My former friend, Blake, recently made me aware of a free app for iPhone that he just started using. MyFitnessPal is a great way to keep track of your calorie intake, and after gaining almost seven pounds in about two weeks, thanks to some great cooking up in Minnesota and an endless buffet of food on a cruise ship, I was staring at a scale that displayed numbers I’ve never seen before and thought it might be time to take drastic measures to reverse those effects. (Dang! That may be the single longest sentence I’ve ever written.) This app is great. (Huh, I realized I said “great” but didn’t believe it enough to exclaim it, so maybe the app is just “pretty good”.) It has an website where you can also update your daily diary. It has an expansive catalog of searchable foods and beverages with pre-entered nutrition facts. It has a bar code scanner to automatically import data. And if you can’t find what you are looking for, just add it yourself for you own future use and everyone else.

So with all of these great features, the next question you’re probably asking is, “Why is Blake your former friend?” First off, that’s a great question! Secondly, he wasn’t aware we were no longer friends, so this post is putting him on notice. And thirdly, he’s a pretty cool guy, but based on my current weight, goal weight and activity level, MyFitnessPal recommends only 1,670 calories per day, until I reach my objective. So we’ll probably still hang out, but we won’t be friends for about 15 weeks, or until I give up.

So aside from losing friends, this is a great app! For the first four days, its been sort of a fun game and my wife appreciates me being more caloricly conscientious. I’m not sure how long it will last, but like I always say… “Baby Steps!” (I actually don’t say that very often, but I plan to start.)

Have you ever counted calories?

How long did you stick with it?