As Americans we are constantly bombarded with the newest diet fad, diet plan and can find a slew of diet "tips" online. How do we know what works and what does not? In the 1980’s the craze was to go to the "meetings" where all the people sat around and talked about food. Then the "experts" (formerly students themselves on the plan) weighed you in front of everyone and you recorded it all in your journal that you toted around with you everywhere you went. No one talked about metabolic rate or fat to burn ratios because that simply wasn’t in "the plan".

Then came the cards. Depending on the fad diet you were following you might have had colored cards (eat 5 green item cards and 2 blue) today or you were moving cards from the right side of the book to the left side of the book and when you ran out of cards you simply stopped eating for the day.

In the 1990’s the fad was the weight loss clinic. Every "counselor" was more like a sales person that was concerned on how long it would take you to lose weight and based your cost on time not real progress. So for 100 pounds of weight loss it would take you 1 year and $2300. Then you got a book of approved foods and were told to keep a journal that would come in with you once a week for 52 weeks where you would be weighed and your journal evaluated. Sounds a lot like the "meeting" only the person behind the desk wore scrubs and seemed a bit more official.

For the 2010 era, the newest craze is to use a nutritional tracker that can monitor your progress, offer tips and suggestions, and personalized nutritional plans according to the foods you like, coaching, even a fitness buddy, and all with the ease of being able to access it from your phone or computer. No group meetings, no need to trek anywhere to any clinics. No colored cards, no embarrassing weigh-ins. You are safe in your own home (or via phone wherever you go) and for a small fraction of the costs associated with the precious weight loss fads.

The following are some Team Fitness America reasons that nutritional tracking works quicker and more efficiently rather than using any of the methods listed above:

Back then: You had to trek to the nearest "weight loss clinic" and meet with a young sales person that called themselves a weight loss counselor. They handed you a mini book of "approved foods"’ and stuck you on a scale. Now, you have privacy and choices with many more options.

Online nutritional programs: Weigh yourself in the comfort of your own home with no prying eyes. No group weigh-ins and no feeling belittled in front of a group of people. Choose your own foods, plug them into the nutritional tracker and it will give you menus, tips, and ideas while allowing you to track your calories with proper fat intake right before your eyes. Some of the programs even offer videos of food preparation so you can see how exactly to make a healthy meal.

Back then: You had cards that you moved from the left side of the portfolio to the right side and when all your cards were gone, you were done eating for the day. But what if you were still hungry? Tough!

Online nutritional programs: Choices for food and how much based on your exercise outputs, weight, goals and body make up. Things that are different among us all are now taken into consideration. Now we know that not every person loses or gains weight at the same rate as the next person. We also know that each person may metabolize certain foods differently simply based on chemistry, past medical history and health conditions. With cards or mini books there is no way to discern any one person from the next person. With a customized, personalized online system you can see how different your food choices are from your friends and you both will benefit.

Back then: A hardcopy journal that you better not lose or your "counselor" will not be happy.

Online Nutritional tracking: Now it is all electronic so you won’t lose the journal and you can make entries from any place discreetly. The dinner table, a restaurant, the office, the subway, or any place you choose and no one will know that you are counting calories like if you broke out the journal and a pen. Plus all of your information is stored electronically for ease of access and accountability. You can have a coach look at your information the same time you are to make suggestions, keep you motivated and provide all the educational tools you would need to understand how your metabolic rate affects your weight.

Back then: A monthly fee plus start up costs, all based on how much weight you plan to lose. This can be in the thousands depending on how long you plan to use the program.

Online Nutritional tracking: One set fee, or a small monthly fee depending on your level of service. So it is the same if you lose 10 or 100 pounds and it is very affordable even for a small budget.

The advent of the online nutritional tracker may just put the weight loss clinic out of business with more to offer, ease of access and comfort of access from your own home or any location. Long gone are the days of writing down your food intake calories in a journal and handing them to your personal trainer to review and make suggestions on what to add or delete form your daily food intake. Now you can plug it all into a computerized system, make changes as you need to and have a live representative review it on the spot.

When you couple the online nutritional tracking with a solid personal training program, like one at Team Fitness America, you will achieve maximum results in a fraction of the time it would take with a food program alone.