Getting Started

Do you know your body's Calorie needs? Using the standard 2000 Calorie requirements on food labels is a great start however if you're looking for a more detailed and specific set of guidelines, I highly recommend spending just 30 minutes at fitday.com or mypyramidtracker.gov and providing a quick recall of yesterdays snacks, meals, and beverages. I personally use mypyramid however both are great resources and user-friendly. These sites will provide a detailed analysis of your submitted diet and compare it to suggested macro- and micro-nutrient and overall energy needs based on your gender, weight, height, and age (fitday also includes a physical activity option). Mypyramid calculates your Estimated Energy Requirement (EER) without incorporating physical activity (leisure and standard activity is included). At this site, it is calculated separately to estimate the cost in Calories of the training. Adding this with the EER should give you a relatively accurate idea of how many Calories you burn in a typical day.