By Christine Cioppa

 Sitting at a desk all day for work and classes (on top of the sporadic noshing on snacks) sets many of us back with our weight goals. Now, the New Year is approaching and resolutions are being made for weight loss.

A Nielsen survey of the top 2015 New Years’ resolutions (from January of this year) found that “staying fit and healthy” and “losing weight” were the top two New Year’s resolutions (69 percent of people polled).

If losing weight or maintaining your fitness and health ranks as your top priority for 2016, here are some health sites to get you started, and more importantly, keep you on track.   

Assess Your Weight

Are you overweight? Underweight? Plug in your height and weight at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Body Mass Index (BMI) calculator to find out. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm

Choose your Goal Weight

Once you know what your healthy weight range is (from the above BMI calculator), you can choose your goal weight. Plug in your goal weight and the number of days in which you’d like to reach that goal at the USDA’s SuperTracker calculator. You’ll find out how many calories you need per day to reach your goal, and then maintain it.  

https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/bwp/

Figure in Fitness

If you’re not into cutting calories, how about burning them off? The Calorie Control Council has an excellent calculator for tracking the calories you burn, based on activity.

http://caloriecontrol.org/healthy-weight-tool-kit/get-moving-calculator/

Track Your Goals for Free

Now keep track of everything you’re doing. Load your top five goals into the USDA’s SuperTracker site and monitor how you’re doing with:

*Weight Management

*Physical Activity

*Calories

*Foods (See if your diet has imbalances across food groups.)

*Nutrients (Need more Vitamin D? Iron?)

https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/mytop5goals.aspx

Wishing you a healthy and happy 2016!