The Life Ledger

Fitness is a way of life.

• Ask MetaFilter: Is it really impossible to lose weight (in a healthy manner) by substituting two meals a day with some sort of bar?
• Ask MetaFilter: High frequency of sex, can this cause any issues?
• Ask MetaFilter: Why aren’t I losing weight? I’m doing everything right (aren’t I?). Extensive explanation of weight-loss methods inside, so this is a doozy.
• Calorie-Count forums: Husband = Diet Sabotage
• Calorie-Count forums: Running Shoes - Best Brand
• Traineo forums: Has any one tried the Rotation Diet?
• Traineo forums: Running - how often is too often?

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Traineo launched in August 2006 with the mission “to create the most effective weight loss and fitness community on the web by combining the latest software technology with sound information and services from the world’s leading health and fitness experts.” It’s been getting a lot of press lately, even earning an article on Arrington’s TechCrunch. Traineo is gaining the reputation as the poster-child for Web 2.0 weight-loss, and serves as a good starting point for reviewing online fitness journals.

First, let’s get that Web 2.0 moniker out of the way - what does it mean, and what can it bring to fitness? Web 2.0 was first coined by O’Reilly, and is a vague, near-meaningless descriptor meant to define the “new web,” an advancement beyond the idea of static, text-based pages. While the Web 2.0 descriptor is difficult to nail down, it’s easier to identify features following Web 2.0 principles - social networking (enabling interaction among users), tagging / folksonomy (enabling interaction between users and the data) and websites as applications are all examples of Web 2.0 features. Traineo is spiced with Web 2.0 principles including a call-in show packaged as a podcast, user-created groups, “motivators,” forums and more. With all these new-age features, how does Traineo do with providing the basic fitness journal features?

Traineo’s developers clearly intended to create a simple, easy-to-use weight-loss service that focuses primarily on community support, secondarily on daily caloric intake and eschews more complicated notions of nutrition. Traineo members share information through forums and support through “motivators” and private messages. Traineo offers several search features for finding like-minded members, and allows members to form groups complete with their own private forums and message areas. Recording data is as simple as choosing a caloric intake and exercise for the day.

The nutshell - If you are looking for a simple, user-friendly service to log only daily caloric intake and exercise, do not care to record or analyze daily nutrition, and are seeking an active support group with several communication features, Traineo is the place for you. If, however, you are interested in learning more about your daily nutrition and the caloric and nutritional value of the particular foods you eat, you will quickly outgrow what Traineo has to offer.

Read the full review after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

When I began losing weight and making lifestyle changes, using a diary to record my meals helped in several ways - I was less apt to eat something if it was too complicated to record; I started paying attention to all my caloric consumption, where before I ignored snacks and beverages; and I started appreciating how certain ingredients, like high fructose corn syrup, affected my body and mood. Most importantly, however, recording my meals forced me to practice awareness of my consumption habits - when I eat, why I eat, what I eat, what I crave, why I crave. Habits start as choices, then become habitual as we repeat our choices thoughtlessly. Recording my meals forced me to think about what I ate, which helped me make healthier eating choices and develop healthier eating habits.

Starting out, I just used a regular notebook and a calorie book. While fun at first, I quickly lost interest in flipping through a book to find each ingredient in my meal, then calculating my portions. I decided there must be a better way - surely there are online tools to make this easier! What I found was an overwhelming amount of diary sites to choose from, and no feature comparison to help decide which I would like the best. So, like any geek with a blog would do, I started making notes, taking screenshots, and trying out several of the services available.

First, I had to make some decisions about some general features I’m personally interested in. These would include:

• Record foods and beverages - ideally, record nutrition information in addition to caloric intake
• Record exercise
• Record other related information, including weight, amount of sleep, daily water intake, mood swings, etc
• Community features - forums, groups, etc
• Tools for calculating BMI, suggested caloric intake, suggested water intake, etc
• Topical articles written by nutritionists, trainers, featured community members, etc
• Reports for analyzing daily diet and exercise choices, including suggestions for improving diet

Additionally, I decided I would rate sites on different aspects. I’m starting with an incomplete list - I’m sure I’ll add rated features as I go, and assemble a large matrix at the end. To begin with, rated aspects will include:

• Ease of use
• Size and depth of food and exercise database
• Ability to add custom food and exercise entries
• Ability to assemble custom recipes from ingredients found in food database

One other choice I made - I would stick to free services. Perhaps after comparing some of the free services, I’ll revisit that decision and review what features pay services add and see if they’re worth paying for.

Do you have a service to suggest that you personally like? Are you interested in having features reviewed other than those listed? Let me know in the comments - I would love to make this review as helpful to you as it is for me.

Next up, I’ll start with a favorite for many people, Traineo.