Online weight loss resources?

January 19, 2004 4:19 PM

As a follow-up to the many diet threads, can anyone recommend good online weight loss resources? [more inside]

Specifically interested in websites that help track and encourage progress. Weight loss journal/weblog resources? Fitness logs? Progress charts/calculators? Diet guides? Decent message forums?

Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

posted by jca to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

FitDay seems to have pretty much everything but the forums. I've used them in the past but pretty much do everything in a spreadsheet now that I've kinda gotten the hang of things. CheckWeight forums has a great (and active) group of people.
posted by NsJen at 4:37 PM on January 19, 2004

I just started a diet, too, and my wife gave me a newspaper clipping which mentions this government run site. I've not actually looked at it, though.

Tangent: For two years I used an old Mac-based program called Diet Balancer, and it really helped me visualize all the calories I consumed and expended. It was great. Now my Diet Balancer disk is dead, though; nothing will read it. I'd love to find a copy of this program online.
posted by jdroth at 5:38 PM on January 19, 2004

SparkPeople is a small company based in Cincinnati that does online diet/fitness management.
posted by benjh at 5:45 PM on January 19, 2004

I will second the fitday reccomendation. I have been using it since beginning of Jan, and it has helped me to lose 10 pounds just by helping me monitor how much I eat.

I also have been using http://www.weightlossforgood.co.uk/index.htm
It has some good resources, especially the BMI calculator (yikes!) and a calorie intake calculator.
posted by Quartermass at 10:41 PM on January 19, 2004

Boy am I glad I didn't weigh in (heh) on the low carb diet thread because now I would TOTALLY feel like a shill, instead of just mostly feeling like a shill when I suggest Weight Watchers eTools on-line service.

Pros: Weight tracking, progress charts, journals, recipe search, recipe tools to figure out the nutritional info of your favorite recipes, fitness trackers, tons and tons of articles about food and fitness, a decent community section with lots and lots of boards divided into special interest areas, inspirational articles and tons of before and after stories (these help me a lot), menu planners if you desire that will also generate shopping lists for you. No special foods or supplements required, and WW advocates eating a balanced diet and "lifestyle" update to any kind of food-group elimination or quick fix fad dieting.

Cons: Pricey, you have to convert everything to "points" to make their program work (although as some one who has an easier time keeping track of smaller numbers, I think this is a pro).

I lost 30 pounds using the etools, then switched to traditional meetings to lose 25 more. It's good stuff. I'm happy to evangelize more about it via email.

PS I'm not a shill, just thinner, healthier, and more productive. And very grateful.
posted by jennyb at 1:10 PM on January 20, 2004

The Diet Blog tries to make sense of all the diet confusion.
posted by danec at 11:00 AM on January 21, 2004