconds first. Once they’ve been heated up a bit you’ll be able to slice them open quite easily.

So this afternoon I put this new knowledge into action when preparing this quite tasty snack.

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Pitta Stuffed With Cheese & Tomato

If you like cheese you'll love this, as it's got plenty of it!
Course Main Course, Snack
Cuisine International
Keyword cheese, olives, pitta, tomatoes
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 1
Calories 578 kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 pitta breads
  • 6 olives
  • 2 tomatoes
  • 60 g of ricotta cheese or Philadelphia if you don't have any
  • 40 g mozzarella
  • Oregano
  • Italian seasoning
  • Black pepper

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C
  2. Chop up the olives and tomatoes and mix them with the ricotta and seasoning
  3. Heat the pitta bread for about 30 seconds in the microwave or toaster.
  4. Slice open the pitta bread and fill with the ricotta, olive and tomato mix
  5. Top with sliced mozzarella
  6. Bake for about 15 minutes
  7. Serve and enjoy!

 

 

3 Weeks Into The Diet

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Lunch in Montenegro

Image by blacknight via Flickr

I’ve been on this diet now for three weeks.

That’s 21 days of eating and living differently.

  • I now have breakfast every single morning. At the weekend it’s scrambled egg on toast, while during the week I usually stick to weetabix and some fruit
  • Lunch is no longer a roll – it’s usually soup and bread with some fruit and yoghurt
  • I’m keeping a closer eye on my coffee intake and am drinking more herbal tea (vanilla tea rocks!)
  • Dinner is quite varied with salads and pasta or pitta bread stuffed with something tasty
  • I’m cooking every single day
  • My fridge is nearly always full
  • There’s always plenty of fruit in the house
  • I’m spending more on groceries, though since I’ve cut out junk food, takeaways and am sticking to meal plans that dictate when I eat, I’m probably spending about the same amount of money per week. Possibly even less.
  • I’m eating less red meat. I still have mince in pasta sauces etc., but a lot of the time it’s either chicken or tuna that gets used. I’ll have to see about adding in some turkey as well

That’s 21 days of not eating:

  • takeaways (I only miss them when I’m tired and hungry)
  • pizza – I really miss them!
  • junk food
  • sweets (I didn’t eat them much anyway)
  • chocolate (I do get pangs from time to time)

And the results?

To be honest I think it’s too early to tell.

In terms of weight loss I’ve dropped about 6 kg since I started (about 13 lbs for those of you sticking to Imperial). My BMI is dropping, but it’s still far too high.

So I’ve still got a very long way to go.

Things I need to do?

I’m still not exercising enough and I need to get motivated to move my lazy ass and walk or do something.

Food and eating is under control, though I’m already beginning to get a little bored with some of the options I’m being given on the Tesco Diet, so I might need to either switch the plan I’m on (they’ve got plenty to choose from) or start swapping in more low calories options from other recipe sites and sources.

I also need to try and sleep more. Seemingly getting more sleep is meant to help. I can’t see myself doing a Cinderella every night, but if I can try to get to bed before 1am most nights then it would be a move in the right direction.

 

 

Healthy Snacks Don’t Hurt

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"Eat 3 Well-Balanced Meals Everyday Eat t...

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I generally don’t eat between meals. The emphasis firmly on “generally”. Of course I eat between meals some of the time. Before going on this diet (3 weeks today!) I would grab a bar of something between meals or maybe have biscuits with a coffee while watching TV.

Not very healthy!

My diet plan, however, does allow for a snack. Of course it’s a lot healthier than what I was eating in the past.

Some of the snacks sounded a bit odd to me, but I thought I’d give them a try. Nothing ventured – nothing gained! (Or lost in my case 🙂 )

Rye crispbread with light Philadelphia cheese and baby (cherry) tomatoes is surprisingly tasty and filling. Particularly handy when you get home from work and need to jump on a conference call almost immediately. You know you’re going to be starving by the time you get off the call, so grabbing something to keep you going helps – a lot.

Other things that work well as snacks include low fat yoghurt (my fridge is now permanently stocked), fruit (bananas are very filling) and some mixed nuts.

Of course you have to keep an eye on quantities and portions. A small portion of nuts is probably good for you, but if you eat an entire bag then any good will probably be undone!

 

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Spinach Gives Dishes A Lift

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Basella alba, or Malabar spinach (also Pooi le...

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I grew up with Popeye on TV, though in our house, admittedly, it was in black & white. Popeye got his strength from spinach and I suspect there’s an entire generation of children who grew up associating spinach with strength and Popeye. (Of course my entire image of Popeye was ruined by Mad Comic, but that’s not really relevant!)

Spinach isn’t one of those vegetables that I eat that often. I don’t know why, but it never quite made it on to my list of “staples”. You’ll always find pasta, tuna and tomato in my kitchen, but spinach (in any form) is usually absent.

Over the last couple of weeks, however, it’s been an ingredient in several recipes that I’ve prepared and I have to say I really like it. You can cook it in a number of ways and add it as a simple vegetable side or combine it in sauces.

But, more importantly when you’re on a diet, it’s really really good for you. Spinach contains oodles of vitamins (A, C, E and K), as well as being a good source of iron and calcium (odd that!), so not only does it taste good, but it also does your body good!

I’ve found it fresh, in tins or as frozen balls. The frozen balls are handy if you just want to add a “taste” and are cooking for one.  A full tin won’t kill you, but I know it’s not to everyone’s taste.

I like it anyway 🙂