14 DAY TRIAL // Statistically speaking, we are dealing with a continuous growth of the obese population. This is mainly caused by ignorance, bad eating habits, and lack of food information.
It's not just about all those irresistible fast-food places that lure even the most temperate individual. It's also about the knowledge of how the human body works and what should one do, in order to have a healthy way of life.
You can hire a personal trainer that's specialized in sports and nutrition, so that you can be assured that whatever you are doing is approved by an expert. But let's be frank here: hiring someone as such would mean too much of a trouble.
There is, on the other hand, an electronic version of Mr. Trainer, and it's called Diet Power.
The basics
This is a weight control program that will help you gain or loose weight in an assisted daily exercise and nutrition schedule.
The program isn't just recommended to people that want to get in shape, but it's also a great informational tool, that will keep you up to date with your health status, while giving you tips to stay fit and have a healthy way of life.
The menu is easily navigable, and you have an intuitive toolbox that guides you through the steps you need to take so that you don't miss out on anything.
I've divided the application in three sections: exercising, nutrition and information.
Exercising
You can access the exercise log from the Exercise tab in the main menu, or by using the self-explanatory icon in the toolbox. In the log, you get a long list containing activities that you might engage into, with a default exercise time, and calories that you burn in that time.
I'm sure that you could add some more, but the list is so diversified (ranging from driving a tractor, to moving furniture), that it's impossible to find similar actions in the list for the ones that you can perform in everyday life.
You have a favorites section, where you can add exercises that you like the most, so that you can have fast access to them. Also, you have a nice search feature, so you can lookup a keyword in the exercise dictionary, whenever you want.
When you add an exercise in today's to do list, you get an updated budget of calories that tells you what your target is, how many you've burned so far today, and how many you have left.
Nutrition
After a good work-out (and a small break), you deserve a treat! But, just to be sure that you don't go nuts with your calories, you have the chance to use the Food log. This is very similar the exercise log, but instead of exercises and burned calories, you get recipes and the amount of calories that each of them contains.
What I like about this part, is that you can access the Nutrient Summary tab that provides you with all the essential nutrients that you need to have every day, with an up to date status on your profile.
As you feed the program with information, its database is updated, and calculates how much you need, so that you don't eat (or exercise) more than needed.
If you have your own food recipe, you can add it here. You do, however, have to know what the serving size is, the amount of calories per serving portion, and all such details.
Information
The information section is complex enough to provide to the point results and advices, and easy to comprehend so that you won't have to be the sharpest in the box to figure out how things work.
A very important thing is that you input the program with absolutely all your activities regarding exercising and nutrition. Remember, that this is not a miracle worker, but an application that does math and statistical work regarding your weight control. You have to measure and input your weight everyday, so that you can keep track of how close to your goal you are.
You can get a closer look on your status by accessing the nutrient history, which can tell you what your status is either for the present day, or for the past week, month, quarter or year.
Another nice feature I like is the fact that when your body runs out of water (and you'll evidently get a thirst feeling), there's an information "WaterMinder" that pops up and tells you exactly how much liquid you need to drink.
If you'd like to customize your experience with the program, you can add more recipes, foods, or exercises to the correspondent dictionaries.
The help menu is various, and has all the information you need (maybe even too much). But what I don't like is the fact that it's not integrated in the installation package. Every time you click on a help-related item in the menu, you are directed to the producer's website to get the information. It's not too bad, but it could be if you don't have a permanent Internet connection.
The good
This is a well organized program, with many features that will surely help you not only stay fit, but gather useful information about the human body, and how the whole mechanism works (plus some tips and tricks to tune it up a little)
The bad
I've noticed that the application is a little slow in performance. It doesn't slow down the computer, though.
The truth
I would recommend this program as your personal trainer and nutritionist, because it offers exactly what you need for this matter. You can try it for yourself for 15 days at no cost!
Here are some screenshots of the program:
