Free online weight loss plans offer you a very useful way to get advice, support, recipes, and tips–whether you are starting a diet, trying to lose weight by a certain date, or just hoping that something might work this time to help you shed those pounds. With one of these plans, your dream might come true
There are quite a few plans online, and here I will describe several of the most popular. This article is focused on the free online weight loss programs. Ones that cost something are covered elsewhere.
Which will be best for you? Consider SparkPeople and the other free ones, described in detail below. If none of them feel like a good fit for you, or if you just want to explore, consider some of the paid choices. Weight Watchers , Jenny Craig, Jillian Michaels, South Beach, and other well-known weight loss names have online diet services with a variety of features. You may not have heard of ediets, but it is considered to be one of the best of the paid online weight loss programs.
Why would you want to try an online plan to help you lose weight? How useful are they really? It turns out that scientific studies have shown that people who receive online weight loss help and support do lose weight as a result. The ideal kind of support for losing weight has long been considered to be working one on one with a private counselor, who can focus attention on one client at a time and can cover a wide range of topics, from nutritional advice to exercise tips to exploring emotional and self-esteem issues if they come up. But such programs are costly, and in today’s world many people simply don’t have extra money for them. It can also be difficult to find time to attend appointments, not to mention the time for transportation to them, perhaps child care, and so on.
Advantages of the Free Online Weight Loss Plans
[1] In any online weight loss community you can take part whenever you have time, whether that is late at night or at any other time. You don’t need to be consistent about what time you take part, either. You may want to log in every evening–or more often– during a time when you are starting a weight loss program, then when you get into the groove, you might not stop by much. Hit a snag? Go get some motivation from the program, whether in a forum or just by reading some weight loss success stories. (It’s also pleasant that nobody there knows what you look like or how you are dressed.)
[2] They don’t cost anything. You can explore your options for losing weight without paying a monthly fee or even a one-time fee. Now admittedly, you might decide to buy some nutritional supplements or foods that you read about, or maybe some resistance bands or other home exercise equipment, but any of that would be optional.
[3] As mentioned in the part about scientific studies, they increase your chances of success at weight loss. That is a compelling reason. Of course, just going to the sites doesn’t cause you to lose any weight at all. YOU are still the one who will be eating more carefully, you are still the one who will be working exercise into your life as needed. But these sites can really help you keep your dedication and positive attitudes going!
[4] These plans offer you companionship along the weight loss trail. There are forums where you can post questions and help others out as well. You may want some diet tips, or wonder if fast weight loss programs are safe and effective. Maybe you are considering a vegetarian diet, a low carb diet, or some other way of eating–and you want to connect with others who follow that kind of diet program. Of course, be skeptical of medical advice dished out by well-meaning enthusiasts.
[5] Some of these websites offer you a variety of weight-loss programs, or maybe it would be more accurate to say that people can create their own diet plans and wellness goals. Some are simpler than others but all can assist you in in creating diets and routines.
What to Look for in These Programs
Various websites are set up in different ways, and if the one you try out first isn’t exactly your cup of tea, then do sign up for another. And do allow some time to figure out a site! The descriptions in the next section are meant to help you find one or more that could be a good match for you. Every one of us is unique, and it is a good thing there are a lot of different sites so we can all find something that suits us as we work on losing weight.
Here are some things to consider:
- Does the program generally seem to match your interests?
- Does it offer support through emails? For example, it may send out motivational emails daily or weekly. (You always have a way to turn these off if you want to.)
- Does it have a forum, and if so, is the forum active? You can see how many posts different discussions have, and that will give you an idea of whether your own questions will be paid attention to. Notice the most recent dates too.
- Does it cover a variety of diets, and more importantly does it cover the way you want to eat to lose weight?
- Can you do a food journal and log your nutrients, no matter what method you are using?
- Does it promise that you will lose weight fast, or does it take a more sensible long-term approach?
Recommended Free Websites
1. SparkPeople
SparkPeople is a free weight loss website that is considered by many people to be on a par with some of the paid sites. It is colorful and cheerful, and it is funded by ads rather than by users, It has nutritional and exercise parts. You can input what you eat and see your calorie, carb, fat, and protein counts. This can be a bit tedious, but you don’t have to do it, and it can really show you some surprising things. Maybe you are eating a lot more than you thought? Also, you can set it up so that your favorite foods and meals can be quickly added.
There is an option that you can turn on and off, to see the variety of meal plans. If you happen to eat a meal they suggest, it’s easy to add it to your food log.
One handy feature of the nutrition tracker at SparkPeople is that you can click an arrow next to an image of a glass to track how much water you have had so far that day.
SparkPeople is also good on fitness and exercise. You could find out how to do a cardiovascular workout or just log your walks with the dog! Whether you prefer to read articles or watch training videos, they have both. You can set up any schedule you want for strength training, cardio training, and steps or miles walked.
For both food and exercise, you can learn more at the community forums. Literally millions of people have joined and some of the success stories, often with photos, can be very motivating!
2. FitDay
FitDay is another very popular free site, with over 5 million members. You create an account and then you can do any number of things. You can use the food log no matter what way — low carb, vegetarian, whatever — you are currently eating. It helps you keep track of how much you have lost, what your weight loss goal is, and how much exercise you are getting. It generates some very interesting graphs — not just a weight loss graph but if you dare you can graph your average mood! Or how much of a nutrient is in your diet.
You can read the FitDay forums without even being a member, but you have to sign up to take part. By the way, on many of these free forums, what you say can be read by anyone, not just members of the forum. So be careful about private information. The discussion boards at FitDay are broken down into a variety of useful topics — how to use their reports, just for women, just for men, specific diets, and so on.
The FitDay site is attractive, and more low-key than SparkPeople. As their homepage tells you, not only do they have the free diet and weight loss journal, there is also some inexpensive software that you can download to your Windows computer (not Macs) to keep track on your own.
They also have a paid upgrade but you don’t need it to use many of their tools. However, it does turn off ads and give you access to advanced features.
3. MyFitnessPal
MyFitnessPal offers community and tracking tools, with plenty of motivation. One thing they do when you sign up is suggest that you might want to send an email to a few of your friends to join you at the site, as they point out that people working together on weight loss are more effective than people going solo. But it is easy to skip this choice at first and you can do it later. Their message boards are active and friendly, with lots of success stories, recipes, and ways to make friends.
Your tools are in a handy list along the left side: track food and exercise, weigh in, how to use the site from your mobile phone.
All three of these sites have prominent ads right by where you enter your meal data. You might find this annoying, or you might just accept it as the price for using such good software at no cost.
Some Other Free Sites
Weightlossbuddy has an emphasis on having a “buddy” — or more than one. The people running this site go out of their way to be personable and friendly. It has a nice member blog feature, and you can see what the most recent blog posts of other members are. We did not find the food tracking features to be quite as easy as on some other sites.
Nutridiary describes itself as a free online food and exercise diary. It has a very clean look on the site, not as busy as some. I noticed that there was not a lot of activity on the discussion boards.
3 Fat Chicks on a Diet is run by three sisters and offers your own wordpress weight loss blog, a forum, lots of articles, reviews of diet books and ebooks, and more. It would be a good supplement to one of the top picks, or if you don’t want to use online food logging, it might become your favorite weight loss community.
Dottie’s Weight Loss Zone is an older-style site. The first thing to do is to click your mouse over the image of Dottie! It has a private message board and lists of foods at restaurants with their nutritional counts.
These last three don’t really fall in the category of free online weight loss plans, as they are not really plans, but they all seemed worthy of note.