Lance Armstrong's Livestrong Diet Tracking System: My New Obsession!

I have a new obsession. NO, it's not for my Cheesy Kale Chips...

or my Avocado Fries...

Or, my Chocolate Pudding...

No, my new obsession is Lance Armstrong's new diet tracking system at Livestrong! Yes, this tracking system is by the same biking stud who has conquered cancer and has won the Tour de France 7 times!!!

Who would this be good for?

If you are having problems losing weight, are an athete wanting to make sure you are fueling properly, are a vegan and want to make sure you are getting enough protein, calcium or other nutrient in your diet or just feel run down and feel that you are perhaps just not feeding your body right then this is the site for you!!!  

Is it hard to set up or expensive?

No, it is sooooo simple and takes about 5 minutes to set up an account- which, by the way, is free!

When you set up your account, it will ask you to input your age, height and activity level, and whether you want to lose, gain or maintain your wait and it will calculate you daily calorie as well as nutritional needs. So cool!!! Then, all you do is enter all the foods that you have eaten for you day and Livestrong will calculate all of your caloric and nutritional information.

So, while I am doing it because as a vegan I want to make sure I am getting all of the nutrition I need, my husband has become obsessed and is doing it to lose weight. Oh, did I mention... you can download an app for the iphone, ipdad or blackberry?!?! Ok, for my phone-text-blackberry addicted husband this is almost like crack! Sorry for the blurry photo so this is basically what the app on the iphone would look like (and, hopefully, you are not searching for glazed donuts for your food log!)

What was I told?

I was told that I needed:

          1683 calories

55g  fat

252mg cholesterol

2020mg sodium

252g carbs

21g fiber

42g protein

Because I am a runner and a vegan, I thought for sure that I would be low in protein and perhaps some other nutrients but I was amazed that I was getting all of the protein I needed but that my fat and even sugar intake was high. Never would have guessed that in a million years and it made me feel so much better to know that I was getting enough in nutritionally. Helpful information!

So, how does it work? What does a breakdown look like?

Ok, again, it is so easy. You just type in what you have eaten and it locates the food and you just press enter (much like a google search!) The program then does a nutritonal breakdown of the food.

Here is what the breakdown looks like:

Here is what my breakdown for breakfast actually looked like:

BREAKFAST

Food                   Servings  Cals      Fat      Chol      Sodium      Carbs      Fiber      Protein     Sugars

Raw Cacao Granola   1     498         15           0                9            80            7              14          15

Vanilla Almond Milk  1    67.5        1.9           0            105            12            0              0.8        10.5

Banana                        1    60           0.4           0             1.2            15          3.1             1.3        14.4

Blueberries              0.5    42            0             0             0.5            10.5          2             0.5          7.5

E3 Live shot                6     0            0              0               0              0              0              6             0

Breakfast Totals                 667.5    17.27          0           115.7       117.5        12.1        22.54     47.43

So, I won't bore you with the rest of my day but in that the end of the day, you are given daily intake totals and your percentage of daily allowances (ie. how you have done.) Mine looked like this:

Daily Intake Totals
  Cals 1895 Fat 88g Cholesterol 0 mg Sodium 1134 mg Carbs 293g Fiber 60g Protein 49g Sugars 122g

Customized Nutrient Goals
  Cals 1970  Fat 64g Cholesterol 296 mg Sodium 2364mg Carbs 296g Fiber 25g Protein 49g

Percent of Your Daily Allowance (based upon a 2,000 calorie diet scaled to your calorie goal)
  Cals 96%  Fat 137% Cholesterol 0%    Sodium 48%      Carbs 99%  Fiber 244% Protein 99%
   
So, basically I met my caloric, carbohydrate and protein needs almost perfectly, was low in sodium and cholesterol (a good thing,) was high in fiber (another good thing,) but way high in fat (not a good thing!) Probably, I am having way too much olive oil on my salads and more than usual added fats in my nuts, avocados, tahini etc... While I am consuming good fats, my overall fat intake is too high so now I know this is something I will work on.

Livestrong also gives you a Calorie countdown chart, Weekly Intake Totals, a Daily Intake Nutrition Chart, and so much more. I just started Monday and am still learning about it but I am impressed!!!

Why do I think this program is effective and will recommend it to my clients?

- Holds a mirror up to your patterns of eating

- Makes you more concious of what you are putting into your body

- Gives you unbiased, scientific breakdown of what you are really eating

I am going to learn more about this and have more fun with it so there will be many more posts to come! Enjoy your weekend!!!