Is it possible that SparkPeople’s diet advice works?

SparkPeople is one of the many online communities focused on weight loss and healthy living. Does all the diet advice given by SparkPeople, SparkRecipes.com, SparkTeens.com and BabyFit.com even work? The short answer is yes — but, like all weight loss, people who want to get the job done have to work hard.

SparkPeople and what it offers

Sparkpeople is half social network and half diet advice. The free, ad-supported website calculates your BMI and offers recommendations on exercise and nutrition. The site has a daily log for you to keep track of every little thing you eat and all of your exercise. When you make progress on your weight-loss goal, you get SparkPoints that you are able to redeem for various small prizes. Before you run out and spend $ 500 on a “diet food” system or pay $ 18 a month for WeightWatchers, SparkPeople suggests that you try their system first, which is ultimately free. On top of that, the SparkPeople system will only allow “healthy” goals to be set or tracked in their system.

SparkPeople community will help with things

The community of SparkPeople is the part of the site that is one of the most helpful. You can be helped by people with the same goals as you with message boards, forums and blogs on SparkPeople. This community element is incredibly important when it comes to losing and keeping weight off. Like all social networks, the SparkPeople community relies on you to get out there and be social — so individuals can choose not to.

Does SparkPeople actually work?

SparkPeople is a website that most are concerned won't help them actually lose weight. Weight loss is much more easily tracked when using SparkPeople. If you are expecting a Biggest Loser -style change inside your appearance, though, SparkPeople probably won’t help. Healthy weight loss is all about changing habits, not following a specific “diet” that will leave you in a yo-yo dieting situation. If you aren’t a fan of the SparkPeople system, you will find a couple of other effective online tools that do the exact same type of thing. Very close to SparkPeople is Calorie Count, from About.com. Walk some more every day, write down what you eat and stop drinking liquid calories if you don't want to do anything online. You don’t have to purchase to the $ 60 billion a year diet industry to lose weight — you just have to change small things you do every single day.