Exercise should play a major role in anyone’s fitness plan, but proper nutrition is equally important to overall health. Food intake is just as important as caloric output. It is a mass-balance equation; nothing ever goes away. Either calories are traded for metabolic work, or the calories get stored as fat for future use. For most healthy adults who are neither too fat nor too thin, the following sources should provide useful and trustworthy information. Anyone with medical issues, such as chronic disease or food allergies, needs the advice of a physician or nutritionist to help with meal planning and to make sure that all necessary nutrients are being included in their diet.

Calories provide the energy that allows the body to do work. Basic functions such as breathing, maintaining a stable internal temperature, circulating blood—all require the output of energy from the body. The basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the number of calories that the body requires every day just to perform these basic tasks. To figure out how many calories are needed to maintain current weight, the BMR is multiplied by an activity factor. Gender, age, and height also get figured into the final answer. The Mayo Clinic offers a quick online computation based on a few personal data points. (See www.mayoclinic.com/health/calorie-calculator/NU00598.) The numbers obtained here are estimates, but for most healthy adults they are reasonably accurate.

The website www.MyPyramidTracker.gov provides a user-friendly log for tracking daily intake of foods. The user is prompted to type in a food, and then the program offers choices to narrow it down. For example, typing in “broccoli” brings up a list of choices to further define the particular food and quantify the amount eaten. This list includes specifics like raw vs. cooked; plain vs. broccoli cream soup, etc. It also asks for an amount, with several choices to select from. As a day’s worth of food is being entered, the program calculates the intake of grains, vegetables, fruit, dairy, and meat & beans. The results are presented in color-coded bar graphs, along with a running tally of the total calories. There is even a separate graph of how many “extra” calories are present in the menu—that is, calories from foods that should be limited. To see how much better (or worse) the menu could be, the program allows removing, adding, or editing certain food choices. Even for those who think they have pretty decent eating habits, this program provides a reality check to make sure that all food groups are included in an average day’s consumption.

A cousin of this website is www.myfoodapedia.gov. This site allows the user to do a few more interesting things. Deciding between banana bread and a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast? The decision is easier when this site compares all the pros and cons. Not only does it calculate the total calories, but it also indicates whether these calories come from healthy components or “extras” such as unwanted fats and added sugars. The program also calculates that the banana bread would count towards the day’s recommended quantity of fruits.

More detailed information can be found at www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines. This website offers a comprehensive list of resources. Click on each of the book titles, and selected chapters can be downloaded for free. The Mayo Clinic also offers detailed information on a huge range of food related topics at www.mayoclinic.com/health/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/MY00431.

For a person who eats out often—even if eating out consists of a latte and a muffin before work—going to restaurants’ websites can help to distinguish between seemingly similar choices. According to Starbucks.com, a Grande Cappuccino with 2 percent milk holds 120 calories, while a Grande Café Mocha with 2 percent milk holds more than twice as many calories, clocking in at 260. A Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha tops the list at 470 calories, accompanied by 12 grams of pure fat. Olive Garden restaurants claim that their spaghetti with meat sauce dinner provides 710 calories, while their linguini with marinara sauce only has 430 calories. For people watching their weight, the difference in dining experiences between these two dishes probably doesn’t justify the extra 280 calories. Bottom line—it pays to plan ahead when possible.

Be sure to consult your doctor before starting any fitness program. For more information visit http://sitzmarkfitness.health.officelive.com.