FitSugar

Feel the DailyBurn

FitSugar — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:00:43 -0700

I'm becoming a big fan of DailyBurn - a website that lets its users track workout, diet, and health goals in easy-to-read charts and graphs. There's a ton of great health and fitness information on the site and it has a social side that lets users interact with other members.

If you're not very tech savvy, don't be afraid. The site is easy to use and is laid out in a friendly and intuitive way. There are three main areas to DailyBurn - nutrition, exercise, and social networking. To find out how they work, read more.

Nutrition: This is basically an online food journal on steroids. Its food database contains the details of close to 200,000 foods, which makes it easy to track your diet and calorie intake and get a complete nutritional breakdown of what you're eating. There's also a pretty good database of healthy recipes, too.

Exercise: In this area you can design a fitness program for yourself or use one of the 80,000+ existing programs already on the site. If you don't understand an exercise, it's OK, because DailyBurn has tons of videos detailing the exercises. The exercise tracking tool is awesome - you can track your stats for weight loss, muscle gain, strength, and endurance. If you need better improvement in a certain area, it's really easy to adjust your fitness program.

Social Networking: This is where DailyBurn really sets itself apart from other sites. Use this section to find online workout partners and confidants who end up being your biggest cheering section while you reach your goals. And if you like a little healthy competition, you can go up against one another in fitness challenges much like The Biggest Loser. There are also groups members can join depending on their interest.

The basic tools on DailyBurn are free but paid members get access to advanced options like meal planning. The site is a great tool for burning fat and gaining muscle, as well as helping make smarter food choices. I like that I don't need to spend a lot of time inputting information onto DailyBurn because everything I need is already in its databases and navigation tools.

Do Yoga With Marge Simpson

FitSugar — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:30:09 -0700

If our Strike a Yoga Pose series leaves you wanting more, take a gander at yogabeans! The hilarious blog features such notables as G.I. Joe, Barbie, Batman, Spider-Man, and Sir Rascus the Lego knight demonstrating Ashtanga yoga.

Yogabeans! is the brainchild of Eden Kennedy and features photos of plastic action figures doing Ashtanga yoga poses alongside some really funny commentary. Although it's impossible to pose plastic limbs into perfect form, the Sanskrit names are right on. It's a great way to learn posture names and get in a few giggles. Check it out - I promise you'll be laughing through the weekend.

Score Free Gym Passes

FitSugar — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:00:00 -0700

If your outdoor routine is getting cut short due to weather and air quality, or if you're just ready to take your fitness to a new level then you may want to think about joining a gym.

I know it sounds daunting, but there are a lot of gyms out there just dying to give you a free guest pass so you can try out their facilities. Gymticket.com has done the preliminary work for you so all you have to do is search for a nearby gym and show up. You can even print your free guest passes directly from the site, which means you'll avoid dealing with potentially pushy salespeople (at least in the beginning). So take your time and try out all the gyms near you until you find the one that you'll actually end up going to. You may even find that you actually enjoy going to the gym.

Tweet What You Eat

FitSugar — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:00:00 -0700

Logging your food online has never been so easy, especially now that TweetWhatYouEat is in the mix.

The latest in online food logs makes it super easy to track your food intake. All you have to do is login to Twitter to track what you eat by "tweeting" food items to your personal food diary on TweetWhatYouEat from your mobile phone, IM, or through Twitter. From there you'll have your own personal log of all your meals and snacks. The best part is that the program will track your calorie intake based on what food you enter. Pretty cool, eh? Try it out here.

Fit's Tip: If, like me, you still don't fully understand what Twitter is then check out GeekSugar's simple Twitter explanation.

Spring Biking Tip: Free Bike Routes Online

FitSugar — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 03:30:00 -0700

If you have a bike then you are probably already enjoying taking it out for long rides on the weekend. We tend to stick to the same route and it can get a little boring. The problem is that you don't want to end up 20 miles from your home only to realize that you've got to ride 20 miles back.

