Your Ideal Weight

One Whole Day Nutrition & Wellness Reset

Last time I posted, I promised some upcoming free resources that detailed how I've lost my weight and improved my health. The first of the collection is a program called "One Whole Day," which I consider to be a nutrition and wellness "reset" for the body.

One Whole Day is based on the small steps approach to behavior and lifestyle change--when we remove the stress response from trying to do something new and different, it's much more likely that we will maintain and even expand the positive change.

So, One Whole Day invites you to change your nutritional intake to whole foods for (go figure) one whole day. Not a week. Not a month. Not a lifetime. Just a day. By doing so, you start helping your body remember what it feels like to be nutrition-rich and chemical-free for a short enough time to notice a difference, but not long enough of a stint to feel that the change is stressful or impossible to maintain.

Ideally, starting with one whole day will lead to two whole days next time. Then maybe three. And...well...you can figure the rest out! But in the meantime, give One Whole Day a try and see how it works for you. These small steps have been a big part of my weight and wellness success these past few months. I think they can be for others, too!

Download your free One Whole Day program here: One Whole Day Download

My Fitness Pal: Simple, Free Online Nutrition Tracking Tool

I've been using a new online program and mobile tracking app called My Fitness Pal to monitor my nutritional intake and fitness activities for the past few weeks. This process has been especially important as I transition back toward my ideal weight and well-being while rehabbing my spine.

I absolutely love it because it's by far the easiest and most intuitive program I've used, and it makes the process of being AWARE of your nutrition and activity easy and immediate. I attribute this program, along with a couple of other key practices and resources, to my quick and deprivation-free 6 pounds of weight lost in the last few weeks. My back--and my capris--wish to extend their thanks to you, My Fitness Pal!

My Fitness Pal is available free for desktop, iPhone, and Android devices. I can't recommend it highly enough!

A Fabulous, Free Online Tool For Tracking Food Intake

We're all about sharing great resources to help make your journey toward your ideal weight more simple, effective, and enjoyable than you ever thought possible.  That's why we want to share The Daily Plate with you.  The Daily Plate is a free online food database and tracking tool that we love.

You can register for free and track your daily food intake, physical activity, and reflections.  It also has handy tools for calculating your calorie needs, weight loss, and other important items.  Perhaps one of the best features is the fact that the program automatically creates charts and graphs that show your nutritional intake and progress toward your goals. 

For instance, when you enter your daily "food diary," once you select all of your items the system merges the nutritional data into a pie chart that shows the percentage of your food that is coming from protein, carbohydrates, and fat.  And there's another table that gives you more detailed data on your fiber, sodium, and other indicators.  This program makes it a snap to record your intake (and as we mentioned in an earlier post, people who record their intake lose more weight and keep it off!).

A couple of things to note:

1. While the food database is quite comprehensive, we've found that the nutritional data for a few of the items has been inaccurate.  This is because any member can add an item to the database, so those particular items depend on how detail-oriented the person who entered the item was.  If the nutritional content doesn't look quite right to you, you can always double-check an item using the Calorie King food database, which we've found to be very reliable.
2. The Daily Plate also has a "Gold Member" option, which gives you access to expanded reporting and tracking features, as well as to support through their online community.  We feel that the free version is a great resource as it is, but if you want the additional features, feel free to consider that option.

We hope you'll enjoy using this power-packed resource...let us know what you think!  Visit The Daily Plate today!