Useful Exercise and Nutrition Website

Finally, I have found a diet website that is not asking for money and is useful. Last year my New Year's Resolution was to join the local Y and get into shape (i.e. back to the size I was in high school). I would drop my several month old daughter in the gym's daycare and have some "me" time. Working out was a good energizer after a night of little sleep. It was also the limit of my socializing (until later when I wisely joined a local mom's club). I worked hard and was five pounds from my goal for the year when I found out I was pregnant, again. Surprise!

I exercised until my 8th month of pregnancy when I stopped (mostly because I think I made the one instructor nervous and I was getting a little too clumsy and out of breath). I could have walked on the treadmill but what fun is that? Since it was late spring, I figured walking outside would be more fun (and cheaper) so I gave up my membership.

Since my second daughter's birth I haven't set foot in the gym much less even attempted one sit-up. With the whole swine flu concern, my pediatrician nixed putting the girls in the gym's daycare while I exercised. With a two year old and a three month old, I haven't even attempted to exercise at home because putting a DVD on and exercising just doesn't seem appealing.

I stumbled across a website called SparkPeople. It is free to join. It is for people trying to lose weight or who are trying to have a healthy lifestyle. SparkPeople formulates weekly meal plans for you based on your goals. You can input your food for the day (if you don't follow the meal plan or you can choose to pick certain things from the plan) and the site tallies up your calories, fat, carbs, and protein. You can also choose to track over 75 other nutrients and they will tally them up for you daily and weekly.

The coolest part for me is that you can print out exercise demos and a weekly exercise plan. The exercise plan is generated just for you based on your goals and the equipment you have at home. There are also demos of the exercises so you can see if you are doing them correctly. There are message boards and SparkTeams to join. You can help motivate others and have them help motivate you to stay on the path to lose weight. You can also create your own homepage or blog. There is also the capability to print reports such as daily nutrition feedback, daily/
weekly /monthly/calories burned, daily calorie differential (calories eaten versus calories burned), etc. You can do all of this without pulling out a notebook, a pencil, and a calculator.