MakeUseOf Directory » Health / Sports

Swole: Free Tool To Generate Daily Diet Plans

Israel Nicolas — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:01:50 +0000

Health conscious individuals will always have the urge to diet, but it can also be a gruelling process especially if you do not have a set plan. What we need is a tool to tell us what to eat exactly and not think about having a meal plan everyday. This is where Swole comes into play. Swole generates a diet plan for you based on your calorie targets and set meals in a day.

To create your diet plan with Swole, just fill up your target number of calories and choose the number of meals in a day for your calorie goals. Swole will then generate a list of meals that you can follow to meet your calorie targets. Before generating the diet plan, Swole lets you set your meal options. For example, if you want to have a large breakfast, or eat a post-workout meal, you can set it in the generator options for the program to take into account. You can also add your macronutrient proportions, allowing you to set the kind of meals you will be eating.

Swole also lets you choose the specific food that you want to include in your generated diet plan. And once the diet plan is set, you can still edit each item to your liking.

Swole is a nice tool for automating diet plans while allowing enough customization so you can have a personalized diet plan that will work for you.

Features:

Generates a diet plan based on your calorie targets.
Sandbox mode lets you edit generated diet plan.
Share your diet or post in your profile.
Pre-select the type of meals you want before generating the diet plan.
Similar Tools: MyFitnessPlan or read about the 5 Websites To Boost Your Brain.

Check out Swole @ www.swole.me

Colorblind Assistant: Get Information About The Color Your Mouse Cursor Is On

Umar — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:01:13 +0000

People who suffer from colorblindness need tools to help them identify the colors they are viewing on a computer screen. Thankfully such tools exist and many of them are freely available online. One such tool that helps colorblind people as well as web developers is Colorblind Assistant.

Colorblind Assistant is a free to use desktop application for Windows computers. The app helps its users by revealing information about the color their mouse pointer is resting on. After you install the application, you will find its information window in the bottom right corner. This window reveals the name and codes of the color your mouse pointer is on; you can find the RGB and HEX codes clearly written under the name of the color.

Colorblind people can simply read the color name to know which color they are seeing and web developers can use the color codes to replicate the color in their designs.

Features:

A user-friendly desktop app.
Compatible with Windows computers.
Names the colors your mouse pointer is placed on.
Provides the RGB and HEX codes for the colors.
Similar tools: ColorHexa, ColRD, Wenovo Pictures To Color, Color-Palette-Maker, ColorHunter, ColorSuckr and ColorSchemeDesigner.
Also read related articles:

Check out Colorblind Assistant @ www.achronism.com/indexadv.php#Software (By Umar from AllThatIsApple)

Frosty Rider Sizing Guide: Find The Right Size Snowboard For You

Dave LeClair — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:01:07 +0000

If you are shopping for a snowboard online, and you are inexperienced, it can be hard to know what size of board you need. When you go to shop, they have pros on staff that can help you choose, but generally, shops are more expensive. Now, instead of trying to guess what size you need, you can use the Frosty Rider Sizing Guide to find the board that is right for you.

The guide will ask for some information from you such as your height, weight and ability level. Once you have provided the necessary information, it will spend a few seconds processing and it will then find the proper sized board for you, both in height and in width. I’m 5’11″, and it recommended I get a 155-157 cm long board and a width of 243-249 mm.

In addition to giving you the right size, it will also recommend some specific boards and give links to buy them. It makes shopping for a snowboard as easy and painless as possible.

Features:

Uses your information to find the right size board for you.
Finds proper height and width.
Provides a range and not just one exact size.
Provides recommended models and links to purchase them.
Makes saving money by purchasing online easier.
Similar tools: Choptag

Find Frosty Rider Sizing Guide @ frostyrider.com/tips/size-guide.htm

The Take A Nap Wheel: Find The Perfect Time To Take A Nap

Dave LeClair — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:01:17 +0000

Have you ever wondered what the perfect time is to take a nap? Do you wake up from a nap and feel more tired than before you went to sleep? Well then you should check out The Take A Nap Wheel. This cool web application is made by Dr. Sara Mednick. This simple application allows you to rotate the wheel to the time you woke up in the morning and based on that, it finds the best time for you to take a nap.

Basically, the wheel has two circles attached to it, where those two circles match is the ideal nap point. The sweet spot is where your short-wave sleep and REM sleep are perfectly balanced, allowing you to achieve perfect sleep and wake up well rested. Dr. Sara Mednick is the author of Take A Nap, a well respected book about the value of properly napping. She has credentials in the field of sleeping, and she is offering this valuable tool for free. If you are finding that you are not well rested, you should check this web app out.

Features:

Easy to use.
Calculate when short-wave and REM sleep are balanced.
Finds the perfect time to maximize your nap.
Created by Dr. Sara Mednick, a well respected individual in the sleep field.

Find The Sleep Wheel @ saramednick.com

Zeel: Book Alternative Healthcare Providers Online

abhijeet — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 02:01:32 +0000

If you live in the US and looking to book an appointment with an alternative healthcare provider like a massage therapist or a nutrition counselor, then you can consider booking them online through Zeel. It helps users find and book such practitioners, mainly in the New York Metropolitan region. Pricing is displayed prior to booking and they mention that they carefully scrutinize the records of the practitioners before signing them up with the service.

There’s also a questions and answers forum available where you could get your queries answered by experts. The 3 main expert categories are healing and relaxation, fitness and nutrition, and anti-aging & beauty. There are a number of sub-categories like deep tissue massage, sports massage, pilates, yoga, etc available.

