Quite honestly, our Useful Website of the Week this week is one of the most comprehensive, user-friendly, and fun weight loss websites I have found.  SparkPeople.com is the name, my friends, and if losing weight/living a healthy lifestyle is your game, then this is a must-see website.  As with many subscription based websites, you have to register (of course) to gain full access to what SparkPeople has to offer.  But if you don’t want to register, I’ll try to break it down for you as best as I can here.  Let me just say that from the moment I set my eyes on SparkPeople, I’ve been back everyday since.

Basically, SparkPeople is another weight loss website that offers all the same stuff that almost all of them do.  That would be food journaling/tracking, exercise tracking, recipes, message boards, advice, etc.  There are several things that set them apart from the pack though.  First of all, the website is visually pleasing with it’s soothing yet vibrant colors, easy navigation, and wonderful start page that packs all your necessary info into one place.  But that’s not all.  Below are several other items that I have found to be particularly cool, different, and exciting in my use of SparkPeople:

Points

Okay, so maybe it only takes simple things to make me happy but I love the idea of getting points.  I think that somewhere deep down inside there is just that competitive little part of me that screams with glee at the thought of getting points for something… or anything!  So when I saw that SparkPeople had a “point system”, my engines started revving.  And let me tell ya, they give you points for just about everything! 

Each day when I login, I get to spin the points wheel and get my “login points“.  The amounts are usually between 1 and 20 points but sometimes they throw in something extra like a free t-shirt or keychain.  Two days ago I won the keychain!  (Can you see where they hooked me?)

Other items you can get points for each day are drinking at least 8 glasses of water, tracking your meals, tracking your exercise, posting on the message boards, reading one of their health articles, making a recipe, etc.  You can literally get points for dozens of things.  As far as what the points actually get you, that is all a matter of perspective.  Each person starts out with a little trophy (very small) and the more points they accumulate, the bigger the trophy.  Call me crazy but I want the biggest trophy they’ve got!  (Okay Julie, calm down girl.)  You can also buy “spark goodies” with your points and store them on your SparkPage.  Wait, I need to explain what a SparkPage is!

SparkPages 

These are basically profile pages that each person can create to track their weight loss journey.  You can customize the page with your own backgrounds, colors, fonts, etc. and add up 25 of your own personal pictures.  You can also keep track of your favorite spark articles, message board groups, virtual goodies, and your “streaks”.  No, not getting naked streaks but spark streaks!  Right now I’ve got a streak of 11 days of logging in and spinning the wheel and 11 days of consuming at least 8 glasses of water, which are proudly displayed on my SparkPage.  Another cool thing is that you can blog on your page which is very handy.  And there is a spot to keep track of the friends you make on there which links to their profiles.

Not sold yet?  Let me tell you about the…

Message Boards

Yeah yeah yeah, big whoop, right?  Wrong!  These message boards are awesome because there are literally 100’s of different ones to choose from!  But the coolest thing is that there are message boards for locals to talk on.  For example, right away I found a message board for the city I live in.  Once I joined this group of 1,700 people (that’s right, 1,700!) I was instantly connecting with local people who are trying to lose weight and be healthy, just like me.  So now I have a group of people that I can check in with daily to have challenges and share with and most likely meet with someday.  (That part might no appeal to everyone but I sure thought it was cool!) 

Love It

I love SparkPeople.  Over the span of two weeks I have become a dedicated “Sparker”.  There are many good weight loss tracking websites out there (some I’ve even discussed here!) but SparkPeople is the complete package.  If you sign up, make sure and find me under “evolvingmom”!