I'm In LOVE!

Okay guys, I was totally not going to mention this because a. it sounds like a new year's resolution, and we've talked about that before and how February is the worst month in the world because we all come crashing down off new year's resolution highs and we realize we were the same people we were before the new year's resolution (which yeah, yeah, blah blah blah we should love ourselves as we are etc. etc. --I certainly hope you're not reading a blog called getbitter and planning on saying crap like that and not getting flamed) and b. because I am thirty some years old and I have had highs and lows, but never has a diet plan stuck and let's be honest day one and a half in isn't an indicator that one will so why share anything with the world, but I love this program online so I thought I would share it with you even though it's only day 1.5 of me entering items and in all likelihood it won't last a week.

I know that this picture is tiny and I am really sorry, perhaps I'll try to be a better blogger at some point and try and zoom in for you, but right now I can't. What you're looking at in tiny tiny format is the really cool screen on your personalized page from thedailyplate.com (the picture is linked so you can make your own account if you want). I totally get that most people don't like journaling and it's annoying to try and remember what you ate, let alone how much, but so far this is fun and effective (remember it is day 1.5 people).

On the top right corner, you can see a little water bottle, for every glass of water you drink you get to add to the bottle and it fills up till it congratulates you on drinking water (what can I say, I am even excited when a credit card machine says approved, maybe I didn't get enough affirmation as a kid, but I love the water droplet saying congratulations).

Below that is a little pie graph with information on what percentage of what you ate was carbs, protein and fat (can you tell I ate an avocado today -- red is fat).

The section underneath has customized meals. You can click off a series of items you ate, rice, beans, squash, ham steak, and group it together so that next time you eat it you can just select "rice and beans" (or whatever you named it). There is a section below the customized meals that has the individual components you ate recently so you can simply click and add them instead of having to search for them each time. This has a lovely feature that you can organize alphabetically or by frequency.

Slightly above the widest section of the page it tells you approximately how many calories you have left for the day. The widest section is reserved for the food you've consumed. You can look at the nutritional values at a glance (calories, fiber, protein etc). Also, when you add an item, the program will sometimes suggest a similar item, that's better for you, so you can make more informed choices in the future. Below the wide section is another run down of the calories you've consumed so far, fat protein etc. and what percentage of your daily intake of each they represent, 94% of your protein for the day etc.

There is also an exercise feature where you can search various activities for calories burned (including washing dishes for a church function 200 some calories an hour people) and the site will track all that for you as well (I haven't used that part yet).

Finally, for people willing to share more information I believe there are ways to post the information to your facebook account and other options including friends through the site where you can hold each other accountable etc.

I realize that this may be a boring post, and that this site may not thrill you, but I have really enjoyed using it so far (all 1.5 days) and since it's free I thought I would share!