Published in Internet Newsroom.

As soon as the New Year passes, many people become determined to lose the unwanted pounds gained by all of the rich holiday eating.

Journalists who write articles for women's journals, parenting magazines, health publications, and more will find a wealth of information on weight loss on the Internet, as well as wonderful ideas for subtopics.

We'll begin with several sites that stand out among the crowd, then work our way through others that are excellent as well.

As much as we realize that fast food and dieting don't go hand in hand, it's difficult in this fast-paced world to keep out of fast food restaurants, which is where Fast Food Facts, Interactive Food Finder, comes in. This site, which is one of my personal favorites, features nutritional information on more than 1000 fast-food items. Let's say you want to pull in to your favorite taco place for a salad. Salads are low fat, aren't they? Not necessarily! Taco Bell's Taco Salad contains a whopping 840 calories and 52 fat grams! At Fast Food Facts, you can plug in your favorite fast food restaurant, your usual meal, and see if it fits into your diet plan.

Now here's a wonderful site that's one of the best for diet information: Diet & Weight Loss/Fitness Home Page. Read their weight loss tips, get help on starting your diet, or learn why we eat when we're not hungry. Calculate your body mass, discover the importance drinking water, or learn a "powerful but spooky technique" for losing unwanted pounds. The site will tell you how many calories will get burned per minute for various activities. Which activity topped the list? Snow shoveling!

Another excellent site is Mayo Clinic's Virtual Cookbook where your own recipes are made healthy. Send them a recipe and they'll reduce the fat, calories, cholesterol, and sodium for you! The site then posts selected recipes online in categories such as breakfasts, breads, and entrees. Each recipe offers the original as well as the modified version which lets you know how many calories and fat grams you'll save by eating healthy.

One of the best weight loss spots on the Internet is CyberDiet. Complete an online form and receive a personalized, nutritional profile showing how many calories and nutrients you should be consuming each day. At the Daily Food Planner, plug in your daily calories and receive help in planning your meals, complete with a shopping list and recipes. Learn exercise tips and diet preservers as well.

Now here's a helpful site. The Diet Analysis Home Page lets you enter the foods you've eaten for one day (no cheating), and it will report a complete nutritional review of your diet based on the recommended daily allowances for your demographic area.

Visit the Science of Weight Management for daily articles on weight loss. Past columns include, "Ketones and the Metabolic Rate," "Appetite Vs. Allergy," and "Appetite Management 100."

For no-nonsense information about the consequences of obesity, various diet therapies, behavior modification, and medications for the treatment of obesity, visit Understanding Obesity and Weight Loss published by the UCSF Division of Internal Medicine.

Obesity.Com offers the latest news on weight loss, such as "Vitamins Block Fatty Meals," plus instructions on calculating your body mass index (BMI), which has been the medical standard for obesity measurement since the early 1980's. If you're ready to begin a weight loss program, the site features questions to ask yourself and a plan to help you on your way to success. Learn the "Rare Truth about Fats" and easy exercise guides.

Get help in starting a weight loss journal at Good Housekeeping's Fitness Connection. Check out their delicious three-week weight loss plan, Winning@Losing. The Kitchen Counter helps you keep track of the day's nutritional intake or find out how many calories are in a particular food. The site also features a Burn Thermometer, which will tell you how many calories you'll burn by doing certain activities.

If you're looking for an online support group for weight loss, look no further than The Magic of Believing. This e-mail support group adopts this philosophy: "It is a place where people who have a weight problem will learn they are not alone in their struggle." Be sure to visit the information page for websites on fitness, weight loss organizations, health magazines, and nutrition advice.

We all know that in order to have a successful weight loss program, we should incorporate exercise into our regime. At The Internet's Fitness Resource, you'll find a listing of fitness-related links as well as weekly editorials on nutrition, fitness plans, and much more. The Fitness Plan offers an Abs FAQ for abdominal training, a Stretching FAQ, and information on aerobic exercise.

Walking is an excellent exercise that can be enjoyed by almost everyone, and Racewalk.com offers advice for beginners as well as seasoned walkers. Learn flexibility drills, or visit Walking Wellness Online, which is believed to be the first online interactive walking book.

Julie's Low & Fat-Free Resources List offers a wonderful listing of low-fat and fat-free resources found on the Internet. You'll discover newsgroups, web pages, commercial sites, and even resources for eating healthy while traveling.

At Cooking Light Online, you'll find fabulous recipes for one of our favorite foods, chocolate. How about a Double-Chocolate Cream Tart? Their recipe index features every recipe published in Cooking Light Magazine from 1995-1997. See what exercise videos their experts recommend, and read helpful articles in the Well-Body Almanac.

For low-fat cooking tips, hints for eating out, and recipes galore, visit The Low-Fat Lifestyle Forum. You'll find recipes for Mexican foods, desserts, appetizers, sandwiches, and more.

Finally, don't forget to stop at Flora's Collection of Lowfat Recipes. This site is well worth a visit.

Robin Nobles is a freelance writer who can be reached at robinnobles@robinsnest.com.

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