Pie charts for pies, or, apping EVERYTHING.

I'm not a micromanager in general, but I do get obsessed with things. At the moment it is record-keeping apps. I've really enjoyed recording my spending using Smart Budget on my ipad. I like to be able to SEE what I've spent, rather than feel like my money is vanishing into the ether. I like to see a breakdown for groceries, music, things like that.

I've decided to start using a food and exercise journal app for the same reason. I usually catch a bus now instead of walking every day, and after a year it has caught up with me and I'm not as fit. I want to rebalance my kj budget. And I want some more accountability with Jillian and so on. And some of my friends are dedicated users of food apps. Especially because they take difficult calorie counting out, you can just search a food product or scan a barcode and enter your portion size.

I've downloaded myfitnesspal for free. It has a 5 star rating and pie charts. You can see if you are meeting nutritional goals like iron and stuff. It seems to take a bit of effort to measure things the first time, like weigh out breakfast cereal, or figure out how many calories a Jillian workout burns, but a repetitious lifestyle is an advantage here, and other people have already done some estimations on Jillian DVDs if you google them.

I've already noticed the app is changing the way I think. Firstly, it makes my behaviour matter, because I can see the change. Picking up some M&Ms from the staff room to eat with my cup of tea actually counts now, whereas before, in my mind, it didn't. Secondly, I've heard myself thinking "I can just eat this marshmallow secretly and not app it, and it won't count".