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Weight Loss Software: Which Is Best?
By Terry Dunkle*Weight loss software is a wise choice for any dieter, because it gives you absolute control over your calorie intake, which is by far the most important factor in controlling your weight.
If you look around the web, you’ll find dozens of weight loss software products. Most are poorly made. It takes many years to make a program both powerful and easy to use. My company’s software, for example, has been under development since 1988. I’m not here to make a sales pitch for DietPower, however. My purpose is to relate a few questions you should ask when evaluating any weight loss software.
Does it have a large food database?
Look for a program that has at least 20,000 foods in its database. The average American supermarket has 30,000 foods on its shelves.
Even with a gigantic database, you will often run across a food you want to log that isn’t in the database. Make sure your weight loss software allows you to add your own foods by keying in nutrition facts from the labels.
Does it “learn” your metabolism?
Almost all weight loss software assigns you a calorie budget based on the average person’s metabolism. Unfortunately, yours may vary from the norm by as much as 30 percent. Look for a program that learns your metabolism by continually comparing your weight change with your calorie intake and expenditures, and adjusts your calorie budget accordingly. (My company’s program has always done this.)
Based on 20 years of research by DietPower, Inc., this calculator is accurate to 5 percent for most users. (It's not for people who are pregnant or have metabolic disorders. Always see a doctor before starting a diet.)
Birth Date
Sex
Tobacco user?
Height
Weight
Goal Weight
Target Date
Email Address
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Goal Weight
Your Goal Weight is the weight you want to achieve. (If it's a lot different from your current weight, you might want to set a goal that represents only the first step. Even a 10-percent weight loss will significantly improve your health.)
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Target Date
Plan on losing no more than a pound or two per week. Otherwise, you may eat too little for good nutrition and your weight loss may be temporary.
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Lactating?
If you are breastfeeding, check this box and the calculator will add calories for producing milk.
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Tobacco User?
Nicotine speeds your metabolism, making you burn calories faster. (That's why people who quit smoking gain weight.) Check this box if you average more than one cigarette, one-half pipeful, one-quarter of a cigar, or one dip of snuff or chewing tobacco per day.
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Email Address
Once a month, DietPower will send you the most important nutrition news of the past 30 days, selected by national award-winning editors covering hundreds of medical journals. You can cancel this free, no-obligation service anytime with a single click. We produce it only to promote our weight-loss software. It won't put you on other mailing lists—We're Not That Kind of Company™.
Does it track calories burned in exercise?
Exercise burns calories that you can add to your budget for extra eating. Look for a program that lets you log at least 500 different forms of exercise, and that factors your calorie burn to your body weight as well as the speed at which you perform the exercise.
Does it track more than just calories?
The best weight loss software not only tracks calories, but also monitors your intake of nutrients such as saturated fat, sodium, calcium, folic acid, protein, and others important to your disease risks. Look for a program that watches at least the 12 nutrients found on food labels. Some (like ours) watch several dozen nutrients.
Does it recommend foods you like?
Our weight loss software “learns” which foods you like by watching what you eat, and notices which of those are best to eat right now if you want to improve your nutrient balance. We don’t know of any other programs that do this, but you may find one or two if you search hard enough.
Founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief of DietPower, Inc.
Look for a program that has at least 20,000 foods in its database. The average American supermarket has 30,000 foods on its shelves.
Even with a gigantic database, you will often run across a food you want to log that isn’t in the database. Make sure your weight loss software allows you to add your own foods by keying in nutrition facts from the labels.
Does it “learn” your metabolism?
Almost all weight loss software assigns you a calorie budget based on the average person’s metabolism. Unfortunately, yours may vary from the norm by as much as 30 percent. Look for a program that learns your metabolism by continually comparing your weight change with your calorie intake and expenditures, and adjusts your calorie budget accordingly. (My company’s program has always done this.)
Based on 20 years of research by DietPower, Inc., this calculator is accurate to 5 percent for most users. (It's not for people who are pregnant or have metabolic disorders. Always see a doctor before starting a diet.)
Birth Date
Sex
Tobacco user?
Height
Weight
Goal Weight
Target Date
Email Address
Does it track calories burned in exercise?
Exercise burns calories that you can add to your budget for extra eating. Look for a program that lets you log at least 500 different forms of exercise, and that factors your calorie burn to your body weight as well as the speed at which you perform the exercise.
Does it track more than just calories?
The best weight loss software not only tracks calories, but also monitors your intake of nutrients such as saturated fat, sodium, calcium, folic acid, protein, and others important to your disease risks. Look for a program that watches at least the 12 nutrients found on food labels. Some (like ours) watch several dozen nutrients.
Does it recommend foods you like?
Our weight loss software “learns” which foods you like by watching what you eat, and notices which of those are best to eat right now if you want to improve your nutrient balance. We don’t know of any other programs that do this, but you may find one or two if you search hard enough.
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