Recap:
Resolution #1: Read a self-improvement book
Resolution #2: Learn a new Skill
My next resolution is my least favorite of the group, but probably the most important.
Resolution #3: Lose weight
Statistically, most Americans could stand to lose a few pounds and it certainly wouldn’t hurt me any. The problem is that losing weight is hard work and generally no fun. Results can come slowly and it can be hard to stay motivated with temptation around every corner. To really succeed in losing weight you need to change your lifestyle and your habits, you have to have a long term plan as well as a short term one.
I’m not much of a fad dieter, as far as I’m concerned to lose weight you need to watch what you eat and exercise more. One thing that really worked well for coworkers and I was to lose weight together and to turn it into a competition. We tracked our weight over the course of 3 months and all of us did very well and as we start up again this year, our starting weights are lower than they were the previous year meaning at least some of the loss stuck. 3 months might seem a little bit on the long side but I think you need to have your competition last that long for a few reasons:
- It’s enough time for the good habits you take on to sink in and become routine
- It gives you enough time to lose a significant amount of weight
- It makes it harder for people to cheat (if there is something worth cheating for)
Good tracking tools are a must, a spreadsheet is good enough but if you want something better you should certainly check out our article on 15 Web 2.0 Diet/Fitness Sites. And since we’re all programmers we’re working on something home grown this year, if it’s good enough maybe I can talk the guy doing most of the programming into releasing the code.
iStatsFitness – http://istats.com.au – I recently posted an article on 15 Web 2.0 diet/fitness sites. Here is a new player in that game. They are currently in Open Beta. There Beta badge reads “Beta its not our fault.” Thats funny I thought. At least they admit their reason for being beta. The site is clean and what we except from Web 2.0. So check it out. Also see Killer Startups post. Web 2.0 Design by NovaNate.
Need to go on a diet? Or maybe just get fit? Here is a list of 15 sites to manage your diet, track your exercise, and get fit the Web 2.0 way. Have you heard of all 15? I doubt it. What’s your favorite? I have personally used Weightlosswars.com and find the competition aspect a good method. But, in researching these sites I like DietTV.com.
Anyway no details just a lean and mean list with links. Enjoy!
- DietTelevision – http://www.diettv.com
- Traineo http://www.traineo.com
- SparkPeople – http://sparkpeople.com
- FatSecret – http://fatsecret.com
- Fitday – http://fitday.com
- WeightLossWars – http://www.weightlosswars.com
- Gyminee – http://www.gyminee.com
- The Daily Plate – http://www.thedailyplate.com
- Inpowr – http://inpowr.com
- RunFatBoy – http://www.runfatboy.net
- iTrainHarder – http://www.itrainharder.com
- Skinnyr – http://www.skinnyr.com
- Gimme20 – http://www.gimme20.com
- MyFoodDiary – http://www.myfooddiary.com
- FitSync – http://www.fitsync.com