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Web 2.0 Fat-Off 2009: 10 Tools for Losing Weight or Staying In Shape
Happy New Year! We are back with our annual Web 2.0 Fat-Off. The Fat-Off is where we provide a list of tools to help you lose weight, maintain your weight or just keep your arse in check. Today is a great day to start a new lifestyle. Most of the tools we’ve listed below offer communities to provide a good support base. What I’ve found is that support from others is critical to the success of any program.
Here are 10 tools to get you started (in random order) and please leave your fat-off suggestions in the comments.
MyFoodDiary
MyFoodDiary offers a food diary, exercise log, charts and a discussion forum. The site costs $9/month. The site is the longest running of the apps tested. Other features include: over 35,000 foods listed in the diary, color-coded food analysis helps to see what you are doing wrong, a strong community forum, and mobile access. Still no free trial, $9/month.
Fitbit
Fitbit demo’ed their product this past September to huge applause. This is the only gadget in the Fat-Off this year. The idea behind Fitbit is a small, paperclip looking device that you wear as you go about your day. It monitors a variety of stats and the company says it answers the following questions, "Did I get enough exercise today? How many calories did I burn? Am I getting good quality sleep? How many steps and miles did I walk today?" The Fitbit blog is interesting as the team discusses how the Fitbit is made and the decisions they had to take along the route to create the finished device. The Fitbit will be available this quarter and is $99.
Skinnyr
Skinnyr just went through a major upgrade that we covered last month. The easiest way to describe Skinnyr is to say it’s an online scale that you can share. Founder James Thomas says they are adding between 20 and 50 new users each day. Skinnyr is an interesting service as it’s clearly not as robust as other online fitness sites but it does one thing very well. I could see a company like Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig either acquiring or white-labeling the Skinnyr service for their members. Skinnyr offers free and premium versions.
NYC Representatives – DietTV, beYOU.tv and PumpOne
I like to highlight NYC startups where possible. DietTV helps you to build a personalized diet program and then use their tools and your friends to reach your goals. They have 90 diet programs listed in their database and a strong community. beYOU.tv describes their service as, "beYOU.tv is a fitness and wellness video community that lets You take control of your well-being, body, mind and soul." beYOU.tv offers a large library of videos which you can watch online or take with you to the gym and watch as you are doing the exercises. They also provide a trainer database so you can find the exact trainer to match your needs. PumpOne provides a set of workout videos which you can take on-the-go on your iPod or iPhone. The videos are around $10 or less in pre-packaged sets.
Traineo
Traineo is still my favorite overall weight management application. It looks the best and has the best overall feature set. Last month they rolled out a new platform which includes: better graphing, speed increases when accessing the application, design enhancements and improved navigation. I really like the Traineo motivators program – you select 4 people to help encourage you to keep going.
Gimme20
Gimme20 has risen from the ashes with a new site and tons more content. The site is much stronger in content and community than in the previous version. Gimme20 appears to focus more on content than apps which could be a good complement to some of the other apps listed here.
SparkPeople
SparkPeople is the most Web 1.0 of the list of reviewed apps but is also the most popular. They claim over 5 Billion calories burned and over 6 million pounds lost by their members to-date. The site is a bit much for me, but in my travels I’ve heard from many people who use SparkPeople daily. They have a sister site called SparkRecipes which focuses on healthy recipes.
Fitlink
Fitlink says they are "social fitness" by combining workout tracking and the ability to find others to work out with. I know that I’d love a workout partner – and not a virtual one. Having someone to motivate you as they too work on their fitness is great. Fitlink allows their members to create very rich profiles including a journal/blog, photo uploads, workout notes, and the ability to join Fitlink groups. There are event listings from all around the country as well.
MyFitTribe
MyFitTribe is a site for people in shape who want to stay in shape. Lots of hard bodies and good looking people from what I see. Relatively active site including forums, blogs, and video workouts. Seems similar to Gimme20 except for people already in shape.
WeightCircles
WeightCircles is a weight-control support group. Not sure why they use that as the tagline as there is more to the site. They have blogs, circles (i.e. groups), and conversations. I like the idea of conversations – it’s not exactly a forum but more like a question and answer type discussion. There’s a certain relaxed, welcoming feeling I have as I browse and interact with WeightCircles.
Final Conclusions:
Now pick one of these apps, setup the account, and get your butt off the computer and get in shape!
I think Sparkpeople is the best site ever. I have lost 27 lbs and still going strong! It has exercise videos, nutrition calculators, support from so many diffeent people with so many interests. I have joined the New year new you challenge with coach nicole and I love it!!
I found muscles I never knew I had.
I’d also recommend looking at Livestrong.com. They have a database of exercises, articles, and are partnered with The Daily Plate to help you keep track of calories. In addition to their website, Livestrong has an iPhone app for members on the go. The app is currently free (for a limited time). I’ve been using it since January and haven’t had an issue with them yet.
Cheers,
HeyStephanie
Blog: HeyStephanie.com
I have been using Traineo since your first review Allen and still like it – I hope they incorporate the fitbit into their service. That would be a rocking combo!
Love that idea Maggie – I will talk to both companies and see if I get more info for you.
