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Fitness trackers are all the rage now, but a lot of times it’s hard to know what the best plan is for you for your ideal weight loss. Different privately owned fitness trackers have different focuses after all, some of them running, some of them dieting.
But now, the National Institutes of Health has partnered with the USDA and released their own weight loss planner, aptly titled the Body Weight Planner, that takes into account your gender, height, current weight, and level of activity to develop the best weight loss plan for you. The best part is that it started out as a research tool, so it's been developed and refined to get the best results.
Let’s break down all the parts of it so you can truly understand what a uniquely great tool this is.
Instead of calculating BMI, the planner measures these things:
- Weight
- Sex
- Age
- Height
- Current physical activity level
- Goal weight
- Date at which you want to reach the goal
- How much physical activity you plan to add (if any)
It may seem like a lot of questions, but it really isn’t, and what’s unique about it is that basically takes your entire lifestyle into account and tries to work with it.
What’s the end product?
There’s a three-pronged result. The BWP tells you how many calories you can eat for three points in your life:
- Calories required to maintain body weight
- Calories required to get to your goal weight by your goal date
- Calories required to maintain your goal weight once it’s obtained
Awesome, right? It has everything you need! And then, you can make your food plan of choice—just make sure that you’re adhering to your calorie requirements and getting all your nutrients.
You can find the BWP at the USDA SuperTracker website, supertracker.usda.gov.
