When I was very young, I dreamed of becoming three things as I aged: an astronaut, an actor, and a fat old woman. Although I have celebrated science my whole life and I eventually became a theater major, none of my five-year-old self's dreams came true. I learned early that, because of some chronic health problems, NASA will never send me into space. And as it turns out, I'm much happier backstage and behind the scenes than I am in the spotlight.
But in my late twenties, I realized that I was well on my way to fulfilling the last fond wish of my childhood. I weighed almost as much as my beloved grandmother, in whose kitchen I grew up eating like I was a small army. I was never a skinny kid, and I never wanted to be a skinny adult. All the thin people in my life were drug addicts or people my folks teased for being "picky eaters" and "health nuts," so I went for what was behind door number three. Food: all I could afford.
Fortunately for my heart and my waist, I've never had a lot of money and my favorite foods have always been vegetables. As a result, my weight topped out just above the "obese" line for someone my height. Also fortunate is the fact that my science education significantly outweighs my facility in the kitchen. I am still an awful cook, despite my grandmother's best efforts, and all the relevant research papers I've read over the past two decades show that "wise eaters" are on to something.
And I'm a grown-up now, so instead of wishes, I have choices. I choose to eat like a much smaller army. The results are promising.
Like most people who want the benefits of shrinking without all the messy side-effects of using a shrink ray, I have experimented with diets and exercise programs. Meh. Then I found an app that's actually helpful. I lost the first 20 pounds (9 kilos) using the free version of MyNetDiary, so I decided it was worth buying the upgrade while I eat my way out of these last few pounds.
Because too much of a good thing is a bad thing, MyNetDiary helps users first set reasonable, safe goals for shrinky self-destruction: No more than 2 pounds (.9 kilos) per week. Then the app advises you about how many calories you should eat per day to reach your goal. Simple enough.
Track what you eat: Scan the barcodes, search for foods by name and brand, or key the nutrition labels manually. No food is off-limits, but the app will encourage you to choose your food wisely. Little green thumbs-up for sodium, cholesterol, and saturated fats within healthy limits; little thumbs down if you're not getting enough protein or calcium, etc.
It can be tricky to balance healthy eating with happy eating on a day-to-day basis. I'm a squeeing fangirl of all the orange vegetables, but there's a point in every meal plan past which there is no difference between the carrot and the stick. Pizza is permissible! Even when you're literally trying to work your butt off. With MyNetDiary's help, you can manipulate your portion sizes in such a way that you can halve your abs and eat your "sometimes foods," too.