Internet review

Health Education

ISSN: 0965-4283

Article publication date: 24 April 2007

79

Citation

(2007), "Internet review", Health Education, Vol. 107 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/he.2007.142107cag.001

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Internet review

Web 2.0 represents the protocol through which second-generation internet-based applications and services will be delivered. Web 1.0 is the protocol we are all familiar with when we use the internet at present. At the moment the internet is an information-driven service, but in the future it will become application-driven. Imagine clicking on www.word.com and finding that you had access to a fully functioning word processor. No need to download or install the application, it was there ready for you to use at the click of a mouse; this would be an example of a Web 2.0 type of application. A second important aspect of Web 2.0 applications is their degree of interactivity and the possibility of tailoring applications to meet the needs of individual users. It is early days for Web 2.0 applications and services but a few do exist, and in this review we look at some that can help us maintain health and fitness.

Run Fat Boywww.runfatboy.net/

This application describes itself an easy to use workout system for beginners, but after looking at some of the content I think this is something of an exaggeration. This is not a free service and the sign up fee is $5 per month, although users can try out the service for one month before they pay anything. After entering some personal information (e.g. weight, height and present exercise capabilities) the user finds that the website is divided into three main areas:

  1. 1.

    an Exercise Plan;

  2. 2.

    a Daily Food Tracker; and

  3. 3.

    a Journal or log.

The initial information entered by the user enables the application to build an appropriate exercise program that will be suitable for their present exercise capabilities. Unfortunately this is where things start to go wrong. The information users enter is in terms of everyday activities, for example how hard they would find walking up three flights of stairs, or carrying a bag of groceries. It would have been good to find that the exercise prescription was also in terms of these types of activities but it is not. The exercise prescription is in terms of lifting weights, performing squat thrusts, bench presses and the like. The website assumes that users will have access to a gym and all the equipment that goes with it, and that they will understand terms like “triceps pushdown” or “leg curl”. To be fair, if the user doesn’t understand a term, they can click on an information icon and a short video clip demonstrates the particular exercise. One interesting feature of this application is that users can modify the prescribed workouts if they find them too easy or too hard. Parts of the workout can be removed, or additional exercises can be added if the user wishes.

The Food Tracker is a rather simplistic way of recording your daily food intake. Icons representing a number of different food types are presented and the user records their intake by clicking on them. These will then be recorded in the user’s personal log. However, since there are only five food groups shown – bread, vegetables, fruit, milk and meat – this record will be of limited use.

Finally the user has access to a Journal where they can record their feelings about progress or difficulties in following the prescribed workouts.

It is unfortunate that this website describes itself as a workout system for beginners. People new to exercise are very unlikely to have access to the facilities needed to complete these workout sessions. Where this website would be useful is for people who are just beginning to take exercise seriously, who may have recently joined a gym, or who have access to some equipment. Rather than “pumping iron” aimlessly, this website will provide the user with a tailor-made exercise program suitable for all levels of ability.

Traineowww.traineo.com/

Traineo is rather like Run Fat Boy but with one important exception: it is free to join and use. The user begins by recording details of height and weight and the goal, in terms of weight loss, they are trying to achieve and the date by which they want to achieve this goal. This information can be updated as often as required. Where this website differs from Run Fat Boy is that it doesn’t prescribe exercise workouts: rather, it simply records the exercises undertaken by the user and from this calculates the likely number of Kcalories burned and the subsequent weight loss.

The four main sections in this website are:

  1. 1.

    My Workout;

  2. 2.

    My Diet;

  3. 3.

    Weight; and

  4. 4.

    My Logs.

In the My Workout section the user is able to enter details of up to three workouts per day. What is interesting about this is that “Workouts” include a whole range of activities as well as conventional exercises like running and weight training. Thus the drop-down menu includes childcare, musical instrument playing, gardening and dancing, along with Pilates, circuit training and many other types of activities. After selecting an activity the user enters how long the activity was maintained as well as an indication of how hard they felt it was. From this it calculates how many Kcalories will have been burned by the activity. For example 45 minutes of Domestic Activity, rated as easy, burns 173 Kcalories, whereas 45 minutes of Sexual Activity, rated as medium, will burn 652 Kcalories – the choice is yours!

The My Diet section avoids the mistake of asking people to record every morsel of food they have eaten and rather asks the user to record the quality of their diet using a sliding scale from Poor to Great. The user is also presented with the number of Kcalories they should be consuming if they want to achieve their target weight. Again a sliding scale is used to enter the number of Kcalories actually consumed. The information on quality of diet and number of Kcalories consumed is then converted into a Daily Diet score with a range of 1-10. So a person who rates their diet as Great and who consumes only the number of Kcalories suggested will get a maximum score of 10. This innovative technique for measuring dietary intake greatly simplifies the recording of this data.

The Weight section allows the user to record their weight as frequently as they wish and they are then presented with details of cumulative weight loss, a measure of Body Mass Index, and a graph showing weight change since the start of the course.

Another innovation is in the My Logs section, which allows the user to log changes in a variety of variables (e.g. weight, BMI, percentage body fat, distance run, or waistline measurement). It is also possible to add your own log so if you wanted to record how many times you climbed the stairs instead of using the lift, this could be set up using the simple interactive facility.

One of the greatest difficulties faced by newcomers to exercise is maintaining motivation. To help with this the website asks users to nominate someone who will act as their motivator. This person, usually a friend or relative, then receives an e-mail from Traineo asking them to keep in contact with the user to ensure that they maintain their exercise and diet regimes.

Finally, the website also has a users’ forum where issues concerning diet and exercise can be raised and discussed. It is not clear whether this is moderated or not, so the user should be cautious about acting on any advice that may be forthcoming from this forum.

This website won’t teach a user how to exercise or even what a balanced diet might be, but as a means of recording change over time, for a person who wants to lose weight and improve their overall health, this website will prove a useful tool.

Guardian Eat Rightwww.guardianeatright.co.uk/

Guardian Eat Right is a website provided by the Guardian Newspaper Group. Essentially this website provides tailored nutritional advice for anyone prepared to pay the rather expensive fee of £2.99 per week. For an extra 75p a personalised fitness plan is also available. The initial dietary assessment is free and simply requires the user to enter details of height, weight, age and gender. Rather annoyingly, after entering this data and clicking on the Start Your Free Profile button, the user is immediately asked for the same information again! The user is then asked to indicate why they want to lose weight, their frame size, activity level, and for information on what might motivate them to lose weight. From this a BMI profile is produced indicating the user’s current BMI, what their goal should be, and a daily calorie guide required to achieve that goal. Unfortunately, that is all the user gets for free. If you sign up and pay the fee then each week you will receive a healthy eating plan based on your preferred type of diet, e.g. Dairy free, GI, Heart Smart plan, Vegetarian and so on. In addition 24-hour online support is available, motivational newsletters and for the extra 75p per week, the fitness plan is also available. The nutritional advice provided by this website is reliable and is supported by a small team of nutritionists. The cost of £2.99 per week seems expensive compared to the other two websites reviewed above, but then the level of personalised nutritional advice is much greater. Perhaps a better comparison would be with WeightWatchers, which would cost the user something close to £4.95 per week. This is more expensive, but then the level of personal attention is obviously greater than that of the online website. Perhaps the greatest advantage of an online website like Guardian Eat Right is that as the user struggles to lose weight, they can avoid the draughty church halls and the public scrutiny that is inevitably associated with the real-world equivalent.

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