Features

Book an alternative healthcare provider online.
Available only in the US at the moment.
Transparent pricing and booking method.
Careful vetting of experts prior to being listed on the site.

Check out Zeel @ www.zeel.com (via TechCrunch By Abhijeet from GT Mobiles)

GymPact: Gym Commitment With A Financial Incentive [iPhone]

TehseenBaweja — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:01:29 +0000

Let’s face it, we all promise ourselves that we’ll go to the gym but we end up not going. GymPact is a free web service that motivates you to go to the gym by putting money at stake. Here’s how it works, you sign up and tell the service how many days you are committing to go to the gym. If you keep your commitment, you win rewards, but if you don’t, you actually pay up.

When you signed up, you put a credit card on file so you can take your gym goals more seriously than ever. You cannot trick the service either as it requires you to check in via an iPhone app every time you go to the gym. It is a great way to make sure you follow through on your commitments.

Features:

Get paid when you go to the gym and loose money if you don’t.
Check in and out of gym via iPhone app.

Visit GymPact @ http://www.gym-pact.com

DrugCite: See Drug Side Effects Reported To The FDA By Users

Dave LeClair — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:01:09 +0000

Starting a new prescription can be scary. While it can cure whatever is ailing you, it can also cause some unpleasant side effects. Most of the time your doctor will tell you of anything important, but sometimes you want a second opinion. That is why DrugCite exists. It is a place that displays the side effects of drugs that have been reported to the FDA by the people with the best point of view – the people taking the drug.

You can use the search function to find information for any drug. It will give you a detailed breakdown of all the side effects reported by people taking the drug. There are some side effects caused by drugs that most people have never heard of, and it is nice to know these are possible before taking the drug.

You can share your searches with your social networks, so if you have a friend who is taking a drug, you can let them know about the possible negative side effects.

Features:

Detailed side effect breakdown for many prescriptions.
Easy to use search to find the drug you are looking for.
Graphs of the most common side effects.
Share results on Facebook, Twitter or email.
Similar site: RateADrug.

Find DrugCite @ www.drugcite.com

Fitness One: Track Your Fitness & Workouts [iOS]

abhijeet — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 23:01:28 +0000

If you are someone like me who’s considering starting a daily workout schedule soon, and own an iPhone or iPod touch, then you might want to check out this nice free app called Fitness One. It lets you create daily workout plans for up to 6 months, and the content it offers is created by certified personal trainers. It offers tips, exercise videos, pictures and also has options like Routine Builder, Exercise Directory, Exercise Logs, Fitness Analytics and more.

The app is neatly designed and is very easy to navigate through. The pictures and videos look nice. For a personal fitness program, this app might be a good start, though I won’t say that it can replace the routine of going to a gym or the guidance of a personal trainer.

Features

Track workouts, create exercise routines.
HD videos and pictures of exercises available.
Content created by certified personal trainers.
Similar tools: DailyMile, CaloriesPerHour, MapMyRun and Walker Tracker.

Check out Fitness One @ itunes.apple.com/no/app/id461270724 (via Addictive Tips By Abhijeet from Guiding Tech)

Sandbag Fitness: Tips To Get Fit With Just A Sandbag

TehseenBaweja — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 17:01:00 +0000

If you are skeptical about spending hundreds of dollars on fitness equipment, Sandbag Fitness is a great alternative. A s the title indicates, the website teaches you how to stay fit with nothing but a sandbag. It includes lots of workouts specifically using a sandbag that can help you to stay fit. In addition to the detailed instructions, each workout also includes a picture displaying the work out.

Moreover, the site also has lots of videos involving sandbag exercises that you can watch. You can also read more about sandbags and how they can help. The site is essentially a blog so it doesn’t have a great interface or navigation but the large amount of free workouts included more than make up for it. You can also subscribe to download the free 68 page workout manual.

Features:

Lots of workout strategies with just a sandbag.
Download free fitness manual.
No registration required.
Similar tools: GymGenie, WithFit, SimpleFit, CrossFit and Walker Tracker.

Visit SandbagFitness @ www.sandbagfitness.blogspot.com

Illuum: Effectively Track Your Happiness & Goals

Umar — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:01:43 +0000

Have you wondered whether a particular month was overall a happy one for you? If yes, then to find this out you need to regularly track how happy you are with your days. Here to help you determine that and to help you track various goals and aims is a new web service called Illuum.

Illuum is an excellent web service that offers free and premium packages. Since the free one includes nearly all the features and is only potentially ad-supported, most users will stick with it. The site lets you rate your days from a scale of 1 to 10 ranging worst days to the best. For each day you can record a rating, detail what you did, and additionally add trackables. These trackables are goals or polls that you can set. While filling out details of any day you can also fill in the trackable and view a graphical summary of them later. For example you can track whether or not wanted to buy a guitar every day of the month; if by the end of the month you see that you wanted to buy a guitar throughout the month, you should go ahead and buy it. Similarly the trackables option can be used in a multitude of ways.

Features:

A user-friendly web service.
Lets you track your happiness.
Lets you rate your days.
Lets you add trackables to your days.
Similar tools: MoodPanda.
Also read related articles:
5 Websites To Play Music Matching Your Mood
The 5 Best Ways To Relax Using Online Tools

Check out Illuum @ www.illuum.com (By Umar from AllThatIsApple)