Do you Live Strong?

Well, I am sure anyone who reads my blog lives strong, but today I am talking about the website.

www.livestrong.com

I am guessing that Livestrong & The Daily Plate merged and made this awesome, kick-ass website because it is so amazing, and I’ve literally only used it today. Like since 9 am today, and it’s only 7:55 pm right now, so that says a lot, right?

Now, I’ve done my fair share of diet/weight loss/fitness websites, and I have to say this one is by far my favorite, and I’ll share why. And as a disclaimer, I am not getting paid to blog about this, I just wanted to share my opinion and experience.

It’s easy to use and FREE. Coming from someone who used to pay $8 a week for Weight Watchers meetings in high school, then $11 a meeting in college, then switched to $40 a month for meetings + eTools, to $29.95 a month for just eTools/Weight Watchers online plan, and then went to Fitday.com and SparkPeople.com. Most recently I tried DailyBurn.com and none of those were ever methods/websites I could stick with because of either functionality, cost or user-interface.

I’ll point out a few of my fave things about LiveStrong.com- first is that when I log in, I can easily see my calories consumed & calories burned & calories remaining.

The next thing I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE is their huge database of foods, for example, when I type “wheat bread” I get a ton of choices/brands. Bonus: The items I eat frequently/recently are at the top and have a star next to them. This is great for me because I do tend to stick to one type/brand of bread, peanut butter, cheese, etc.

 

Another feature I love is the summary at the bottom. What I don’t love? The fact that when you go over stuff turns red. It freaks me out, and it makes me think I did something bad.

The above shows that I went over on my fat grams today (darn you grilled chicken wings!) and sodium (again, darn you grilled chicken wings!) as well as sugar and protein. In reality, I don’t think that is a lot of sugar and I try to eat more protein than carbs, so I am OK with those 2 things for the most part. I will however watch the sodium and fat for the next few days to try to stay out of the red-zone.

And yeah, off to the right handside you can see that they try to get you to upgrade to the GOLD package on their website which is like $30 for 6 months or $45 for a year. I haven’t figured out a reason to upgrade yet, but I think their pricing is definitely reasonable. The free account I have does have ads and such, but they don’t bother me any to be quite honest.

Another lovely thing about Livestrong.com is that they have an iPhone app. I live with my iPhone in hand. I am on it constantly, and the Livestrong iPhone app does sync with the website providing you with absolutely NO excuses as to why you are not tracking your calories. Gotta love something that makes it harder for me to slack off.

The website also allows you to track fitness, dares (which are like challenges- take a multivitamin daily, exercise daily, lose 50 pounds, etc.), of course your weight. Furthermore there are groups, forums and articles that allow you to be in tune with tons of tools that will help you take control of your weight and dietary habits.

I am in love.

I know I’ve spewed lots of weight-loss propaganda on this website, but it’s really gotten to the point where I am getting out of my funk. I feel less stressed. I feel happier. I feel like I can finally focus on ME again, and not so much on work. I think the way I coped with things since last Fall is by using food (ok…and margaritas) so now I am starting to regain interest in the things I used to love. Blogs, DIY projects, health, fitness, photography.

I am hoping that using Livestrong.com daily will help me lose these pounds I have put on, plus help me regain control of my life.

As I discover more features of the website, I will definitely post about them here.

In the meantime, you can view my daily food log over on my Livestrong profile and if you join or are already a member, feel free to friend me on there.

How about you? What websites, plans or iPhone apps have you found make a positive difference in your life?

And on a side note- thanks so much for the lovely comments in my Nervous Breakdown post. They meant so much to me, and they helped me feel a little bit more normal.

Wordless Wednesday {1}

I am having a nervous breakdown.

Well, here I am.

I haven't posted in a long time because it wouldn't be pretty. It'd be me trying to sort through everything that has happened since February, and it's been one heck of a rollercoaster ride. A couple of ups, but mostly lots of downs.

No one likes that Debbie Downer friend or the passive aggressive status message on Facebook friend, and I've been both various times lately. Which might explain why certain people don't talk to me anymore, which adds to why I feel sad, but hey, I don't blame her, them, whatever. But it does break my heart.

I know things could be worse, truly I do, and I remind myself such daily. I have tons and tons to be grateful for, but one can't help wishing for more. It used to be Monica Wants but lately Monica Wants Sleep. Monica Wants Peace. Monica Wants Calm. Monica Wants Happiness.

And at this moment, I am crying. I have been wanting to cry all day and didn't have the strength.

I missed my blogaversary or however that is supposed to be spelled. I missed my birthday. I missed my wedding anniversary. Those are all cool days and milestones that I could have blogged about and instead I have spent it just wallowing. Feeling so helpless.

I even stopped tweeting for awhile, and I used to tweet a TON. I mean, like really, an insane amount.

I'm not going to go into what has been going on since a public blog on the internet isn't the safest place for a person like me to go off and vent on in this particular case, but I guess I am writing this post to try and bring some closure to this dark place I've been in. I am going to try and not feel so sad anymore.

Tomorrow something is going to happen, and either way, it is not going to work out in my favor. I am somewhat at peace with that, though I won't lie and say I am not scared. I am terrified because this isn't something I ever thought would happen to me. ME. The over-achiever. The nerd. The perfectionist.

But sometimes a mole bites you in the ass, and you gotta suffer the consequences.

So, with that being said, I look forward to quite a few things on this blog.

First of all, I have some projects I need to work on here at home that I want to share with you all. Being crafty makes me happy 99% of the time, so I want to get back into spray paint mode.

Second, I am going to give my blog a much needed facelift/makeover. I need to be brave and get away from my fave color scheme of black/white/hot pink.

Third, I need to post recipes and such. Being sad can either help you lose weight or help you gain weight, and I've packed on some pounds this year that need to be taken off with some healthy, yummy recipes.

Fourth, I got a Nikon DSLR camera that I am in LOVE with. I need to practice using it some more, so maybe I'll hop onto the Wordless Wednesday/picture post bandwagon.

Fifth, I hope to blog more often. Though the walls of my life seem to be crumbling around me, I still have the solid foundation of my family, friends, and Pee Wee to keep me grounded and protected during this rough patch in my life. To those who have stuck by me and been my friend during these past few months, I cannot thank you enough.

So, until next time, I leave you with a quote that my Facebook friend Kara posted this evening that inspired this post and eloquently explained the root of my problems:

"We rarely succeed at anything unless we have fun doing it."