ChooseMyPlate (Yuck!)

**lngrid** · 10-09-2011 12:31 AM

Back before the Obama administration (and no, I'm not bashing the President) the USDA had a website called MyPyramid. You could go there, input your age, gender, height, current weight, target weight, and activity level and it would tell you what your daily calory limit should be and how much of each food group you should eat each day.

Apparently that is just too complex for ordinary folks (I'm offended, because I am ordinary folks and I understood it just fine) because the new USDA website has been dumbed down to ChooseMyPlate. I don't have a problem with envisioning the foodgroups as percentages of a plate but the page I described on the old site has been changed so that your height and weight are irrelevant and it spits out a daily calorie limit of 2100 for everyone. I've tested it by entering a height of 6 feet and a weight of 300 pounds and a height of 4.5 feet and a weight of 80 pounds. Frankly, I'm annoyed.

What I'm really wanting to know is where I can find something like this? I want to control my weight but I totally refuse to try any method other than simply eating a balanced diet and limiting my calories. I don't want a list of recipes to live by because my work requires me to be very flexible. If I know how much of the "raw materials" I can allow myself, I can adapt them to what the day might bring.

So, does anything like this exist? Are there any sane, truth-telling voices out there in the wieght-loss/weight-control universe?

**Claret** · 10-09-2011 04:32 AM

There is a website that I use, available for free, you just sign up. It's called FitDay.com You can enter all various kinds of data about yourself, track caloric intake, excercise output, the various values of your foods, track and monitor your progress. I've found it to be very useful.
For instance, if you are 5' 3" your basil metabolic intake would be calculated, then increased depending upon the type of work you do in an average day (seating, standing, walking etc). This then gives your your basic nutrient requirements for the day from which you can measure against calories burned.

**Cyndie32** · 10-09-2011 06:20 AM

ingrid there are many free sites that do what you are requesting. there is loseit and caloriecount. both sites you input your age, current weight, gender, height, goal weight. it calculates how many calories you need a day. caloriecount goes into more detail about the nutrition in food and proper portions. check them out. i have been on a fitness endevor for some time now and IMO these sites can prove to very valuable in improving your health. so whether you want to lose weight or just control your weight, these tools are a good bet.

**lngrid** · 10-09-2011 05:31 PM

Thank you so much, Cyndie and Claret, for taking an interest and responding. I did have a look at the sites you kindly suggested.

Maybe I should explain more about myself and what I am needing. I am a caregiver/supportive service assistant to profoundly disabled but highly functional people. *removed outbound link* The people not in wheelchairs are spouses or caregivers and the ones in them are executive directors of state departments like the Department of Rehabilitation. I'm not bragging here. They're the hotshots, not me. But this is why my job is demanding. In addition to the regular body care stuff, I go with them to seminars, symposiums and conferences around the state. Many of them need attendance round the clock, so I also pull overnighters. Last year I worked nights and days for three months when one of my clients injured herself and could not be alone overnight til she healed. Many times I eat in their homes, so I can't just cook a meal for myself.

I just don't have the time or mental energy to fuss around with inputting calorie counts and what i've eaten that day. What I CAN do is keep track of how many servings I can have and how many I've had that day. I'm hoping to find a site that would tell me what a serving of milk, cheese, meat, grain, fish, pasta, squash, spinach, ect. is (like the USDA site does) , and how many servings from each food group I should eat daily to reach my target weight (which the USDA site does not do).

I am determined to control my weight but I live in a world where focusing in detail on what I eat isn't possible. Is there anything out there for someone like me?

**Claret** · 10-09-2011 06:48 PM

The easy way is to go onto your Government USDA site, download the food guide, it will tell you how much of each food group to eat (i.e. 6 servings of fruit and vegetables) and a second page should tell you exactly what they feel a serving is. For example one serving of grain may just be 1 slice of bread. I'm in Canada so ours may be different, but basically they tell the same story.

Thread: ChooseMyPlate (Yuck!)

LinkBack

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Display

ChooseMyPlate (Yuck!)

Similar Threads

the YUM or YUCK game!!

Discharging Yuck!!

Anal and Oral, yuck?

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions