Weight Loss with Technology: iPhone

You know the iPhone commercial, "There's an app for that"? I am slowly becoming that commercial. I go to my parents' house and I pull out my iPhone. I have to show my mom all the apps I've been using. Because for weight loss? Yeah, there's an app or two for that!



I am becoming more of a Nerd the longer I have this phone. All I wanted to be able to do was to make and answer phone calls. I certainly didn't expect to be using my phone for weight loss, photography, geocaching, relaxation, music playing and games too.

The commerical above actually features one of the apps I've found for weight loss. It's the Lose it! app. I use the free version. What I like about this app is that you log the food you eat for every meal. You set a goal based on your current weight and the amount of weight you would like to lose per week. It's similar to the on-line tracking of Weight Watchers, except that you are monitoring calories instead of points. You can also have the app send you a reminder to log your meals. And if you choose, you can add friends to the app so you can encourage each other in your weight loss journey. You also have the option to email a weekly report to yourself or another person as well. I don't share my information with any one (yet).

I found that I lost about 8 pounds the first week. I had set it for a 1 lb/week loss, but I made a point to eat a lot of fruit and vegetables including a salad everyday for lunch. I didn't use all of my calories every day. The second week, I was sick one day and didn't log my food and then I skipped logging for the rest of the week. For this week, I decided to go for a 2 lb/week goal. We'll see how it goes.

I also added a couple of other apps that I use with Lose it! just because I can never leave well enough alone and need to make things more complicated than they are. I'll talk about those apps next time.

More Ways to Use Technology to Reduce Stress

Way back in March, I wrote this post about how I use technology to reduce my stress.  Since then, I've found some more ways to make technology work for me, so I thought It was time for another posting.  For my anniversary this year, my husband upgraded my phone from a clunky old Blackberry that had no data plan to an iPhone.  At first, I wasn't too sure about this because really, all I need a phone to do is make phone calls, and then, only when it's important.  Otherwise, I really don't use  a cellular phone.  Or, I should say, I didn't use a cellular phone before he bought me this one. 




One of the things I am having fun with is the applications (aka apps).  I played around a bit with the free apps and found this great one called SleepMachine.  It is a program that plays different ambient noises and you can add up to three different sounds together and adjust the volume on each one until you find the perfect blend for you.  I used it when we were spending time at my parents' house because our air conditioner was broken during the heat wave.  I set the timer on the program for 30 minutes, closed my eyes and I was out.  I didn't hear it turn off any night while I was there.  For someone like me who tends to be a chronically poor sleeper, this has been a huge help.  I went from having trouble falling asleep every night to falling asleep within a few minutes of getting into bed.  What a treat.  I liked the app so much I bought the full version of it.  The extra sounds and music have been a big help.  There have only been a couple nights that I've had to extend the play time on the ambient sounds when I've been overly stressed and needed some extra time to fall asleep.  It's amazing how much a good night's sleep helps keeping stress levels in check.  {edit: I forgot to mention that we've used this to help the kids fall asleep when they are having trouble sleeping and it totally worked!}

My other favourite app?  (besides getting my Twitter updates whenever I want them).  Geocaching!  I was familiar with this application already because I had signed up to geocaching.com before, but I didn't have a GPS that I could use.  Now I can geocache from my phone.  Geocaching is basically a real world treasure hunt with clues that you find online.  You get the co-ordinates from the site and plug them into your GPS, then go out and find where it is hidden. Usually a cache is a camoflauged container with a log book and some small items in it for trading. We've tried geocaching a couple of times as a familiy now. One time we found the cache, one time we didn't. Both times we had a lot of fun. We got outside and got some exercise as a family. It was a lot of fun and getting out together brings us closer together and helps to reduce stress in all of us.

Stress Reduction with Technology

signs, signs...
Originally uploaded by jayewalking

If you've read my blog at all in the past, you know that I have depression. Paired with that depression is anxiety. The good thing is that my anxiety has been pretty much under control for the last few years. But once in awhile, it creeps up on me.

Last week, we took the kids to the Toronto Zoo and I was fine outside, but as soon as we went into the first pavillion, it was warm and crowded and my anxiety levels spiked. Rather than force myself to go through the whole building, I turned around and went out through the do not enter door. As soon as I got outside, I was fine.

One thing that causes me anxiety that I can't always get away from is driving. Recently, I've become the only driver in the family, or the only insured driver that is. I'm fine when I know where I am, but as soon as you throw in new places or throw me a curve ball like a road closure or a detour, I panic. As you can imagine, having a panic attack while driving is not a good option.

What I decided to do to ease my anxiety was purchase a GPS unit. Let me tell you, this has been one of the best things I've done for myself in a long time. I just plug the address in and let the GPS tell me what turns to make. Now sometimes, I don't make the turns that the unit wants me to do, but it always recalculates and figures the next best way to get me where I need to be.



Our GPS is a Garmin unit and it has a variety of voices you can choose from. Right now, I'm stuck with a character called "Squirrely" because my kids actually get upset if he's not the one they hear. Squirrely has a squirrely voice and has lots of fun sayings. If you miss a turn, he says, "Aw, nuts! Hold on, I'll get us out of here!" And randomly, he tells you things like, "Sometimes I get distracted, it's like I-hey, wanna get some peanut brittle?" How can you not have fun when listening to this silly guy?

Another thing I've done is to set up my Outlook calendar to share with my husband's. We both put our appointments in and "invite" the other person to the event. This lets us both see when we are booked and makes it a little easier to balance our schedules. I've also set myself a reminder in Outlook every evening to remind me to check the next day's schedule. The idea is if I remember to check what is on tomorrow, it won't surprise me--of course, this only works if everyone's schedule is up to date and if I remember to check it.

So I'm interested to hear from you. What ways are you using technology to help reduce your stress levels? Share your insights, comment below!

PS--do you like the picture? It's one of my own!