by: Erik Pijcke
Let?s keep the answer simple; everything that is related to your health.
The most important indicators for your state of health can be measured though your vital signs, like blood pressure, cholesterol level, heart beat, body mass index etcetera. The major input that influence these health indicators are what and how much you eat and drink, smoke, medication use, life style, daily activity and air quality.
Beside our genetic disposition, we are what we eat, drink and breathe.
A good health and fitness software program should be able to capture the above mentioned input and correlate the results with the output, or health indicators. This way you create a cause and effect system that the user can analyze and consequently take corrective measures and improve his or her overall health.
The bigger picture teaches us that an effective health and fitness software program contains modules that can monitor our food intake, record our body measurements and vital signs. Furthermore it should track our daily activities and convert them into calories burned. Also it should keep track of our medicine and supplement intake and monitor our overall health level. For the sport and bodybuilders we need additional modules that can keep track of our workout activities, sport results and fitness tests
Let?s start with food intake.
Most of the time we eat together with our family therefore a health and fitness software program should never be restricted to one user.
People tend to repeat the recipes they cook and meals they prepare on a regular interval. For most people this interval is between 20 and 30 days. Furthermore people tend to buy more or less the same ingredients for their meals. For this reason a fitness or diet program boosting databases with thousands of food items will be more of a hindrance than a benefit. The reason that I say this is because it will be very time consuming to pick an ingredient for a recipe or meal plan from a list of thousands of ingredients.
Look for a program that has the basic ingredients to build your recipes and allows you to add food items that are specific to your taste.
A food?s nutrition facts change depending on how it is conserved, processed or cooked. For example a cup of canned spinach that is cooked will have totally different nutrition facts than a cup of fresh spinach. Look for a program that can make a distinction between these food properties.
The cost of buying special diet foods can be a lot more (up to 2.5 times) than what the average American spends on food. It is a plus if a health and fitness software program can keep track of the food cost by recipe, meal and day. It is really a bonus if the program can compare grocery prices between shops and help you budget.
A recipe module is imperative to a good health and fitness system. This is the place where you can experiment and adjust your recipes to your diet?s nutritional fact limits. The recipe should calculate its nutritional facts per portion depending on the weight ratio of each ingredient that has been added to the recipe. Naturally you should be able to print the recipe and see the total recipe cost and the cost per portion. Having the ability of adding recipe pictures is a plus.
You should also have the ability to create multiple meal plans in the system. Maybe you would like a separate plan for the kids or baby. Or for a partner that has a cholesterol problem, high blood pressure or diabetes. Or you simply want to change diets. These meal plans should repeat over a certain amount of days. The timing of the meals should be more then just breakfast, lunch and dinner. Many diets ask for many small recipe portions during the day. The food items that you select on the meal plan should come from the ingredients as well as from the recipes. For instance you can add a raw apple to your meal plan, which is an ingredient to make an apple sauce recipe. The apple sauce recipe or the raw apple can each be added to the meal plan
As you would expect, the software program should be able to calculate the meal plan cost and nutrition facts by day and for the whole meal plan.
How are you going to keep track of what you actually ate on a particular day and how do you know how to stick exactly to your plan? You do this by printing a meal plan worksheet for a particular day and you note the actual differences from the plan.
We don?t have much time in today?s busy society; therefore you should be able to register the actual daily food consumption in less then 30 seconds. A system that forces you every day for every meal to select your food items from a list of thousands records is not going to make it in 30 seconds. Only select a system that automatically populates your meal plan for that day and you only update the actual differences from the plan.
Just adding your daily food intake to a database is not going to benefit you. It will create a ?data cemetery?, data that is never examined. The food data needs to be analyzed and correlated to other types of data like your body measurements or calories burned. Click on the calorie analysis hyperlink to view an example. The chart makes it very quickly clear that the calorie intake line is under the calories spent line and consequently you will lose weight.
Next article I will talk about activity calorie counting and the factors involved?
About The Author
© Erik Pijcke is founder and CEO of Pycke Inc. He is the architect and developer of Hythial Pro, an all-inclusive personal health and fitness software program. Part of this software program contains a comprehensive calorie counter module. You can download this program at http://www.hythial.com. Hythial Pro - Health Diet Fitness Software + Free Online Recipe and Food Calorie Counter
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Fitness Plan Secrets
Fitness Plan Secrets
by: Tony Farrell
In order to get the benefit of this Fitness Plan
Secrets training article, unless you have done so
already, it's important that you first read the
previous article where I explained about creating a
clear goal using these Fitness Goal Secrets here:
http://www.how-to-build-muscle-and-fitness.com/fitness-goal-secrets.html
Fitness Plan Secrets:
To follow on from this, you must reverse your
goals. Don't get me wrong here. I'm not
suggesting you do something drastic here.
What I am saying is that in order to achieve your
new clear goal(s), you must first look at the end
result and then backward plan it. We are going to
uncover these Fitness plan secrets.
Sound confusing?
Let me show you what I mean --
You have a Clear Goal. Not a vague one,...
Fitness Plan Secrets
Fitness > Fitness Plan Secrets
How to Achieve Lifelong Fitness Success in Your Home or Office
How to Achieve Lifelong Fitness Success in Your Home or Office
by: Joey Atlas
Every week countless numbers of people rededicate themselves to starting a new diet and exercise program, only to find that they have fallen off their program by the end of the following week. This scenario plays out all too often especially for people who are attempting to keep their fitness program based at home or the office.
