Sparkpeople Vs. Ediets: Two Web Sites for Dieting

A simple Google search on "weight loss" or "diets" will yield hundreds of results. So many websites offer help for dieters, it can be tough to sort out which ones are really helpful and which are just out to sell their own dieting agenda. I have recently used two very legit and inclusive dieting resource websites to help me reach my weight loss goals, Sparkpeople and Ediets. Sparkpeople and Ediets both track diet, nutrition and fitness and offer large support communities where you can network among other dieters and get support to reach your weight loss goals. Ediets and Sparkpeople will both send motivational emails to keep you on track during your diet, and both are genuinely positive environments. Eventually, I had to choose just one web diet plan, and here's what helped me make my decision between Sparkpeople and Ediets.

Diet and Nutrition

Both Sparkpeople and Ediets offer great nutritional plans. After completing a short questionnaire when you register, Sparkpeople and Ediets will help you come up with a meal plan and shopping list to fit your chosen diet. Ediets features its own diet plan, as well as popular diets like Atkins, South Beach and the Zone diet. When registering you tell Ediets the specific diet you are interested in trying and Ediets will tailor your meal plan accordingly. Sparkpeople offers just their calorie counting diet, but they also take into account fat content, protein and carbohydrates as well as food group servings. A Sparkpeople diet is not purely based on calorie counting, and when you use Sparkpeople you know you are getting adequate nutrition as well. I personally have lost more weight more consistently with Sparkpeople's calorie and nutrition tracking than I ever did on any of the Ediets plans.

Fitness

Ediets and Sparkpeople both offer comprehensive fitness plans into their weight loss routines. No weight loss plan is complete without exercise as well as dieting, and Sparkpeople and Ediets customize a fitness plan based on your profile and weight loss goals. Sparkpeople will tell you exactly how many calories you need to burn in each session of cardio exercise and how often you need to work out to meet your goal weight. Both Ediets an Sparkpeople will also help you coordinate your strength training based on your level of experience and will guide you on which strength training exercises to do when. Even better, both sites offer visual videos or animations of the strength training exercises to ensure that you are doing it correctly.

I had trouble setting up my fitness plan on Ediets. I'm not sure if I was confused or if it was their system, but I found Sparkpeople's fitness system much easier to use. Sparkpeople tracks exactly what days I need to do my cardio or strength training workouts and which muscle groups I should train on which days. Your fitness plan is melded together with your meal plan calender which makes tracking fitness and nutrition on your end very simple. Even better, although I have a gym membership I find many days where I can not get out to the gym, and Sparkpeople allowed me to tailor my fitness workout to the equipment I had at home and has detailed information on exercises using machines, free weights, or no special equipment at all.

My final conclusion

The biggest difference between Sparkpeople and Ediets is the price of their services. At Ediets you can set up a free profile and receive free newsletters, but if you want to take advantage of the more specific services like the meal plans and fitness tracking, you will need to pay a monthly subscription fee. Sparkpeople, on the other hand, offers all of its services for free to all members. So, unless you are very firm on choosing a specific diet plan at Ediets like Atkins or Slim Fast, Sparkpeople is just as good, in my situation better, and all for free.