New Workouts, Weight-Loss Tips and Resources for Brides-to-Be

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Hi everyone!

We're happy to announce that we recently added a new collection of resources to the site: Brides-to-Be Getting Buff. This new Lifestyle Center (find it under the "Healthy Lifestyle" tab and then click "Lifestyle Centers") features bridal SparkTeams, wedding dress workouts, and wedding-specific weight-loss tips and success stories geared toward women who want to shape up for their big day.

This is a great page to share with friends and family members who might not know about SparkPeople, but otherwise hope to look and feel their best on their wedding day, so please help us Spread the Spark by sharing this link with others you know: www.sparkpeople.com/resource/lifestyle_center_detail.asp?id=18

We hope that all of our current and future brides-to-be enjoy using these new wedding resources to reach their goals!

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New SparkPoints Wheel Prompt on Start Page

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Hi everyone

We made a small change to the Start page (where you are taken after login). The first time you visit the page each day we give you an easy prompt to spin the SparkPoints wheel. We've found that members who get involved with SparkPoints both have more fun and are more successful on SparkPeople!

If you don't want to see the prompt again simply click the "Never show this SparkPoints popup again" on the lower right of the prompt page.

If you have any questions or comments please let us know, thanks!

Dave H.
SparkPeople.com

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Announcing our free iPad application

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Hi everyone

We're very happy to announce our first Application for the Apple iPad. You can visit sparkpeople.com/ipad from your iPad's browser for a quick link to the application in the iTunes Store. Our free "Diet & Fitness Tracker for iPad" has all the great features of our iPhone version, but takes advantage of the iPad's big screen to make it even easier and more helpful to use. And of course, like our site and all our other mobile applications, our iPad Application is completely free.

By downloading our Application from the iPad's Application Store you can:
- Set your diet and fitness goals and get a personalized diet plan
- Track your food and get meal plans
- Track your fitness program, including your calories burned
- See over 250 animated exercise demonstrations, plus track your strength workouts
- Track your weight
- See detailed reports for your food, fitness, and weight
- Get our latest healthy lifestyle news and an inspirational quote of the day

If you are a SparkPeople.com member you can login to the iPad application with your SparkPeople account and your information and tracking will automatically synchronize.

The iPad joins our family of mobile applications, which you can find and learn more about at sparkpeople.com/mobile. This includes two applications - Diet & Fitness Tracker and Healthy Recipes - available on iPhone, Android, and Blackberry phones, plus a version of our site enhanced for mobile browsers at mobile.sparkpeople.com. We are the only diet and fitness site with applications on all 3 major platforms.

Finally, if you don't have an iPad but know a friend who does please tell them about this application, it’s a great way to get friends to try SparkPeople! As a reminder, you can learn more and download the application at sparkpeople.com/ipad.

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New SparkAmerica Challenge, Plus Changes to Your Fitness Tracker

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

About a month ago, we announced the launch of our new web initiative, SparkAmerica, and let you know that more changes would be coming soon.

Starting today, we're kicking off our first SparkAmerica challenge: The Fall Fit City Challenge, which will award one U.S. city with the title, and offer every individual who participates (by logging their exercise minutes) the chance to win fun prizes. (Other countries and states are part of our leaderboards, too, and all individuals can participate.) To learn more about this challenge, read this post on our SparkAmerica News Blog. (While you're there, be sure to subscribe to the SparkAmerica blog so you can stay in the know with all things SparkAmerica.)

In addition, today we unveiled some changes to your Fitness Tracker (my Fitness) page to help promote SparkAmerica and encourage you to set goals and stay on top of your fitness tracking. These changes are especially noticeable for members who do not currently use the QuickTrack function. (To turn QuickTrack on or off and learn more about it, visit your Start page. You'll see a QuickTrack section in the "my Tools" column on the far left of the page.)

For members who use QuickTrack, the QuickTrack section at the top of your Fitness Tracker now shows your total fitness minutes for the week, month and year with a "SparkAmerica" header. Don't worry. This works exactly the same as it always has, but now allows you to easily edit those goals and see your progress totals.

For members who do NOT use QuickTrack, you'll see a new box at the top of your Fitness Tracker page that says "My Fitness Minutes." This box will keep a running tally of the total fitness minutes you've tracked each week, month and year, and allow you to see (and edit) an annual fitness goal, as well as provide a quick link to the SparkAmerica leaderboards. Your Fitness Tracker will work exactly the same way it always has; you'll just see these real-time stats as you track your workouts each day.

We think that SparkAmerica is a fun and motivating way to encourage people to get more active. We hope that you'll enjoy seeing your progress at the top of your Fitness Tracker page each time your track.

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New 'mobile web' version of SparkPeople launched - points, water, and more!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Hi everyone

This week we launched some pretty big enhancements to mobile.sparkpeople.com, our "mobile web" version of SparkPeople. By mobile web we mean pages of our site enhanced to work well on mobile phones equipped with internet browsers. Keep in mind we also have Applications available on iPhone/Android/Blackberry, but now people with other brands of phones - Palm, Windows, Samsung, Nokia, etc - can use SparkPeople on the go even more effectively.

We've had a basic mobile web available for some time where you could track food and cardio exercise. With our new launch you can also now:
- Spin the SparkPoints Wheel, plus see your Points totals.
- Track water
- Track weight
- Do some more advanced food and fitness tracking tasks, such as manually adding a food and deleting tracked foods and exercises
- Enjoy an improved design and user interface

If you have a smartphone and haven't tried our mobile web or mobile applications yet, we really recommend you give them a try. Members are telling us that tracking on the go keeps them even more motivated, plus if you are out to eat you can search for the best foods to order.

To access our mobile web you can enter mobile.sparkpeople.com into the web address on your phone. Please comment below if you have any questions or issues. Thanks!

Dave H.
SparkPeople.com

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