I would like to share with Tip Hero readers a free tool that has helped me lose weight. Ever since I graduated from college and went from a pretty active lifestyle to sitting at a desk all day, I've struggled with my weight. Recently, I made the decision to lose the weight once and for all, and I've found a free online tool that has really helped me with my weight-loss goals.
SparkPeople.com is a free website that makes tracking the calories you eat and burn through exercise a snap. You start off by simply setting a weight goal and date (if you want to lose a lot of weight, say 50 pounds, I recommend breaking it up into smaller goals so you don't feel overwhelmed). You then set a date for reaching your goal. The website will then calculate how many calories a day you can consume and need to burn to achieve your goal.
Once you have your plan, you're off and running. You simply need to track the foods you eat each day and the exercises you perform. The site makes it really easy to track your calories. You can select foods from their online database or enter your own foods. It gets easier as time goes by (particularly once you've entered all your favorite foods into the program). Adding exercises is just as easy, and they feature an extensive database of activities. You just need to choose an activity -- say "walking at 17 minutes per mile" -- and the number of minutes spent on the activity, and then you're done.
I've found that the bedrock of weight loss is simple math: calories in and calories out. A pound of fat is approximately a surplus of 3500 calories. If you burn an excess of 3500 calories per week, you should come pretty close to losing a pound of fat per week. I live by a mantra of: "If you don't measure it, you can't manage it". Using SparkPeople to record my calories, I'm able to more clearly see the direct relationship between calories and weight loss. Seeing this relationship in black and white has given me the confidence that weight loss is something within my control, and so far I've lost 25 pounds.
SparkPeople features much more than just a food and exercise journal. It also has a suite of useful reports to track your progress, online forums where you can get support from other members, online advice articles, and a lot more. And the best part? it's absolutely free! www.sparkpeople.com
