As I decide to embark on this journey of lard eradication, it felt only right that I dropped some cash on items supposed to make it easier.
So after much research these are the gadgets & goodies that made the cut (which in turn will hopefully make me cut):
Fitbit Flex
I loved the idea of the nike fuel band, but when I actually got one I was really underwelmed by its usability and in all honesty its way of measuring (inaccurately most of the time) pretty much nothing. So when I read about the fitbit, I was really intrigued and decided to take the plunge.
Now I will do a full review on the fitbit (maybe even a video one) once I have really given it a good try, but so far I'm pretty impressed. It works out how many steps you have taken, over how many miles, how many calories you have burnt as well as how many you should spend to reach your target weight loss and even how well you are sleeping.
What I love most is that it syncs with my fitness pal, and therefore is extremely user friendly. I have really high hopes for this piece of kit.
Fitbit Aura Scale
In all honesty I bought this in a moment of amazon recommendation madness, it was only once I clicked the buy button I realised that I had spent a hundred quid on a set of bloody scales. Although pretty and space aged looking, these have got a lot to prove to be worth the price. Again they do sync up with the flex and my fitness pal, its also pretty cool how it can recognised who is stepping on the scale and send the data to the right profile. They also measure body fat ratio, and can have unique profiles for up to five users.
Fitbook
Now gadgets are great, but sometimes old school rules and in this case it really does. The fitbook is a specially formatted 12 week food and exercise diary, that allows you to log everything as well as your goals and targets for that period of time.
I still believe that writing something down, really does help to cement it and it really does make you think twice before you put something that you shouldn't into your mouth. I read an interesting article in the guardian a little while ago, it said that it is better to separate large challenges into 12 week blocks. Those who did found the most success and as somebody who has over 8 stone to lose, this seems like a pretty good idea to stop me from becoming overwhelmed.
My Fitness Pal
The only thing on this list that didn't have to pay for. My fitness pal is such a fantastic app, and I really cant understand how it can be free. I could imagine that weight watchers are pretty pissed off with it, as it really does give their program and app a run for its money. It works out how many calories you should be eating to lose weight, logs all your food, exercise and have a great social aspect that connects you with other users. What I like best is the page you get every time you finish your diary for the day that tells you "if you had a day like this everyday for five weeks, you would weigh this much". I find that pretty motivating and hopefully this will spur me on.
Now these gadgets are brilliant, but I still need to be doing more and putting less in my mouth to be seeing the numbers go down on that scale. I hope that these can give me that little more incentive to keep going and keeping on that wagon to health. I will keep updating my reviews on these items as i progress.
