USDA's FREE Online Tool to Track Your Diet, Weight, and Exercise

Source:  USDA

Facebook isn’t the only online phenomenon to reach more than one million users in less than a year of launching.  The USDA’s SuperTracker, which launched only eleven months ago, is an interactive, online tool that currently helps 1.5 million consumers eat more healthfully, manage their weight, and reach their physical activity goals.   According to Robert Post, Ph.D., Deputy Director of the USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, SuperTracker is growing by 10,000 users daily.

SuperTracker is part of the ChooseMyPlate.gov website and allows the consumer to create a personal profile, diet, and physical activity plan.  A newer feature, which is being highlighted this week at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Annual Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo in Philadelphia, PA,  allows users to set their own personal calorie level to meet their weight loss goal.

SuperTracker allows you to:

• Create a customized appropriate, calorie allowance with a corresponding food groups plan that is based on your gender, age, activity level, and weight goals.  
• Self-monitor or journal your food intake with the My Journal feature.  Research has shown that journaling can help you lose weight and keep it off.
• Track what and how much you eat with the Food Tracker feature in order to see how your current diet stacks up against your customized plan.
• Monitor the intensity and duration of your daily physical activity with the Physical Activity Tracker feature.
• Interact with a virtual coach.  By using the My Coach Center, you will receive “how-to” tips and feedback related to your goals.

Best of all, SuperTracker is FREE.  With over 65 percent of Americans overweight, SuperTracker is an excellent example of your tax dollars at work.  “We are constantly receiving testimonials from our users claiming that they have lost as much as 80 pounds by using this tool,” claims Dr. Post.   “Based on consumer feedback, a mobile app is in the works and should be released in 2013.” 

In the meantime, you can use this free tool to help you achieve your diet, weight, and physical activity goals from the comforts of your personal computer.

Have you used SuperTracker?  Please share below.

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