Research suggests that people who keep food and activity journals lose more weight and maintain a healthier weight than people who don’t keep records. Sound tedious? Not with the DailyBurn’s easy, interactive, diet and fitness website. There’s even an iphone app for all you smartphone users out there. And the basic level is free.

A fundamental lesson in human metabolism and a favorite phrase of many dietitians is “calories in, calories out.” Take in more calories than you burn, and you will gain weight. Burn more calories than you consume, and you will lose weight. Unlike other web tools that focus on either exercise or calorie counts alone, DailyBurn incorporates both fitness and dietary tracking into one program, allowing the user to compare what they consume with what they burn.

The website offers much more than data entry. You can browse hundreds of exercises, create your own workouts, join challenges, and find accountability partners. Track distance, heart rate, reps, and sets, and (gulp!) weight and body measurements, and view your progress over time (weeks or months) in multiple interactive charts and graphs.

DailyBurn has a database of 170,000 foods and recipes. You can also add your own foods and recipes. Aside from calories, carbohydrate, protein, and fat intakes are available as well. One problem I have with the dietary portion of the site is that the default recommendation for dietary composition is 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein, and 30% fat. More moderate, and perhaps healthier, goal ranges would be more in line with 50-65% carbohydrate, 15-20% protein, and 20-30% fat. But you can easily customize these settings.

Want to “burn fat, lose weight, and gain muscle?” DailyBurn might just be the site for you. Need a motivator or want to see what this dietitian eats and does to stay fit? Then join me, cc mayes, on the DailyBurn.