Planning

MyNetDiary isn't just a food diary - it can help you plan your diet and weight loss, and then track your foods and exercises - to meet your diet plan and achieve your weight goal.

In addition, we recommend reviewing Plan Page Tour and viewing Establishing a Weight Goal and Planning Energy Balance videos.

  • Most of diet planning is done on the Plan page.
  • First, MyNetDiary does an accurate, personalized analysis of your calorie and nutrient needs based on the information you provided during sign up process, such as current weight, height, age, sex, and activity level. This analysis is done based on USDA Dietary Guidelines. The results are displayed in the first row in "My Daily Nutrition Plan" table. This analysis could be considered as the starting point to define your very own nutrition plan.
  • Next, you need to set your weight goal, target date, and click "Analyze!" button. MyNetDiary will calculate and show how much weight you need to lose daily to meet you weight goal on the target date.
  • This average daily weight loss is re-calculated into daily calorie loss - to lose a pound of fat, human body have to have 3,500 calories less than it needs.
  • If you set an aggressive weight goal - losing too much and too fast, we recommend moving the target date further in the future, or reducing the weight goal. For healthy weight loss, daily calorie deficit should not exceed 500 calories.
  • Once you know the needed daily calorie loss, you need to reduce planned daily consumption of fat, carbs, and proteins in "My Daily Nutrition Plan" table and plan extra activities and exercises to burn more calories. One gram of fat is 9 calories, and one gram of carbs or proteins is 4 calories.
  • "My Daily Energy Balance" section at the bottom of the Plan page shows the current calculated energy balance. Adjust nutrient consumption and exercises until the planned daily calorie loss exceeds the needed calorie loss.
  • You are all set - you have a plan! Try to follow the plan on the whole - it's OK if you miss it by a hundred calories one day, but make it up the next day - eating less or exercising more. Don't go too hard on yourself, you have a long-term goal - safe and healthy weight loss. You'll get there.

Please be aware that a significant deviation from the DRI recommendations could be dangerous to your health. We advise consulting a qualified dietitian.