Here’s a great way to create a spreadsheet tool using Google Docs, that tracks your weight loss progress that also allows you to share your progress with your blog readers in a nifty little chart that looks like the image to the right ->

Things You’ll Need:

• A computer connected to the internet
• A free Google account

Instructions:

1. Go to the Google home page
   Before creating your weight loss tracking spreadsheet using Google Docs, you must Sign In to your Googe account. To do that go to Google.com using your internet browser. On the Google home page click on the “Sign In” in the upper right corner of the web page.
2. Sign into your free Google account
   On the Google Accounts sign in web page, log into your free Google account by entering your account email address and password.
3. Navigate to the Google Docs web page
   After signing into your Google account, click on the “more” link at the top of the page, and then click on “Documents”.
4. Create a blank spreadsheet
   To create a blank spreadsheet, on the navigation bar click on “New” and select “Spreadsheet”.
5. Enter the headings into your weight loss tracking spreadsheet
   Enter the headings of your weight loss tracking spreadsheet into row 1. Type in these cells:-A1: Date
   -B1: Weight
6. Enter dates into your weight loss tracking spreadsheet in column A.
   I choose to only weigh myself once a week, on Monday mornings.  My column A has the following dates:2/1/2010
   2/8/2010
   2/15/2010
   2/22/2010
   3/1/2010
7. Enter your weight in column B.
8. Click “Insert”, then select “Chart” to begin creating your chart.
   
9. A new chart window will pop up. Select chart type of your choice:
   
10. In the “What data” field enter: Sheet1!A1:B11
11. Group data by columns, and tick off the two selection boxes:
    
12. Add a title to your chart and axis names – I have given my axis the names “Date” and “Weight”:
    
13. Save your chart!
14. Click on your newly created chart and scroll to “Publish chart”
    
15. Copy and paste the resulting HTML code where ever you would like to publish your new weight loss chart.
    
    Some examples are:
    • Your blog sidebar
    • Blog post
    • Page on your blog (I have a progress page where you can follow my weightloss and half marathon training progress).
16. Be sure to save your spreadsheet by clicking on the “Save” button at top of the web page.
    
17. Visit your spreadsheet each week and enter your weight – your chart will automatically update.
    

Hey gang!  How’s your Tuesday going?  Have you been eating healthy today?

Do you keep a food journal?

Did you know that many studies have shown that people who keep a food journal eat healthier and consume less colories?  People who eat healthier live LONGER too!  You could keep a paper-based food journal, but will that capture how many calories, vitamins and nutrients you’ve consumed? 

Ahhh – that’s where the internet comes in! One thing I love about the internet is the plethora of online tools to help motivate us to get active, lose weight and to eat healthy.  Here’s a list of online food journals that I urge you to check out

Loseit.com – This one is my personal favourite because it has a FREE iPhone application that goes with it so I can record my food offline throughout the day on my iPod Touch (or on an iPhone) that I use as a PDA.  When I get home from work I can sync my journal on our home wireless network.  I like it because it also emails me an excel spreadsheet of my journal that I import into Google docs so I can share it with you in my Motivation Monday post.  The site can also send out a tweet on your behalf to your followers regarding your progress to keep you accountable. 

SparkPeople – This site also has an iPhone application that syncs with the website that is available from the iTunes store for $1.99.  The journal can be shared within the SparkPeople Community to keep you accontable with your online friends and cheerleaders.  I’m not sure if you can update your SparkPeople iPhone Journal when in off-line mode (ie: on an iPod Touch not connected to wifi)

Livestrong – This site is the brain-child of my celebrity boyfriend Lance Armstrong (known around my house as Lancie).  It also has an iPhone/iPod application available for download for FREE from the iTunes store.  Livestrong is great because it also has a lot of information regarding how to kick that nasty smoking habit.

My Pyramid – This site is from the US Department of Agriculture.  Instead of focussing on the daily RDA of vitamins and nutrients, it focusses on whether or not you eat by the US Food Pyramid.  It lets you know if you’re short on fruits,  veggies, proteins or grains.  This is great because it takes the guess work out of it, ‘cause really – who on earth knows what foods can provide you with the vitamin A you may be deficient in? This site does not have a iPhone App.

Fit Day – This is a geat food journal because of all of the customized reports you can run from it.  You can set your fitness and weightloss goals and it will tell you how many more calories you can consume to meet those goals.  It has a downloadable desktop software, however I’m unaware of what added benefits that would have over the Free online version. 

Tweet What You Eat – This is a great site if you don’t have an iPhone or iPod Touch but have a blackberry or other phone that you have set up to send updates to twitter from.  I love being able to update my journal on the go, rather than having to log onto a website at the end of the day to record from a paper record what I’ve eaten. Basically you register at www.tweetwhatyoueat.com with your twitter account and then send direct messages (DM) to TWYE with the food that you’ve eaten.  i.e.: D TWYE Banana  Tweet what you eat then automatically updates your food journal for you including the number of calories! 

This brings me to this week’s Poll Question:  Do You Use A Food Journal? 

PS – If I’ve missed any you can use my CONTACT FORM to let me know and I’ll be happy to add it to the list