Tired of gulping down the handful of medications every day? Pocket book feeling lighter after this months’ pharmacy trip? Well, maybe the answer lies in the palm of your hand.

            You’ve probably heard the lecture from the doctor about losing weight to help better control your blood pressure or diabetes. My guess is that if it were easy to lose weight, you would have done so by now. Here’s the unfortunate truth, it’s not easy to lose weight but that’s not to say that it can’t be easier.

            The other unfortunate truth is that dieting usually doesn’t work. Implicit in the term “dieting” is an underlying notion that it will be a short-term process. Therein lies the problem. As soon as you go off the diet….boom, all the weight comes back and more. Fortunately, it need not be this way. “Dieting” can be permanent and doesn’t need to be hard. Instead, I choose to focus on sustainable lifestyle changes.

            High blood pressure, diabetes, heartburn, and many other ailments are directly related to weight. Unfortunately, too often, doctors (and patients) turn to another medication instead of seeking out and controlling the underlying cause.

            So you’re probably wondering, “OK, so how do I achieve this sustainable lifestyle change that is in the palm of my hand?” The answer: calorie counting apps such as LoseIt, MyFitnessPal, or FatSecret.

            Now, you’re probably in one of three camps:

1. You’ve never tried these apps and you’re excited to do so (it can be fun to do, actually). If this is you, keep reading because you’re likely to end up at #2 at some time in the near future.

2. You’ve used it, it worked, but you got away from it and now the weight has come back on.

3. It worked for you and the knowledge you gained from using the app for months will stay with you for the rest of your life, or in other words, sustainable lifestyle change.

Using theses apps also has pitfalls but they are easily avoidable. They are as follows:

1.      Complacency sets in and you stop keeping track of ALL of your calories. Solution: Develop a different mindset. Would I rather diet and have a very prohibitive and difficult to follow diet or would I rather spend 5 minutes per day logging my calories (as annoying as that may be)?

2.      You have a bad day and decide to omit that particular meal, day, week or month. Solution: I know when someone isn’t being entirely truthful when I review their food logs and they’re always under their calories. We all have bad days. It’s okay. Take accountability. Log the bad days, too. Bounce back tomorrow. Skipping logging a meal sets the precedent and makes it easier to skip logging subsequent meals leading to pitfall #1.

3.      Logging your exercise. The apps tend to be too generous with calories burned during exercise. Solution: I advise to continue to exercise but ignore the calorie adjustment given by the app.

4.      Plateauing weight. This is a normal and common phenomenon. Try to stick it out. Solution: This can be very frustrating. You’re doing all the right things but the weight loss has subsided. Stick with it. Stop weighing yourself so often and maybe weigh every 2 weeks instead. This will cut down on the frustration.

I often tell my patients that 10 pounds of weight loss is usually as effective as a medication to help with diabetes or high blood pressure. I’ve had countless patients that have successfully cured their blood pressure or diabetes issues simply through weight loss. The calorie counting apps are easy to use, free, and will have you on your way to a healthier you (with more money in your pocket and less medications in your cabinet).