by Jonathan van Bilsen
Fortunately, I have never had a weight problem and recall, in my youth, it was suggested I eat a few supplements. Throughout high school, I was around 120 pounds. A year or two after being married, I began to climb to 150, and in 30 out of the past 40 years have stayed at 165.
Suddenly though, without warning, one morning a few weeks ago, my scale tipped at 174, and I went into shock. I tried not eating for two days, which dropped a few pounds, but faintness and dizziness bade me to devour the closest foods I could find.
My downfall has always been, and will always be, sweets. Being Dutch, I am naturally drawn to chocolate and cake, cookies and ice cream, not to mention cheeses and potatoes, bread and meat… oh, and also vegetables... if there happens to be room on my plate. Now I was faced with a challenge: how was I going to lose ten pounds?
The internet proved hopeless, with its thousands of methods, which cost a fortune, take a few years or are geared to pill popping. I checked out Atkins and Bernstein, but clearly, they are not for me. I looked at points based organizations and although they seem beneficial, I am only looking at losing ten pounds. Surely, I can tackle this dilemma myself.
I tried cutting back eating, but had no concept of what was healthy, and low in calories, fats, sugars and good for me. Then I checked my iPhone apps and came across one which seemed easy to use and worked well.
I downloaded it and immediately went to my favourite foods. Well, that was depressing! A daily dose of ice cream in a waffle cone is apparently not healthy. That does not make sense. It is full of calcium and other good stuff. Sure, they mix a little sugar in among the vitamins, but really… no more daily ice cream?
The app is simple. You tell it how much you weigh and how much you want to weigh. Enter the timeframe you choose to lose within, and it tells you how many calories you can eat per day. There are tens of thousands of foods, homemade and store bought, restaurant foods and grocery brands. You simply enter what you eat, broken down by breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, and it gives you the calorie count, salt, sugar and fat counts, as well as many vitamins.
The best part is, it gives you your allowable remainder for the day. The app even uses the gyro feature of my IPhone to count steps, and it includes exercise in its calculation.
I have been doing this for two weeks now and have shed four pounds. I will get to my target weight in three more weeks, providing the novelty does not wear off. The app is called My Net Diary, and it is now my best friend,
Jonathan van Bilsen is a television host, award winning photographer, published author, columnist and keynote speaker. Watch his show, ‘Jonathan van Bilsen’s photosNtravel’, on RogersTV, the Standard Website or YouTube.