Free calorie counter

After I gave birth to Yiu Yiu, I was carrying an excess baggage of close to 8kg. I knew I didn't want to go back to work a bigger person that before I was pregnant so I resolved to at least lose half that weight in the 2.5 months maternity leave. After my 6-week postnatal check-up and my gynae gave me the all clear, I started waking up earlier for morning walks, followed by some abdominal exercise, in the hope of reducing the flab around my tummy. I also started to diligently keep track of my daily food intake. I surfed the Net to find out the caloric content of a variety of foods and I managed to compile quite an extensive list. I began using an Excel spreadsheet to keep a food diary – what I ate, how much calorie was in it, how much my morning walk offset the caloric intake, how much calorie I needed to reduce in order to achieve the targeted weight loss, etc.

Back then, I didn't know about MyFitnessPal. It is a website that offers a free calorie counter that is fast and easy to use. You will also learn about the nutritional contents of what you are eating and how to make better food choices. And best of all, the site is 100% free.

At the end of my maternity leave, I did manage to lose that 4kg that I targeted. I continued keeping the journal for a few more months till I lost almost all my pregnancy weight. But I've since stopped keeping track of my food intake and the weight is slowly but surely creeping up again. Maybe it's time to sign up with MyFitnessPal.