The problem here is not where the program is being attempted, but the fact that there actually is no program to follow. No matter what the endeavor, when one sets out to accomplish something without a well thought out plan or a ?roadmap?, the chances for success are slim to none. Health and fitness programs are a prime example of this.
Without a fitness plan, there is no guidance, accountability or direction. Therefore most actions are random and unfocused. This creates an element of uncertainty where one is guessing at what they should...
How to Achieve Lifelong Fitness Success in Your Home or Office
Fitness > How to Achieve Lifelong Fitness Success in Your Home or Office
Health And Fitness Software, What Should Be In It? Part 1
Health And Fitness Software, What Should Be In It? Part 1
by: Erik Pijcke
Let?s keep the answer simple; everything that is related to your health.
The most important indicators for your state of health can be measured though your vital signs, like blood pressure, cholesterol level, heart beat, body mass index etcetera. The major input that influence these health indicators are what and how much you eat and drink, smoke, medication use, life style, daily activity and air quality.
Beside our genetic disposition, we are what we eat, drink and breathe.
A good health and fitness software program should be able to capture the above mentioned input and correlate the results with the output, or health indicators. This way you create a cause and effect system that the user can analyze and consequently take corrective measures and improve his or her overall health.
The bigger picture teaches us that an effective health and fitness software...
Health And Fitness Software, What Should Be In It? Part 1
Fitness > Health And Fitness Software, What Should Be In It? Part 1
Being The Best Golf Player You Can Be
Being The Best Golf Player You Can Be
by: Edwin Shackleford
Just like any other game, to be considered a good golf player goes beyond having an average score of below 80. While skill at playing the actual game is commendable, a holistic view is needed to achieve a well-rounded game.
To play good golf, you have to get down past the three areas of:
- fitness,
- practice,
- and etiquette.
Fitness
- Keeping one?s body and mind in shape is a key element to becoming a good, if not great, golfer. Looking after your body and making sure it?s in shape not only gets you to perform better on the course, it also ensures you that you can enjoy golf even well into your years.
- Achieve bodily fitness by eating right and exercising regularly. Maintain cardiovascular fitness and muscle tone that suits the game of golf. Some indicators of physical fitness are your blood pressure...
Fitness > Being The Best Golf Player You Can Be
Golf Specific Fitness Is Underrated
Golf Specific Fitness Is Underrated
by: Mike Pedersen
Golf specific fitness is mainstream on tour!
There is no way around it!
To play your best, you?ve got to be in better golf shape!
Golf is physical?and requires both dynamic strength and flexibility.
Gone are the days of the 19th hole!
That?s if you want to be top dog in your foursome.
Instead of going to the 19th hole after your round, why not do some cool down stretches so you?re ready for the next round?
I?m not saying you have to be a fanatic, but just realize there is a definite ?physical component to optimal golf performance.
The demand on the body to swing a club at upwards of 100 mph and stay in your golf posture is huge.
A golf specific fitness program incorporating golf exercise and golf stretching will maximize your body?s ability to produce awesome power where it counts?at impact!
What is golf specific...
Golf Specific Fitness Is Underrated
Fitness > Golf Specific Fitness Is Underrated
Fitness Workout for Your Financial Muscles
Fitness Workout for Your Financial Muscles
by: Mayumi King
So you bought the financial freedom books, but your bank account has yet to reap the rewards? Consider this:
Your financial success can be developed just like a muscle... and if you're not seeing results, you may be on the wrong "financial fitness" plan.
You were running on a treadmill to trim some ?financial fat.? The result? Your wallet got "skinny.? You weren?t building your financial muscles. Why not?
Much like a good muscle-strengthening or exercise program, you need expert training, inspiration, and a "financial workout" that's tailored to your specific goals.
Following are five of the Greatest Financial Challenges people typically face in their lifetime. Take the financial fitness challenge and see what muscles you need to start strengthening!
(Note: please consult a Financial Fitness Professional before attempting any of these exercises.)
Challenge...
Fitness Workout for Your Financial Muscles
Fitness > Fitness Workout for Your Financial Muscles
Best Cardio Exercises
Best Cardio Exercises
by: Gary Gresham
The best cardio exercises are something you enjoy so you'll stick to it to get the maximum benefits.
You may be surprised at how quickly this form of physical activity becomes a habit you enjoy.
Exercise and cardiovascular fitness exercises are great for your health but the best cardio exercises get you to your ideal target heart rate as you exercise.
To test your heart rate while exercising place your thumb on the underside of your wrist to locate your pulse.
Count the heart beats for fifteen seconds and multiply that number times four.
That number is your heart rate.
To calculate your ideal target heart rate, subtract your age from two hundred and twenty.
Everyone has their own preference of exercise, but these exercises below will get you to your ideal target heart rate and are some of the best cardio exercises.
Walking As Exercise
Walking...
Best Cardio Exercises
Fitness > Best Cardio Exercises
Health And Fitness Software, What Should Be In It? Part 1
horse Health And Fitness Software, What Should Be In It? Part 1
Health And Fitness Software, What Should Be In It? Part 1 Fitness mortgage
Five Accessories To Brighten Your Home
Five Accessories To Brighten Your Home
by: Dakota Caudilla
Home accessories come in all shapes, colors and sizes and there's an accessory for every room in your home. Finding creative ways to use pillows, lighting, mirrors, flowers and candles can make all the difference if you are feeling trapped in a dull home. Consider some of the following ideas for a quick makeover.
A pillow's decorative punch
Decorative pillows can add warmth, texture and dramatic...
bedroom furniture
Fitness > Five Accessories To Brighten Your Home