Are you looking for a state-of-the-art web based tool to help you achieve your fitness and weight loss goals? Just last week the USDA announced the launch of it’s new web tool designed to help folks make healthy food and physical activity choices. And best of all it’s free! Before I give you the lowdown on how it all works and the massive benefits it provides here are excerpts from the USDA press release:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2011 – Just in time to help Americans keep their New Year’s resolutions by making healthy food and physical activity choices, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today released USDA’s new nutrition SuperTracker. The SuperTracker is a comprehensive, state-of-the-art resource available at ChooseMyPlate.gov designed to assist individuals as they make changes in their life to reduce their risk of chronic disease and maintain a healthy weight. Release of this new web tool comes as USDA highlights the second in a series of themed consumer messages supporting the MyPlate icon – Enjoy Your Food, But Eat Less – that USDA is promoting the next three months in conjunction with more than 5,000 organizations participating in the MyPlate Nutrition Communicators Network.

The SuperTracker is a visually appealing, comprehensive, state-of-the-art resource available at ChooseMyPlate.gov. It is designed to assist individuals as they make changes in their life to reduce their risk of chronic disease and maintain a healthy weight. Consumers can access this free, on-line tool at anytime and can choose a variety of features to support nutrition and physical activity goals. SuperTracker offers consumers the ability to:

•Personalize recommendations for what and how much to eat and amount of physical activity.
•Track foods and physical activity from an expanded database of foods and physical activities.
•Customize features such as goal setting, virtual coaching, weight tracking and journaling.
•Measure progress with comprehensive reports ranging from a simple meal summary to in-depth analysis of food groups and nutrient intake over time.
•Operationalize the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines.
•Support family and friends by adding their individual profiles.

The SuperTracker complements First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative and provides practical information to help individuals, health professionals, nutrition educators, and consumers build healthier diets. As Americans are experiencing epidemic rates of overweight and obesity, the online resources and tools available at ChooseMyPlate.gov can empower people to make healthier food and physical activity choices for themselves, their families, and their children.

The SuperTracker allows you to choose up to 5 goals for your fitness, nutrition and weight loss plan. Once you have entered your goals you also can sign up for daily, weekly or monthly email alerts from the “My Coach Center” that are personalized to the goals you have set.

There are five areas you can set goals for – weight management, physical activity, calories, food groups and nutrients. You can set a goal for each area or set multiple goals within an area. There is a limit of 5 total goals. Within each of the five areas you then can input your daily activity such as what foods you eat and how much physical activity you get. You can also track your weight on a daily basis and with the reporting functions available can then see how you are trending over time.

In addition to the goals, tracking and reporting features there is a journal where you can record your thoughts and anything else that does not quite fit into the tracking features available. This is a tremendous benefit as it has been shown in various studies that keeping a food and/or physical activity journal significantly impacts your ability to achieve your goals.

So if you are making your 2012 resolutions to get healthy and fit you need to go and sign up for the USDA’s SupterTracker today. It will super charge your ability to reach you goals and provide that all important feedback and advice to keep you on track.