All three provide good and useful services, but is any one of them clearly better than the other two? The reviews are based on the features most of us would expect from a fitness tool/advice site. For each category/feature I will rate Traineo, Gyminee, and Sparkpeople. The format is simple, five categories (user-friendliness, groups, nutritional logging, exercise logging, and graphing capabilities) judged by placing each site into first, second, or third place. First place is awarded 3 points, second place 2 points; third place 1 point. At the end of this review the points are added up and the winner announced. Pretty simple, right? Good, well let’s start the reviews. (more…)
Archive for the ‘meal plan’ Category
Traineo vs. Gyminee vs. Sparkpeople: Which is the Best?
Posted: July 17, 2008 in fitness, fitness journal, fitness tools, free, health, journal entry, life, links, long range plans, losing weight fat, meal plan, networking, nutrition, reviews, weight, weight lifting, Weight lossTags: Exercise, fitness, fitness journal, food journal, gyminee, health, health charts, journaling, nutrition journal, review, SparkPeople, traineo
A Few More Reasons to Eat Your Watermelon: Hint, Natural Viagra
Posted: July 9, 2008 in blogging, diet, eat, fat blogging, Food, health, healthy food, healthy sugar, links, losing weight fat, marriage, meal plan, News, sex, sexercise, weight, weight loss for men, weight loss for womenTags: erectile dysfunction, Food, health, healthy food, nutrition, viagra, watermelon
It is delicious, thirst quenching, nutrient dense, and now it is also labeled as a natural Viagra. What is this miraculous food? Abromosia? Close, it is watermelon. The delicious deep red fruit has a whole host of nutritious benefits, tastes 1,000 times better than broccoli, and now, according to Texas A & M’s Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Center some compounds found in watermelons:
“[perform] the same basic effect that Viagra has, to treat erectile dysfunction and maybe even prevent it.”
Moreover, Dr. Bhimu Patil went on to state that, “it’s [watermelon] a great way to relax blood vessels without any drug side-effects”
Sounds like it makes for a great pre-run, pre-workout snack.
Add to these new benefits the long recognized health benefits of watermelons (listed below) and it is probably worth designating the delicious fruit as a totally awesome super food.
Health Benefits of Watermelon; Tips on Knowing a Good Melon when you see it. (more…)
A Busy Monday….
Posted: May 27, 2008 in blogging, diet, eat, Exercise, family, fat, fat blogging, fat loss, fat loss help, fat lost, fitness, fitness journal, Food, health, healthy food, life, losing weight fat, Me, meal plan, meat, my life, weight, Weight Fat Loss, weight gain loss, weight lifting, Weight loss, weight loss for men, weight loss for womenTags: diet, entry, Exercise, fitness, Food, health, journal, nutrition
So busy in fact that I couldn’t fit all my activities and nutritional info on to one excel sheet. That is why you get three separate GIF files for your viewing pleasure. Plus, if you click the read more option below, you’ll get a tease about tomorrow’s post- a post I REALLY DON’T want to write or leave up as public record.
Back to the Excel files. The first GIF showcases today’s activities and basic meal information. As usual (at least for the last week) the day started out with some Wii Fit yoga and boxing. Around the middle of the day I took the opportunity to lay out the slip and slide and enjoy time with my daughter and wife- and later suffer from a raging sun burn- for over an hour. Later I took some time to throw in a complete resistance workout using an old set of PowerBlock dumbbells. Also, I’m not even counting the 50 or so times I had to throw my daughter over my head, run around with her on my shoulders, etc. I would rank today as a high activity day.
The second GIF is the top half of a more in depth analysis of caloric intake throughout the day. (more…)
Fitness Journal Entry 3/21/08: A Day at the Park
Posted: March 21, 2008 in blogging, breaking plateaus, cardio, challenge, change, child, children, diet, Exercise, family, fat, fat blogging, fat loss, fat loss help, fat lost, fitness, fitness journal, Food, health, healthy food, journal entry, life, marriage, Me, meal plan, my life, play, playground, weight, Weight Fat Loss, weight gain loss, Weight loss, weight loss for men, weight loss for women, weight loss toolsTags: daughter, Exercise, father, fitness, fitness journal entry, fun, playground, run, Weight loss
It was a great day out with the family ;-). 65 degrees, sunny all day, and a very energetic daughter to chase around the playground.
The Difference A Week Makes…
Posted: November 26, 2007 in attitude, blogging, breaking plateaus, challenge, change, competition, Exercise, exercise equipment, experiment, fat, fat blogging, fat loss, fat loss help, fitness, fitness challenge, Food, health, lifting, meal plan, muscle, weight, Weight Fat Loss, weight gain loss, weight lifting, Weight loss, weight loss for menTags: body building, exercises, fitness, muscle, rest, strength
I took off a whole week from lifting over Thanksgiving (Monday to Monday) and the results were nothing less than excellent.
