I have always understood the concept of having a balanced diet and taking exercise but putting it into practice has always been somewhat of a challenge. I tend to have a little bit of trouble with self-discipline when it comes to food, and that combined with an ever-changing daily routine has resulted in bad eating habits, however unintentional they are.
Growing up in England I had always been used to eating 3 solid meals a day. However, this always ended up with having lots of additional snacks throughout the day because there were too many hours between meals so I wanted to find a better way of controlling what I was eating. I certainly knew that diets were never going to work with me – along with my lack of self-discipline I also have a fairly large appetite! As I grow older I have been finding it more difficult to maintain my weight with this routine of 3 big meals and all too little exercise. From living in Finland for 5 months I have learnt that things are different here in terms of lifestyle and diet. Without wanting to generalise too much it is clear that people in the Nordic countries are health conscious – you look around and people are active. Food is different (rye bread instead of white bread for example), and even portions are smaller when eating at restaurants. I still, however, felt like I needed some help with my own eating habits.
Luckily the See How You Eat Coach app came along at just the right moment. It has taught me that I all needed to do was make some small changes. These changes have helped me monitor my weight, as well as monitor what I am eating in a fun and simple way. The key to successful management of weight is eating regularly, and many times a day, even though at first this may be hard to believe! The trouble with having large gaps between meals is that I would get really hungry and then end up eating a lot, and more often than not I would eat the wrong things as at that point I’d eat whatever I could get my hands on quickly enough. I come home from a long day at work and pop into the shop for a quick-fix chocolate bar. And once you start to have these sorts of habits it’s quite hard to break out of them.
The See how You Eat Coach app gives me regular reminders telling me when to eat throughout the day. Now that I am eating regularly I have energy throughout the day instead of feeling bloated (and a little bit guilty!) after a big meal. As well as the reminders the photo features means it is easy to monitor exactly what I am eating every day. Plus as it makes me feel ashamed to take photos of unhealthy food it makes me less likely to eat them!
After just a few days of use I had one of those ‘this is for me’ moments – it’s simple and easy with no dieting involved. It’s exactly what I have needed to make me feel better – my body feels better and so therefore so does my mind!
Enjoy the app.
Annabel
