My Daily Plate at Livestrong

Have you ever tried to track what you eat? Its often a surprise when you do....not only to read how much you are consuming, but also what the macronutrient content of what you are eating. But, the actual process of recording holds yourself accountable. At least once a year, I track what I eat for a few days/weeks....just to see. Sure, I have this high plan of kicking myself into overdrive and doing everything perfectly, and I never live up to that, and thats ok. But, when I do record everything for a brief period, its quite enlightening. I tend to make a conscious effort at making the right decisions. And, if I have a cookie or other delicious treat, I know I need to record that...again, it holds me accountable and instead of admonishing the act, it makes me super focused on getting the absolute best nutrition for the rest of the day.

I discovered mydailyplate.com way before Livestrong bought them....fortunately, when they did buy them, they didnt change a thing and just folded it into their current offering of health-conscious products. It was a near perfect online tool and continues to be just that. The tracking tool is available here.

If you have any inclination just to see how much protein and sugar you consume in an average day, I fully encourage you to give it a go....the entering of data is so painless. All you need to do is type in as much as you know of brand/description and it searches its stellar database to find the proper item...you simply then add the serving size consumed and the "meal" it was consumed in. Daily Plate does all the rest!

Of additional benefit is that it adds up everything consumed and summarizes the following:

• Calories


• Fat


• Cholesterol


• Sodium


• Carbs


• Fiber


• Protein Sugar

I'm not a big fan of "RDA" but it also provides you guidance on how well you compared to the RDA for an average caloric diet...somewhat useful, right?

So, I'm logging...a few days a week now and also probably throughout the upcoming Shakeology Challenge. I'm simply curious to see how well it correlates to a weight loss. Its always been pretty much accurate, but I want to confirm that I'm making good decisions and balancing my weekly nutrition properly, and I simply cannot do that with pen and paper.