What is My Pyramid?
The U.S. government has spent millions researching obesity in America from a public service view point and the impact on the sky rocketing costs of health care. Why not take advantage of this information? My Pyramid is a free online program hosted by the U.S. Department Agriculture that helps dieters track the amount of calories they eat each day, plan daily meals and set weight loss goals.
How does My Pyramid work?
Sign up is very quick with only a User ID and Password required to be chosen. (Don't forget to put your ID and Password in a place you can access it.) Next, you tell your age, sex and weight which is used to calculate the number of calories (or energy as it is called on the site) recommended for you each day. You are ready to start using the tracker. One section allows you to enter the foods you've eaten using a database of nearly a half million food items and serving sizes to help calculate your calories. To see how many calories (or energy) you can still consume without going over your recommended amount go to the Energy Balance Analysis section. A recently added feature keeps track of your progress historically.
What does research say?
Counting calories with a goal of eating less than the amount your body expends is a proven weight loss plan. The Food and Drug Aministration also has a weight loss advice page that is caloire counting focused. Like most diets, adherance is the issue. The software can be clumsy when you are first learning your way around the site but the calorie tracking tools are not difficult to learn and the price is right.