Will You Be Twitter's Biggest Loser?

Will You Be Twitter’s Biggest Loser?

By TwitterFools Editorial Staff, November 9th, 2009 in Tools | Comments

Dieters can say goodbye to the Atkins and South Beach Diets and so long to Hollywood Cookies and any other fad that may come along. As the mega-popular NBC reality show The Biggest Loser has demonstrated, the best way to lose weight is to control your food intake and exercise regularly. While there are many challenges to overcome in a successful diet and exercise program, sometimes just tracking progress can be one of those tasks that can take an effort off course. Thankfully, Twitter users can access a variety of free twitter tools aimed at helping you track progress on your diet and exercise programs.

Obesity is an international health problem, according to the World Health Organization:

Globally, there are more than 1 billion overweight adults, at least 300 million of them obese.

Obesity and overweight pose a major risk for chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer.

The key causes are increased consumption of energy-dense foods high in saturated fats and sugars, and reduced physical activity.

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than 1 billion adults overweight – at least 300 million of them clinically obese – and is a major contributor to the global burden of chronic disease and disability.

For many individuals who struggle with their weight, dieting is a cyclical endeavor. Weight is lost only to be regained and lost again. However, research cited by the editors of The Diet Channel leads to 10 strategies for permanent weight loss of which keeping a food record or diary is number three right behind exercise and weight training. Further, the results of a study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine and cited by WebMD which included 1,685 overweight or obese U.S. adults aged 25 and older found:

For six months, participants kept food diaries and were encouraged to eat a healthy diet and be physically active. They also met weekly in groups to share their food diaries and brush up on skills like how to judge portion size. After six months, participants had shed almost 13 pounds, on average. The most powerful predictor of their weight loss was how many days per week they kept their food diary.

Twitter Tools for keeping your food diary and logging your exercise routines

Diet Tweets is part of FitClick’s beta offerings. Set up a free account and then start keeping your food diary by simply sending a tweet their way. Users have the options of sending public tweets or sending a direct message as follows:

Just tell us your Twitter username. Then any time you tweet us from your cell phone or computer, we’ll track what you eat. Follow these directions to send Diet Tweets:

1:Start your Twitter message with @fc8 (d fc8 for a private message).

2:Type what you ate. You may send multiple foods by separating with a semi-colon (;).

Example: d fc8 turkey sandwich; 2 oz. Baked Lays potato chips; apple

FitClicks describes their offerings as “Social Fitness the new way to share weight loss support and motivate others. Looking for a diet and workout buddy? Get the weight loss motivation to reach your fitness goals at FitClick.” In addition to keeping your food diary, users can maintain their exercise plan, access a library of hundreds of exercises and instructions, connect with potential workout partners, and access peer support systems. Follow them @fitclick

Tweet What You Eat claims to be the easiest food diary you will ever keep. If you have a twitter account you have access to tweet what you eat. Launched in January 2008 TWYE was the first Twitter based food diary app launched. You can submit your diet log entries via a tweet or by logging into your account on the site itself. When updating you can submit calorie values for the foods you have eaten or take advantage of TWYE’s CrowdCal the internet’s first crowd-sourced calorie database. Tweet What You Eat is free follow them @twye

w8track is a service that simply helps you keep track of your weight over time. No food diaries here, but still it is a great free service to help you keep track of you progress towards your goal weight. w8track automatically computes 7-day and 30-day moving averages from the data you provide, allowing you to focus your attention on trends rather than normal day-to-day fluctuations. You can follow them @w8track

Ugomo is a free and easy to use workout tracker and analyser. You can also create and find running, biking and hiking routes, import Garmin workout data, log workouts from Twitter, track your fitness goals and more. Follow @ugomo

Polka delivers a secure, mobile-enabled personal health platform that empowers you to manage your health, wellness, and fitness on your own terms. Polka provides a free user-centric secure web site service with paid, synchronized mobile smartphone applications for the iPhone and Twitter. So, in addition to tracking your diet and exercise routines you can also track and chart progress on other health indicators like cholesterol levels or blood pressure. Follow them @polka

Don’t Be A Big Loser By Yourself

Successful dieters don’t do it alone and neither should you. When friends and family aren’t enough, check out these networks to connect with folks who are also focused on weight loss and developing healthy exercise habits.

Twit2fit members support and encourage those hoping to better themselves physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Visit the website to set up your user account or follow them @twit2fit – or do both!

You might also check out TwitterMoms. This network is 20, 000 strong and active on many topics, one of their online discussion groups focuses on weight loss. Membership is free. You can follow the creator of the network @twittermoms

Well TwitterFools – that’s the scoop of diet and exercise twitter tools. If you have used any of these tools or we missed a tool that you use, let us know about it. We look forward to your comments. We also invite you to join us on Facebook. Check out the link to our fan page on the tool bar at the bottom of your screen.

Until next time be well and happy tweeting!