My Squat went from 290 to 320
My Leg Press went from 390 to 415
My Bench Press went up, although its gone down overall since I switched machines. Over the last few months I went from Hammer Strength bench presses, to Smith Machine bench presses, to free weight bench presses. The difference is amazing- the latter is MUCH harder.
and My Shoulder Press went from 150 to 180
Suffice it to say, I feel great! Combined with my tighter higher protein food regimen I am expecting great results over the next month. Perhaps I will go shirtless in February? Who knows?!
I should add a word of warning, long periods of time off from exercise can be extremely beneficial in aiding muscle recovery and allowing your body the time it needs to recover. However, be sure your workouts are intense enough to stimulate growth before you go taking off a whole week!
Re-Dedication, Again…
Posted: November 11, 2007 in fat, fat blogging, fat loss, fat loss help, fat lost, life, losing weight fat, Me, meal plan, mens' health, muscle, personal, pride, results, run, set backs, shame, total transformation, two-week transformation challenge, weight, Weight Fat Loss, weight gain loss, weight lifting, Weight lossIt is always interesting that whenever you take on a major lifestyle change the old habits always seem to find a way to creep in when you let your guard down. They find the cracks in your resistance and slip on through with ease. For me it was stress from school that got me eating like I used to and skipping my cardio. I tend to eat when I want to get my mind off of whatever is stressing me. That is why I reached 206lbs back in law school, as I was constantly stressed out back then.
Thanks to my continued resistance training I haven’t fallen too far off track, but for a perfectionist like me, I am INCREDIBLY frustrated that I am still hanging around between 167 and 171 lbs. I should be 159lbs by now. Well, I would be, if I hadn’t succumbed to my basest urges.
So now is a time for rededication of sorts. To throw myself back into this fully and fit into this shirt– not to mention make it look good! So for the next two weeks I am going to reintroduce cardio and bring my eating back under control- no more cookies or chips!
Next Week: The Return of Intensity (Part Deux)
Posted: September 23, 2007 in cardio, cardiovascular training, challenge, change, Exercise, experiment, faith, fat, fat blogging, fat loss, fat loss help, fat lost, Me, meal plan, muscle, total transformation, two-week transformation challenge, weight, Weight Fat Loss, weight gain loss, weight lifting, Weight loss, weight loss for menSo my workouts are more intense and it is working great, now what? Well, how about taking a step back and looking at my diet. Wow! Much room for improvement remains.
So in addition to a workout schedule similar to last week I will be clamping down on my food intake and ending the snacks that often sneak into my mouth. Darn clever little critters aren’t they? This means no more bites of my daughter’s cookies, no more ice pops, no more pointless white flour I sometimes consume, and even no more buns on my Chick-fil-a grilled sandwiches.
Now let me emphasize this next point. THIS KIND OF THING ISN’T NECESSARY for those of you just trying to lose some weight. My goal is more than just dropping a few pounds- I’ve dropped 40 already. My new goal is to see my abs and turn my body into a fitness machine capable of short bursts of incredible strength and speed and long periods of serious physical exertion. This is the NEXT LEVEL!
Breaking Free of Plateaus: A New Suggestion
Posted: August 28, 2007 in blogging, breaking plateaus, cardiovascular training, challenge, change, competition, contest, diet, eat, Exercise, experiment, faith, fat, fat blogging, fat loss, fat loss help, fat lost, fitness, Food, health, healthy food, life, lifting, losing weight fat, low carb, meal plan, muscle, my life, nutrition, personal, results, total transformation, two-week transformation challenge, weight, Weight Fat Loss, weight gain loss, weight lifting, Weight loss, weight loss for men, weight loss for women, wisdomHere it is, as simply as I can put it:
Indulgence days aren’t optional, they are essential!
Yeah, I know, you’ve spent the last few months (or years) carefully watching every calorie lest you eat 1 calorie too much. And this might seem counter-intuitive, but trust me on this. I stumbled on this by accident.
As many of you know I was stuck somewhere between 168.5 and 170.5 for about 70 days or so. I also had no change in either muscle growth or waist shrinkage. Both numbers remained the same for that 70 day period.
Last week, as I had company in town, I ended up taking two days off my diet for the sake of convenience. Keep in mind I DID NOT take off time from my workouts. On the first night I ate three VERY large slices of pizza and a few garlic knots, and on the second night I ate a delicious Checkers’ burger with small fries. Sure, on those nights I weighed in at about 170.2, but I felt fine and my waist measurement never went up.
The next day I got back to basics and stuck with my meal plan and ran through a good resistance training workout and a short cardio session (part walk, part interval training).
The next day I rested and ate well.
On the fourth day I stepped on the scale…