Free Weight Loss (or Maintenance) Tool

For those of you looking for a FREE online weight loss program, I wanted to share one that I have used for a few years! http://caloriecount.about.com/

First you have to make an account. From there, you can fill out your profile, set your personal goals, and information. Use the calculators that they offer to see how much you should be eating (calories) to reach your goal (you enter a goal weight and date.) It's also a good tool for maintaining your weight! Then from here you can log your food and exercise. The foods aren't always 100% accurate, or listed, but there's a lot considering it's a free service. You can add your own foods if they aren't listed and you have the nutrition information. I've heard one of the most effective ways to lose/maintain weight is to write down everything you eat!

The feature I just found and I'm really excited about is under "exercise" and then the tab "exercise plan." It's a 12 week, professionally made work out plan. It gives you step by step, DAY BY DAY, workouts for cardio/weight training and how to work out effectively. You don't have to do the workout for that day. There is a list of other possible workouts you could do (or take the day off, do your own workout, etc.) I'm not going to live by it, but I think it has some really useful ideas! Everyday has a little "tip" which I definitely will do (for example, one day I have to throw out one "unhealthy" food from the pantry.)

There's also a ton of other features that the website offers, like recipes, other workout plans, and my favorite are the discussion boards. The discussion boards which I find REALLY helpful are open for any of the members to post on. For example, I was going out to eat for Mexican for my friends birthday and I didn't know what "bad" Mexican food choices were. I posted something and within a day, got around 50 thoughtful andhelpful responses. You'd be surprised how willing people are to help!

Like I said this program is FREE! Although there are no proven results (like for example, with weight watchers), I think if you are really dedicated and get into the routine of using it, it will be a very useful tool. I hope some of you find it as helpful as I do!

-Charlotte

Chicago, IL