2021 was a tough year for my health. At the beginning of the pandemic, I left New York City to distance myself from the most populous city in the United States.

I moved to a suburb of Houston. It was a city built around cars and highways, where sidewalks abruptly ended and grocery stores were a three-mile drive away. Suddenly, my life became much more sedentary. The afternoon jog became a weekly walk, which became a monthly guilt-ridden, foot-dragging, wheezing fest. It didn't help that Gov. Greg Abbott went out of his way to rescind the local mask requirement and help the coronavirus particles spread more quickly through the community. He recently did the same thing with the vaccination mandate.

Local gyms were equally quick to rescind the mask requirement. Customers at Houston gyms seem to prefer listening to vaccine skeptic and horse dewormer enthusiast Joe Rogan rather than immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci. In other words, it is dangerous to go to the gym, even if you are wearing a mask, to watch runners huffing and puffing on treadmills a few meters away.

In the nearly two years since leaving New York, I've gained another 20 pounds, my T-shirts have gotten tighter, my pants fit without a belt, and I've gained a lot of weight. After a decadent Friendsgiving filled with fried chicken, green bean casserole, and pie, I knew something had to change.

After getting my vaccinations, I slowly made my way back to the gym. I kept my mask on, but decided to go late at night when there was less traffic. Still, I was not losing as much weight as I would have liked. Clearly, I was doing something wrong.

I remembered using the calorie-counting app FatSecret when I was losing significant weight in New York City, but hesitated to download it again on my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3. This app (available on iOS, Apple Watch, and Android) didn't scare me off. It's a good app, but deep down I knew that by tracking all my dietary metrics, I could visually see why I needed to completely change my diet. Like going to the dentist, there was an uncomfortable hand-wringing around the prospect, so I put it off.

At the end of November, I re-downloaded FatSecret. I took out my digital food scale and began painstakingly calculating all the calories.

Unlike other fitness and calorie-counting apps like MyFitnessPal and LoseIt, FatSecret is completely free. There is no monthly subscription fee, and while the app's appearance is plain in comparison, its overall functionality is solid: it tells you your daily and weekly calorie intake and breaks down your macronutrient consumption.

I personally aim to eat about 1,500 calories a day, and my body naturally consumes about 2,000 calories, which leaves me short on calories.

What I like about FatSecret is its vast library; like LoseIt, community members can upload calorie metrics for various foods. I myself have uploaded several products, including chicken gyros (minus the white sauce) found in various food carts in New York City. While most calorie-counting apps feature basics such as grilled chicken and a variety of packaged foods, I find FatSecret's library to be the most extensive. Being Pakistani, it is difficult to calculate the calories in my family's traditional foods. However, FatSecret has menu items such as chana masala and baingan bata, which often liberate me from the standard chicken and broccoli.

Some may argue that nutritional information on home-cooked food cannot be completely accurate, but it can at least provide some indication. It is better to track an approximation than nothing at all.

While it is impossible to know completely, I believe FatSecret's large food library has something to do with the app being free. The low barrier to entry probably attracts more users. Furthermore, it is possible to access FatSecret through a web browser, not just through an app.

I have lost 7 pounds since I started in late November. This is due to the Omicron variant keeping me away from the gym. Given my current trajectory, I should be back to my pre-pandemic weight by March or April. Frankly, I wish I had started sooner.

For those of us who have set New Year's resolutions to lose weight in 2022, I feel that 80% of the battle is controlling our diet; knowing exactly what and how much is being consumed, whether with FatSecret or any other calorie counting app, makes a huge difference. [If the developers of FatSecret are reading this, I would love to see them make a Wear OS app for my Samsung Galaxy Watch 4.