Visalia Direct: Virtual Valley
\nMarch 5, 2012 Deadline
\nApril 2012 Issue<\/p>\n
Getting Fit with a Virtual Trainer<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cLose weight,\u201d the doctor advised me, \u201cor you could be headed for diabetes.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m the first to admit I had added a few extra pounds while completing my doctorate. There\u2019s a lot of sitting and reading when you\u2019re in graduate school. When I defended my dissertation in 2010, I weighed more than 230 pounds.<\/p>\n Looking back 25 years, I was skinny. Not thin, either, but seriously scrawny. When I graduated from Golden West High School, I was 120 pounds with a 27-inch waist. By 2010, I was approaching twice that size.<\/p>\n Back pain was getting unbearable. I was using a cane frequently and hobbling about with sore knees. Yet, I couldn\u2019t seem to lose the weight. I knew I had to, but I was stuck in a cycle of losing a few pounds and gaining them right back within weeks.<\/p>\n During Christmas break, I was reading health and fitness articles online. One of articles I read was about the \u201cCNN Hero\u201d Linda Fondren, a Mississippi resident troubled by her state\u2019s recognition as the \u201cfattest in the nation\u201d for six consecutive years. In a sidebar to the article, CNN Health listed several free online tools, including the website MyFitnessPal<\/a>.com.<\/p>\n On my own, I wasn\u2019t making much progress. Health advocates will tell you that working out with friends is the best way to maintain a routine. If you belong to a gym or fitness center, take advantage of any personal training and nutrition consulting because having an appointment encourages you to use the membership.<\/p>\n The various articles I read suggested that MyFitnessPal and other online tools could help maintain a \u201cbuddy system\u201d for diet and exercise. While I was skeptical that a free website could help me lose weight, my wife and I joined the website and downloaded the free smartphone application.<\/p>\n MyFitnessPal encourages you to monitor your diet and exercise with a convenient diary. You can update this diary on the website or on your smartphone. There are several similar websites, and the process I\u2019m going to describe is similar for those sites.<\/p>\n When you create a MyFitnessPal account you are guided through a basic personal profile. Based on your gender, age, weight, height and target goals the system calculates your daily calorie limit, a nutrition guide and an exercise suggestion. You can enter a target weight or a weekly weight loss goal.<\/p>\n I decided to take it slowly and chose to lose two pounds a month. At the time, I didn\u2019t expect to lose anything.<\/p>\n After the profile is prepared, you can select to share your diary with friends on MyFitnessPal or, if you\u2019re really brave, share the daily updates with friends on Facebook and Twitter. There was no way I was going to broadcast my progress on social networks, but I did share the reports with my wife via MyFitnessPal.<\/p>\n The first night, I was amazed by the ease of the smartphone app. When you select a canned or packaged food, you can scan the barcode using the smartphone camera. Any user of MyFitnessPal can submit an item and its nutritional information, so the entire community on MyFitnessPal keeps the system up-to-date.<\/p>\n