review: Lose It! website and app.

Like many, the holidays were wonderful, except when it comes to my waistline. While I don’t regret a single bite, I definitely overindulged. I was excited to get back on track after the New Year, and the Lose It! website and app (available for both the iPhone and Android) has been a helpful tool. The app and the website sync seamlessly, so users can easily switch between the two.  Both the website and the iPhone app (I can’t speak to the Android) have a very high functionality and are quite user friendly.

[How it works] Lose It! helps you set goals for weight loss, exercise, macronutrient intake, blood pressure, sleep, and more! You set the goals, we’ll help you with the plan to achieve them.

One of my 2013 goals is to finally reach my goal weight, which would mean a total of 100 pounds lost.  LoseIt! allows users to set their goals, be it to lose weight, maintain, or gain (because yes, there are some people who want to gain weight, believe it or not!).  After setting a goal and entering a few basic pieces of information like my current weight and activity level, I knew that I had a target calorie allotment of 1,534 calories day.  I could track my weigh ins and watching the graph go down was motivating to keep it moving that same direction!

LoseIt! makes calorie tracking incredibly easy, and for better or worse, made me extremely aware of what I was eating. Keeping track of my calories was increasingly helpful in encouraging the choice of fruits and vegetables in my daily eats because they were filling, yet low-calorie options. It was humbling to realize just how many calories I was eating with some of my meals!

For someone like myself who eats a lot of the same meals every day, one thing I really liked was the ability to copy meals from recent days to today’s meals, rather than entering in the separate ingredients individually.

There’s a fairly limited database of foods – a lot of generic options rather than brand specific – but the barcode scanner was especially helpful for entering my foods, rather than searching manually.

A healthy lifestyle is so much more than just calories and weight, and LoseIt! allows users to create goals beyond just calorie intake and weight.  My personal favorite was the sleep goal.  As a natural night owl who has to be to work by 8am, I know I don’t get enough sleep.  I set my goal at 7 hours a night and it really encouraged me to get to bed earlier.

There are also a variety of challenges for the LoseIt! community.  Users can join an existing challenge or create their own.  Having the accountability of community is always a helpful aspect of living a healthy lifestyle.

The one thing that I didn’t love about LoseIt! was that while you can add friends via email address, Twitter, or Facebook, I only found about half a dozen people I know using the site.  I would love to see more people I know utilizing LoseIt! so I can grow my network!

While LoseIt! is a smartphone app, you can also connect a variety of other devices and apps including the Fitbit and RunKeeper (two personal favorites!).  It’s a nice addition to the website.

All around, I found LoseIt! to be a a really helpful tool in my journey towards a healthier lifestyle.  There are a lot of really great additions beyond just the basic calorie counter that make it a great website and app for people, no matter what their health and fitness goals are.

Disclaimer:  I received an upgrade to a Premium LoseIt! account through FitFluential, LLC.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Tagged as: Lose It!, Weight Loss