My Diet Steps (A Giveaway) -CLOSED

A friend recently asked me to test his father-in-law’s new Diet App and I jumped at the chance. I love my iPhone and I’m glad that there are people developing weight loss apps to help people.

It’s called MyDietSteps. I downloaded the test version from iTunes for my phone. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the app. I assumed it was just another app where you record your daily food and fitness. I was wrong.

“How do you get on the right path to eating healthy? MyDietSteps works with the USDA MyPlate guidelines to help you get a handle on how to eat right. Our app takes your detailed physical attributes and formulates a recommended guide – suggesting how you can get the nutrients you need through food. Explore your nutrient goals and excess levels. Learn to manage your nutrient needs with MyDietSteps!”

When you start up the app, you create your profile. The questions were typical height/weight/preferred diet (meat eater, vegan, vegetarian), age, sex, fitness level, etc. One thing I didn’t like was seeing this:

According to the app I’m considered “overweight” and my BMI is 28%? I found that doubtful. I checked my profile again and realized I’d entered my height wrong! Here is the accurate information:

Phew! “Normal”! I thought so. Entering in my height was a tricky thing but there was a “help” button that cleared up the confusion and corrected my BMI.

How Does it Work?

So how does this app work? After you fill out your profile, you go to your food section. It gives you a seven day guide for every meal.

Menu Examples

Day One –

Day Two –

As you can see there is quite a lot of variety in the meals. There’s also some “wiggle room” at the end for “whatever” (meaning: dessert for me!). There’s variety at each meal to keep it interesting. Having it spelled out for seven days in advance gives you the opportunity to go grocery shopping for the things you need.

Another bonus: there’s cooking instructions!

Even easier! No hunting for recipes or searching through guide books. Here’s another example:

This will be a good resource for people trying to lose weight. Especially for people who may not like cooking, or trying to be creative with meal planning.

After you give the meals a try you can tailor them to your tastes.

My Thoughts

I think it will be a GREAT tool for people trying to lose weight. If you don’t know how or where to start this app would be a good place. I used MyFitnessPal to track my calories eaten and burned and that works for me. But if you don’t know WHAT to eat, this guide spells it all out for you.

I don’t think this app works for where I am at now–maintaining–because I don’t need help figuring out what to eat and what portions of it to eat. But I think this would have been a fantastic tool for when I was first starting out and not sure of what to eat.

The Giveaway

One lucky reader will get a promo code to download this app for free. Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1 or later

How to Enter:

1. Leave a comment here telling me what device you have (iPhone, iPod, iPad) and what apps you currently use for weight loss.
2. Leave a comment here telling me what you want to read more of on my website.
3. Tweet about this giveaway: “I want to try the MyDietSteps app from @lisaeirene at http://wp.me/p116Lc-5RF” and leave a separate comment here telling me you did.
4. Join my Facebook page, and leave a separate comment here telling me you did.

You can enter four separate times for a chance to win. Good luck!

Giveaway Ends: Friday, September 9th at 6am.