Tag Archives: diet tracking

The Biggest Loser SlimCoach is an Ideal Gadget for Monitoring Fitness

Biggest Loser contestants have always donned a gadget on their arms, tracking their every move through more than eight hours of exercise each day. This season, the device was seemingly gone. Trust that it’s still there, it’s just discreetly hiding underneath their T-shirts.

The SlimCoach is tiny enough to fit in the palm of your hand, and when clipped under your shirt to a pocket or waist band can barely be noticed. It’s practically weightless, in fact, that smartphone you lug everywhere weighs more.

The SlimCoach offers minimal data from the device, but when synced with your computer and an online dashboard you’ll get a lot of valuable information about your calorie burn and consumption and your progress toward a weight loss goal. On the face of the device is a circle that lights up red at the start of your day. As you progress through the day, whether walking or running, it shows your calorie burn by lighting up green. The goal is to get a solid green circle, which means you’ve met your goal for the day.

I spent some time wearing the SlimCoach and quickly felt I was in a competition with myself. I was going out of my way to move just to make sure that circle turned green. For instance, I stood to fold the laundry instead of sitting, and I was more inclined to hop/run down the stairs. I wasn’t obsessive, but I definitely checked in periodically. With a click to the center of the circle I could see my progress. Barely at half green by noon? Not good enough! I had to keep moving. (more…)

Foodzy Food Tracking Puts the User in Control

By now we all know, “there’s an app for that,” right? There’s a mobile application for nearly everything now, and diet and health are no exception. Foodzy believes they have a unique app that will set them apart from all the other diet and health tracking apps.

Foodzy calls themselves a “social food game for web and mobile.” Foodzy allows a user to keep track of what they eat and drink every day. The idea is that Foodzy will give the user insight to their eating habits and in return they will earn badges, stats, and high-scores. The program uses gamification principles similar to Foursquare, however, the badges are designed to encourage healthy eating choices and provide encouragement.

Now, this doesn’t sound too different to many of the other food tracking apps on the market. However, Foodzy says they are different because they have simplified the process. Through simplifying the food database to local products, keeping all searches in one language, and storing your favorite items, Foodzy feels this will eliminate users giving up on their diet tracking.
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