When trying to lose weight as part of your New Year's resolution, the difference between success and failure often lies in the resources that you take advantage of. Luckily, you don't need to hire an expensive personal trainer, or in some cases, even need to pay for a gym membership. There are many high-quality tools available to you online that can help you last far beyond January in your quest to lose weight.
Calorie Calculators
When making a weight-loss plan, it's important to calculate how many calories you need to consume each day to lose weight. This is where a calorie calculator can become quite handy. Calorie calculators allow you to put in important information such as your beginning weight, desired ending weight, and your current activity level. The calculator will then use this information to determine the appropriate amount of calories to consume each day to lose weight. Some calculators even have an option to input your desired weekly weight loss goals, and then adjust your suggested calorie intake to meet those goals. To help you in your weight loss planning, the link to a reliable calorie calculator has been provided in the resources section of this article.
My Daily Plate
Tracking what you eat can also help you in your New Year's resolution weight loss goals. This helps you stay on track with your daily caloric needs. One of the most reliable tools available for helping you track your calorie intake is "The Daily Plate." The Daily Plate allows you to search thousands of foods online and add them to your daily calorie totals. The Daily Plate then breaks down your meals into all of its important components including fats, sodium, cholesterol, and most importantly calories. If you go over your daily calories, My Daily Plate will even tell you how many calories you have left to consume during the day. Most of the main features of the website are free, which makes this program even more attractive. More-detailed tracking information can also be obtained by signing up for a gold membership.
Body Mass Index
Body mass index calculators are another important resource when it comes to weight loss. Your body mass index, or BMI, is a representation of what percentage of your body mass is made up of fat. Calculating your BMI allows you to broaden your focus beyond just losing pounds to eliminating body fat. The target range for a healthy BMI is between 18 and 25. Your BMI is measured using your height and weight measurements, which are then placed into a mathematical equation. Body mass index calculators allow software programs to do this calculating for you. You can calculate your BMI by following the link found in the resources section of this article.
Loops
Another important aspect of losing weight is getting more physically active. Exercise allows you to burn calories, which in the long run helps you lose more weight than diet alone. One great way to become more physically active is to get outside and run, jog, bike ride or even just a walk. Although you can do this on a treadmill, outdoor activity provides constantly changing elevations and surfaces, adding natural resistance to your exercise. LIVESTRONG.com has come up with a weight loss resource called "Loops" which helps to better acquaint you with the exercise routes in neighborhoods across the nation. Loops allows users to input running routes into the system, which then calculates important info such as mileage, elevation, estimated time and even estimated calories burned. By signing up for a LIVESTRONG account, you can even keep track of your progress. This can then be linked to My Daily Plate to calculate calories consumed vs. calories burned.
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