The focus of onethingnew.com is to provide a context for technology in the human world. Technology can help us to be productive, to have fun, and to change our lives. Tonight I’ll be exploring the last of those aspects as I set out to change my life with the help of the Web.
My entire life I’ve been overweight. I’ve always known it was a problem, but I haven’t done much to correct it. Now, with my 30th birthday rapidly approaching, I think it’s time for a change, and with the help of some innovative Web sites, I’m going to try and shape up.
I first got the idea that a Web app could help me lose weight last year when a link to traineo.com made it to the front page of digg. When I visited the site, I found a very inviting user experience.
Very “Web 2.0,” traineo uses bright colors and a ton of Ajax functionality to get you signed up and going. There are big, flashy icons that open trackers for workout, diet, weight, and a custom tracker for whatever you’d like (presets for this field include waist line, body mass index, and happiness). The best feature is probably the “motivators” section in which you can invite close friends or family to monitor your progress, hold you accountable, and support your mission.
To supplement my traineo account, I’ve signed up for gimme20.com, another Web 2.0-style site with flashy graphics and a slick, Ajax-driven interface. Their service is similar to traineo’s, but gimme20 has a narrower focus on the exercise element of losing weight. The killer app of their site is the ability to build a custom workout and share it with the community. You add pre-defined or custom created exercises to your workout, specifying reps, weight, or time, and gimme20 will add the workout to your page and let you track your progress. If you don’t want to spend the time building your own workout, you can choose from hundreds of user-generated workouts on the site.
My plan consists of monitoring my diet and weight on traineo while keeping track of my workout on gimme20. In about a month, I’ll check back with a full report to let you know how I’m doing. I’ve tried losing weight once or twice before, and it’s probably the hardest thing a person can do. It requires discipline, motivation, and the want to change. Hopefully, with the help of some innovative Web technologies, I can finally succeed.
