Wow!  I can't believe it's been 4 weeks since I started this!  

I haven't made huge changes in my life,

but I have been making changes.

One of the biggest changes I have made is logging all my food & all my exercise.  

I have been using Weight Watchers as my go to app,

but honestly it cost me $19/month to keep and I only have 1 more week for this month.

So this week I have been using the My Fitness Pal app to log as well.

I just wanted to see the comparison.  

Can I do this without shelling out the extra cash?  

So here are my thoughts between the two.

Both apps are only as reliable as I am consistence.   

The plans I have chosen require me to enter the food and activities that I have done.  

Both have online sites I can visit as well for better views and progress reports, however My Fitness Pal also has this feature in app.  

Weight Watchers gives me points for any activity I complete that takes 10 minutes.

So if I do squats for 10 minutes I get 1 point, however My Fitness Pal doesn't.  I don't get to count calories burned during strength training exercises, but it does allow for better tracking as I enter the reps, sets, and weights used.  

I feel that using My Fitness Pal gives me a better idea of how weight is actually lost.

I know that I have to have more cardio than strength training to get rid of the fat.

Also I don't get cheats with My Fitness Pal, if I go over my calorie limit my choice is to live with it or to burn it off!  For me that's motivation!  

Also with Weight Watchers I can eat all the fruit and veggies I want with out really racking up any points.  So if I want to eat 15 bananas in a day that's ok, I wouldn't get docked any points.  But we all know that bananas have calories and I can't eat my normal meals and 15 bananas without packing on some pounds.  

Sooo after this initial month with Weight Watchers I will not be renewing.  It's not that it isn't a great program but for me I need more.  I'm not an everyone gets a trophy kind of person.  I need to be challenged...I need someone to tell me to stuck it up...that doughnut might have tasted good but now you keep it or WORK!  So I will be using the My Fitness Pal app exclusively starting February 8th.  

I also have been using 5K Runner (as a training program) and Map My Run to keep track of the routes I take.  I love that 5k Runner has voice and beeping commands that tell me when to run and when to walk.  I love that Map My Run tracks my time, distance and pace.  That makes it much easier to know how to enter it into the other apps I use.   

All the above apps expect for Weight Watchers are free to download and use.

Ok enough about apps already how did week 4 go??

Well let's say that I learned that eating pizza and wings can really kill your diet when you don't stop at one serving size.  I learned that when I am lazy and don't cook at home that I tend to eat more calories.  I have found that I can live without an intravenous drip of diet coke, and that 2 cups of coffee in the morning typically satisfied my caffeine cravings.  Oh and drinking water really does help you to not be hungry as often..who knew?

So below you will find my chart.  I did gain 0.5 lbs back but I lost and 1.5 in my waist, which I can tell because jeans that I couldn't wear comfortably I can now wear them.  I have also continued to lose inches in my arms, thighs, and calves.  

So overall I am happy with my progress. 

 My goals for next week include: 

exercising every morning before work,  

creating a motivation board (check my Fitness Board on Pinterest)

and making better food choices consistently.

This is not a sprint to the finish line but a marathon to better health.  

Until Next time~ 

Caci

    

So we are a couple of weeks into this journey and honestly this week hasn't been great.

I as usual have eaten pretty much whatever I wanted.

I have cut down on portion sizes which I honestly think is a lot of my problem.

(I only ate 1/2 a foot long sub instead of the whole thing)

I didn't exercise nearly enough and I know that.

Only about 80 minutes total for 7 days.

Sad but true...it's been cold and I have been unmotivated :(

I am still using weight watchers to track my food & activity and that does help me realize what and how much I am eating.  Over the next week I plan to compare my weight watchers app with a few others I have such as myfitnesspal and mapmyrun.  

I would like to see if tracking using either of the previous 2 systems will help me work toward my goal without me having to shell out $20/month.  I realize that there are 100's of apps out there however these are ones I have used in the past.  

So for my lack of will power and activity what do I have to show???

Here's this week's breakdown of measurements...I didn't have as much success but still the numbers are going down...YAY!!