One of the readers of this blog has introduced me to an online site where you can track your weight loss and diet goals, best of all it is FREE! The website is SPARKPEOPLE and you start off my registering, then type in your current weight/height, your target weight loss goal and a date by which you would like to loose the weight. You also indicate what other goals you would like to achieve, such as cardio training or drinking more water and also any medical conditions that you may suffer from such as high blood pressure.
What happens next is your personal page is created with meal planners that let you know how much calories you need to consume to meet your goal. Added to that it actually list sample meal plans which you can tailor by changing the foods allocated, you can substitute grapes for bananas, brown rice for salad etc. then it calculates how much calories ALL your meals work out to. The meal plan is printable so if you are going to work or out of the house you can keep it handy as a guide to the calories you are consuming.
According to your weight loss goal certain exercises are also pre selected for you, you can also tailor this to your needs. The guide tells you how many repetitions of each exercise to do and also provides a demo! I like that it gives you an indication of how many calories you are burning in relation to your goal.
There is also an online community where you can link up with other people who have the same goals as you, which is pretty cool. I am still exploring the website but so far I think it is a great tool in meal planning as my biggest problem is not working out but the food that I eat; I tend to lean towards unhealthy eating choices.
The timing could not be better either as I have made a clean sweep and gotten rid of all the snacks in the house! Right now all I have on hand are lots of fruits, vegetables, chicken breasts, low fat milk, bran cereal, brown rice and couscous. As I always say, the hardest part is getting started and it is nice to have this little tool where I can easily check how many calories are in a handful (15) grapes or my cereal and milk. So have a look at SPARKPEOPLE, hopefully it will help someone get on the right track to Carnival 2008!
What happens next is your personal page is created with meal planners that let you know how much calories you need to consume to meet your goal. Added to that it actually list sample meal plans which you can tailor by changing the foods allocated, you can substitute grapes for bananas, brown rice for salad etc. then it calculates how much calories ALL your meals work out to. The meal plan is printable so if you are going to work or out of the house you can keep it handy as a guide to the calories you are consuming.
According to your weight loss goal certain exercises are also pre selected for you, you can also tailor this to your needs. The guide tells you how many repetitions of each exercise to do and also provides a demo! I like that it gives you an indication of how many calories you are burning in relation to your goal.
There is also an online community where you can link up with other people who have the same goals as you, which is pretty cool. I am still exploring the website but so far I think it is a great tool in meal planning as my biggest problem is not working out but the food that I eat; I tend to lean towards unhealthy eating choices.
The timing could not be better either as I have made a clean sweep and gotten rid of all the snacks in the house! Right now all I have on hand are lots of fruits, vegetables, chicken breasts, low fat milk, bran cereal, brown rice and couscous. As I always say, the hardest part is getting started and it is nice to have this little tool where I can easily check how many calories are in a handful (15) grapes or my cereal and milk. So have a look at SPARKPEOPLE, hopefully it will help someone get on the right track to Carnival 2008!
2 comments:
sparkpeople actually works! i caught on to it in september and it keeps me really disciplined (particularly with water drinking) the articles are very helpful and it will really assist in carnival goal, i totally vouch for it!!!
thanks so much for this. it looks like a great site! can't believe it's free!!
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