One I have been using and really like is http://gyminee.com. Seems to do a good job of getting people together to exercise and lose weight.
Im really excited for fitbit, tho!
Look out for Fittr in the new year!
http://www.fittr.com
Thanks for the mention Allen, we appreciate it! Our team continues to work hard to improve the site and program. Those numbers are legit and keep growing at an accelerating rate each year (5 billion calories burned and 6 million pounds lost). They are leading to amazing success stories – one of our members was just on the Today Show and in People magazine. That’s the best part for our team – all the success stories. It makes the 8 years of working on this site all worth it. Here’s a recent example:
******
6 months with SparkPeople…priceless
It has been 6 months since I joined SparkPeople. My weight has dropped from 240 (maybe higher… I was afraid to get on the scale, so I am going by my highest weight recorded on the doctor’s chart) to 174, my BP has dropped from 169/89 to 117/74, my cholesterol is now well within normal limits, I am sleeping well, my psoriasis has healed, my hair and skin look healthy, my color has improved, my fat clothes are all way too big, my mood is improved (there are days when I feel positively elated, and that never happened before!), I’ve made new SparkFriends… the list goes on.
Oh yeah… and did I mention that as of this morning, I am no longer obese? In another 6 months, I’m not even going to be overweight! All I can say is thank you, SparkPeople! No exaggeration, I am very close to tears right now. This site ROCKS!
******
Good luck to all the sites helping people change their life – and everyone working on goals!
SparkCheers!
Chris (SparkGuy)
SparkPeople Founder/CEO
Great list! I am surprised that you did not also mention peertrainer which is a great place. I lost 50lbs last year on it and hope to lose another 50 this year.
We are a family on an open ended world tour, so live a digital life. What I liked about peertrainer is I had a support group with me all the time. I mostly use it when we are in Spain in the winter. I discovered great people, support and some new things I did not know which changed all of our diets…even when we are on the move.
I get emails from SparkPeople, but I also find it a bit overwhelming, so have not tried it yet or any of the other things you mentioned. Maybe this year!
Thanks!
Congrats on your success soultravelers! I will certainly checkout peertrainer.
I am going to recommend some of these resources to my users on my site Man Boobs Solutions
Allen,
Thanks for the beYOU.tv mention. We have a major new class feature that will be announce in the next few weeks. I think it’s great and I’ve been working on it, non-stop, for the past 3 months.
Also, beYOU.tv has a free 7-day trial offer. If any CN reader want to give beYOU.tv a test drive, this is the way to go.
I look forward to reading CN in 2009!
Greg
beYOU.tv
Wow what a great list! I have been using http://www.trainerpack.com
I find that their workouts are totally awesome since they do everything in detail. Prior to each workout I know exactly what equipment I need and what muscles I will be working and they do the counts for you too! I wish you guys had mentioned them!!!
Thanks for the info anywhoo!
Hi there!
I want to plug our food diary: http://www.mynetdiary.com .
Our food entry is by far the easiest – it searches foods as you type, suggesting found foods on the fly. It does not get easier or more Web 2.0 than that :)
And the database is over 69,000 foods, accurate and up-to-date.
We provide a free iPhone app in the App Store (iTunes link) that instantaneously sync two-way with the web site.
The community and support groups are coming in January, we missed the New Year by a couple of weeks.
Here is a couple of reviews from iTunes:
studio2054
[MyNetDiary] does much better than the rest: it uses a web 2.0 interface (ajax) to make entering food very, very simple. No clicking “submit” and waiting for a page to load to find a food — it searches as you type. So entering foods – on the site or on the iphone app — is very quick and easy. [...] And the existence of an iPhone app and the quality of user interface are my primary criteria: unless it’s simple, fast, easy, I simply can’t keep up with the food diary. So if you’re serious about counting calories on your iPhone on an app that’s connected to an online service, you should consider the superb MyNetDiary.
drsarah
There are free online food/exercise diaries, including Gyminee which has an iPhone web app for its site, but none have the elegant, user-friendly interface of MyNetDiary. For me, ease of use is crucial if I’m going to stick to a food diary long-term.
The service starts at $7/mo (when paying for 6 months) and we provide full and free test drive of all the functionality, on the web site and on the iPhone.
Why pay when there are free sites?
1. No ads, no spam.
2. Easier and faster.Free sites are designed to have more steps and show more pages, even for simple tasks – to show more ads. MyNetDiary is designed to make things easier for you and take the minimum of your time – most actions are done in-place, on the same page.
3. 69K, accurate, and up-to-date food database, with professional quality assurance. Free sites often rely on users to enter foods, resulting in duplicates, errors, and outdated food information.
4. Real, knowledgeable, and friendly support people to answer your e-mails quickly and to help you.
5. State-of-the-art technology, light-years ahead of free sites (and ahead of all paid sites, too).
So, if you are serious about weight loss, MyNetDiary is something you can stick to for a long ride – healthy weight loss takes months.
If you have any questions, shoot us an e-mail to support@mynetdiary.com , we will be glad to help!
I wish you all the best in the new year!
Polina
support@mynetdiary.com