The SELF Diet Club

Count calories as painlessly as possible by joining the SELF Diet Club. The SELF Diet Club keeps track of your daily intake of calories, carbohydrates, protein, fat, and certain vitamins and minerals like vitamin C, calcium, and iron. You decide what you are going to eat and the computer calculates the portions and counts calories for you. You can plan a meal using the SELF Diet Club menus or you can create your own at home, as long as you stay within your range of calories.

The goal of the SELF Diet Club is to help make your everyday healthy choices as simple as possible. Whether your goal is to lose, maintain, or gain weight, this plan can help you do it slowly and safely. The SELF Diet Club encourages you to follow your progress by tracking your weight, analyzing your progress, adding up each day's totals, comparing days, and tracking your exercise. You can go at your own pace.

And the SELF Diet Club doesn't torment you when you make a mistake and go over your calorie limit. You can always find a support buddy to help motivate you. You can also correspond with a nutrition or fitness expert for advice.

What makes the SELF Diet Club a different weight loss program?

The SELF Diet Club is a twenty-first century variation on a calorie-counting, portion-control diet. You'll be counting calories without doing the counting yourself. All the log books and trackers are online. The computer software does all the calculations for you. No more frustration trying to calculate your calorie needs, having to figure out how many calories are in your green salad, or making the server wait while you determine what your count allows you to order for dinner.

What is the SELF Diet Club?

The SELF Diet Club helps guide you towards your goals - whether you want to lose weight or live a healthier life. This calorie-counting, portion-control plan calculates your calories and other nutrients based on your needs. Once you have determined your daily calorie intake, you can choose to have the SELF Diet Club plan your meals. You choose foods from each food group. Your computer will calculate the portion size that is right for you.

The user friendly computer program plans three daily meals for you, allowing a few hundred calories to be saved for snacks. You can add any food that is not calculated on the Meal Planner through the Daily Food Log. This plan aspires to help you even if you go over your daily calorie budget. The SELF Diet program will compare days so you can see where you picked up those extra calories. You can also choose to have the Meal Planner help you select a dairy-free or heart-healthy meal.

When you use the Meal Planner to count calories for you, you can choose foods from various food groups for each meal. If you are on an 1800 to 1900 calorie meal plan, this could be a typical day's menu:

• Breakfast: One fat-free flavored muffin, 1/2 sesame bagel, eight ounces of fat- free chocolate milk, one large banana, and one tablespoon of jam or preserves. 577 total calories.
• Lunch: four servings of deli pastrami, two small (4") whole-wheat pita breads, one cup shredded lettuce, 3/4 tablespoon of light mayonnaise, nine ounces of cappuccino made with non-fat milk, 1/2 pear, and 1/2 cup of fat-free frozen yogurt. 642 total calories.
• Dinner: three ounces of Atlantic farmed salmon (cooked using dry heat), one dinner roll, one-and- 1/2 cups of canned sweet peas, two cups of raw broccoli, 2 cups of raw spinach, 3/4 cup of raw blueberries, 2 1/2 tablespoons of light salad dressing. 688 total calories.

What are the weight loss expectations?

The initial profile allows you to choose to lose one or two pounds per week.

Is exercise promoted?

The SELF Diet plan suggests that you aim for 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise three times a week and a minimum of 20 minutes of strength training twice a week. You should also stretch for ten minutes after completing your activity. You can use an exercise tracker to determine how many calories you've burned from your physical activity on a given day. The plan can also help you find a fitness buddy who can help motivate you to stay on track.

Are supplements recommended?

The SELF Diet Club doesn't recommend any supplements.