You know how when you find something really great, you just HAVE to share it with everyone you know?
Well, this is one of these moments for me. For, what is life, without health?
I am a Live Strong Noob; however, in an hour I have learned how to input what I eat and let the My Plate Live Strong feature give me a complete read out of it's caloric/carb/protein, etc.
I also learned the number of calories per day would net a 1-2 pound/week weight loss.
And, it is all free. It's fabulous. But it wasn't all that easy to figure out, so I am sharing a few tips to help you get started if you are interested in improving your overall health.
So, here's a quick run off of what I would suggest. I didn't find this site totally intuitive, perhaps because I have a Mac, so I wanted to help others avoid some frustration.
First, I would highly recommend creating two accounts so you can plan on one account, and actually record what you eat each day on the other. Just a Noob suggestion.
To set up account go to: http://www.livestrong.com/
Logging on is easy. Getting to the meal planning/tracking is a bit tricky. Try this, and if it doesn't work for you, let me know. Perhaps hacking together we can come up with better instructions for others.
FOR MEAL PLANNING/CALORIE/CARB/PROTEIN TRACKING:
- When you are logged in, LOOK FOR The Daily Plate option which is next to the last option at the top of the screen in the gold colored bar, choose and click on the "My Plate" icon which is the first option on the pull down menu.
- Look on the right hand info panel for "Create New Meal" option about half way down, and click.
This is an amazing feature. Just about all foods, even restaurant food combinations, are included in the search option list. Whatever you eat will be on the list. Most importantly, this feature let's you create your own meal, using the food lists, which you name and which remains on your personal meal list for future meal planning use. It is quite simple to use, although I couldn't find an "edit" feature if I made a mistake or wanted to tweek a meal I had created. Then again, I am a NOOB here, too, with two accounts, one for hacking and one for actual recording.
Each of us approaches food differently but all of us have some well-established food preferences and even habits.
I took the "meals" I regularly prepare and eat and created a New Meal Recipe for each.
For instance, I like 2 slices of Jack Sprat Bread with plain yogurt when I am in a hurry or too tired to cook something so I created a meal called "Jack Sprat w/Yogurt. I had no idea before using this Living Strong feature how many calories/carbs/protein this snack/meal contained. I certainly never thought to measure the yogurt.
Well, to my surprise this snack contains what you can view here:
http://i582.photobucket.com/...
Once you get this figured out, and create your favorite meals which is not necessary, but quite helpful over time, you can set up your program.
HOW TO DETERMINE FOOD INTAKE FOR WEIGHT LOSS/GAIN
With the "My Plate" option page still open, look at the top of the page. You will see the date, a Congratulations and right under that an option for "daily calorie goal" (DCG). The DCG option will enable you to see how many calories a day you can eat and still lose/gain weight over time. It's easy to use, no instructions needed. Just fill in the facts and, voila, you will know your recommended DCG.
Well, there are tons more features. This will get you started.
HEALTH BEGINS AT HOME!
Oh, I almost forgot to mention this.
EXERCISE CALCULATION
Beneath the food item is the place to enter your exercise routine you have or plan to begin.
Click on Add your physical activity/exercise for June 28th, 2009!
and choose from a list the activity you plan or perform.
This will tell you how many calories you will burn which are deducted from the total food item calories. Or, put more simply, what you may want for dessert. Snack Snark, sorry.
Again, I created two accounts. One where I can mess up, plan meals, and jockey around with the numbers to coordinate with my grocery budget, time for exercise, etc.
And one to record what my Real Life Performance (I made that up) is for each day. There is even a place where you can journal your experience.
And IT'S ALL FREE. Did I mention that?
THANK YOU LANCE ARMSTRONG!
PS. Please share with others if you are so inclined. It's time to wake up from the fast food frenzy stupor we've caught up in and take back control of our heath. LOL.