Losing Weight WITH the Web

Successful dieters praise a new running habit, cycling routine, or best friend’s encouragement as their keys to weight-loss triumph. But, while those are both effective, experts say there is one diet weapon that has proven to come out on top every time—a food and exercise journal. Even though a pen and paper can help you shed excess pounds, experts say using the internet weight loss program can help. But with so many plans available, dieters are often left scratching their heads. We've done the hard work for you, and here are some ideas.

My Pyramid Tracker: This is the one that experts used as a standard for the other sites because it was derived from information via the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This site was rated top-notch for anyone looking to evaluate his or her current diet or to check calorie counts of specific foods. Researchers also praised the fact that My Pyramid stresses the importance of exercise.

SparkPeople Calorie Counter: Reviewers didn’t appreciate all of the advertisements on this site, but other than that they gave it a thumbs up because of its easy-to-use system. SparkPeople has a large database of food nutritional data, and allows dieters to keep track of diet and workout goals.

WebMD Diet Assessment: A complete package containing a thorough questionnaire about current dietary habits, exercise pointers and even health tips, such as how to get more iron, experts say WebMd is the real deal. But they were also quick to point out that the large amount of information available on the site may be overwhelming.

My Calorie Counter: Experts liked the blogs that were available on this site, claiming that social networks can be an effective tool for weight loss. But they found that some of the information – like vitamin and mineral contents – was lacking. Again, exercise habits are tracked on this site, an important component in the weight loss game.

Which one have you used? Share your thoughts here!