Recently, I wrote an article detailing my Atkins diet shortcut, and based on the amazing response and success using it, I felt it was time to expose my other secret way to lose weight, at will.

A while back, I contemplated using the Weight Watchers online program to lose a few pounds. I didn’t really have to lose much; just 10 pounds. By accident, I stumbled on something that may change your life if you are interested in dropping weight.

I went to the WW official website and signed up for the online program. When I checked out using a Paypal payment, there was a glitch in the system and the payment showed “pending” instead of “completed”.

itrackbites vs WW (Weight Watchers)

I have to admit I was a little disappointed, so I wrote WW an email and while waiting for their response I set out to find other smartphone apps that may have been able to help me lose weight. After conducting a little research on the Internet, I found out that people were using weight loss apps similar to the WW program with great results. I stumbled across two apps that have literally changed my life, possibly forever. They are “My Fitness Pal” and “iTrackBites.

iTrackBites is what I call a Weight Watchers diet shortcut because it costs just $2.99. The My Fitness Pal app is free.

ITB is eerily similar to Weight Watchers because it allows you to eat a certain amount of points each day based on your personal profile which includes your weight. The MFP is also a wonderful app that helps you set the amount of weight you want to lose each week and it sets the number of calories you need to stay under so you can lose that weight. It then counts the calories for you as you input the foods you eat. Both of these apps have a bar code scanner and this makes it easy to document which foods you eat from your local grocery store.

Weight Watchers eventually wrote me back to admit the temporary problem with their system, so I used the above-mentioned apps for a few weeks and put the WW online system on hold for the time being. I still have not used WW because the apps I used were so effective and almost cost-free.

Here were my results:

• Starting actual body weight – 212
• Targeted weight – 202

I mainly used the ITB app and when I needed to find out the points for certain foods, I used a combination of the OneMorePound.com point listings as well as the MFP app for certain food items. With both apps and this website, I was able to accurately determine the number of points for each of my meals, snacks, and drinks.

Within two weeks, I had already and was halfway there! However, the last 5 pounds took another 3 weeks to come off. Still, it was pretty impressive. I lost 10 pounds within 5 weeks without much difficulty. In case you are wondering, I exercised only 3 times a week for approximately 30 minutes and was fairly inactive while at work during this diet.

• Weight loss was 10 lbs. in 5 weeks!

I almost felt guilty because it only cost me $2.99 for the iTrackBites app whereas the Weight Watchers program would have set me back more than 50 bucks for a three-month subscription.

Regardless, you may want to consider the Weight Watchers online program at some point because I have a few family members and friends who swear by it. At the same time, you can use the system I have described with great results and it won’t cost you nearly as much. In fact, it won’t cost you hardly anything at all!

I really hope this works for you as it did for me.

For now, I am going to stick to my Weight Watchers diet shortcut because I got great results out of it and I’m a firm believer in that you “don’t need to fix it if it ain’t broken”.

itrackbites vs myfitnesspal

Another app I want to try that a few friends and family members have had success with, is myfitnesspal.

What I love about this particular app is how it’s free of charge and you can create a quick profile and set a weight loss goal quickly and easily. It’s so straightforward I could hardly believe it the first time I saw it.

You set a daily goal of calories along with monitoring the nutrients in your food. It also allows you to start tracking your fitness activities. It appears to be a powerful combination that helps you lose weight consistently.

If you try this one, please let me know how it works out.