Bicycling.com has thousands of routes that will solve the problem. All you have to do is enter your location and it will bring up a list of possible routes for you to chose from, complete with distance, elevation, and calories burned if you maintain a certain speed. I looked it up for my town and discovered some great routes that I would have never been able to figure out on my own. I plan on trying one soon.

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Where to Buy Sneakers Online: RoadRunner Sports

FitSugar — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 11:00:00 -0700

I have given you all many tips on how and why to buy good running shoes. Take care of your feet and they will take care of you. It seem like the good deals are often online, but when it comes to sneakers finding the right fit through the Internet can seem risky, but not with RoadRunner Sports.

They guarantee a perfect fit! Seriously. Here's how they explain their policy:

And now, with our unrivaled PERFECT FIT GUARANTEE, you can hit the road in your new running shoes. If they're not just right for you, simply exchange them within 60 days, no questions asked.

How cool is that?

They also have Fit Experts available for consultation via email or telephone (which seems charmingly "old school"). You can even sort the shoes by foot type and most shoe descriptions are accompanied by helpful reviews and rankings.

RoadRunner Sports sells other gear too: hydration systems, clothing, watches, scales, and heart rate monitors. If you prefer to shop at a retail store they have "brick and mortar" operations, mostly out west, so check their site for store locations.

Looking to Improve Your Strokes: Expert-Tennis-Tips.com

FitSugar — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 08:45:00 -0700

If you're spending time on the tennis court this summer and looking for some tips on how to get your game ON, you should check out the Expert Tennis Tips website. They have a series of tips on all of the different strokes that can really help your game. Some of the tip pages have videos - I found slow motion video of the forehand mesmerizing, while other pages have great photos of tennis stars showing off their strokes.

The website details many different ways to approach not only the classic strokes of tennis but the entire game. My favorite quote is:

When learning all the tennis strokes, bear in mind that there is no single "correct" way to play . Tennis is a game of options. There are no hard and fast rules for playing and developing your game. There is no one style that leads to the "perfect" game.

I truly agree especially since my love of the game definitely tops my technique.

I found this website inspirational and their helpful tips are for every level of player. My hands are itching to grab my racquet and get out on the court. Does anyone out there remember the days of the single handed backhand?

Tennis anyone?

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Eating Disorder Recovery Website: Something-Fishy

FitSugar — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:30:00 -0800

It is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, so I wanted to tell you all about a great "pro-recovery" site. Seems like an excellent response to all those "pro-ana" websites out there. Something Fishy is an organization dedicated to raising awareness and providing support to people with Eating Disorders, and their loved-ones.

This is a really active site with very busy forums - a great way to network for support. It feels like a super supportive community of folks in recovery from EDs and their families. Plus, Something Fishy has a comprehensive list of treatment finder, a roll of recent new stories and resources for helping at risk loved ones.

Please check out this site if you need help and some support or have a loved one who does. It is a valuable resource.

Check Restaurant Websites Before Eating Out

FitSugar — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:30:00 -0700

Many restaurants, such as Chili's, post the nutritional information of their menu items online. If you're curious to know how many calories or milligrams of sodium a certain food has, or what to order on the menu that contains the least amount of cholesterol, then check their websites before you head out the door. That way you'll know that a serving of Texas Cheese Fries contains 1,920 calories and 3,570 mg of sodium, so it's best to share it with a few people.

This Is Why You're Thin Website

FitSugar — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:00:00 -0700

Images of bacon cheeseburgers with Krispy Kreme buns have been seared into the minds of many hungry people, thanks to shocking photos from the delicately titled website This Is Why You're Fat. Blogger and cookbook author Jennifer McCann saw the opportunity to build an opposing site dedicated to images that inspire healthy living. Scroll through her creation This Is Why You're Thin to see a stream of beautiful salads, vegetable-based meals, and images of people exercising.

The site is less than two months old but already has an impressive collection of reader submissions that make me want to head to the farmers market right away. When you're figuring out what to have for your next meal and need some motivation to stay on track with your goals, take a gander at this site and you may become inclined to add more natural color to your plate. Check out some of the images below and tell me, do they inspire you to live healthfully?

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