Nutrihand ($9.95 per month or free when you join with your nutritionist or dietitian). Featurewise, this site is more plain vanilla than rocky road, but if you're getting professional help offline, it allows you and your counselor to work together online on meal plans, shopping lists, and fitness goals. You can print out reports to bring to your sessions. Diabetics who use insulin pumps can upload data from their glucometer on a private and secure network and chart or graph glucose levels, blood pressure, and other personal data to tweak pump settings and track health status.
SparkPeople (free). It's supported by ads that run the gamut from hotels to granola bars, but get-slim-quick gimmicks are blessedly absent. The focus is on meeting simple goals: eat less, exercise more. Users can create meal plans based on calories and dietary restrictions, plan meals up to a week in advance, and save favorite meals to a daily log. Members exchange advice through forums, blogs, and message boards. Bonus: The more time you spend on the site, the more SparkPoints you earn towards prizes like T-shirts, water bottles, and exercise DVDs.
Vtrim ($695 for six months). From the University of Vermont, Vtrim requires dedication and a good chunk of cash. You sign on for a six-month commitment consisting of 24 one-hour classes with approximately 20 other members guided by a Vtrim-certified "facilitator" trained in diet, nutrition, or weight management. Groups meet weekly in chat rooms to discuss specific habits geared towards healthy living. They utilize graphs, charts, body mass index, featured recipes, and other tools to help track calories. Although the price tag packs a hefty punch, Vtrim takes a sensible approach to dieting that focuses on changing behavior, not starvation. In fact, it shies away from diets entirely and encourages walking as the primary form of exercise.
WeightWatchers ($47.90 for the first month and $17.95 for each additional month, plus a $23.95 start-up fee). If your chief concern is diet and not fitness, it's a great resource. Although members are encouraged to exercise, the emphasis is on healthy eating and community support. Best known for its "points system," WeightWatchers bases its program on choosing healthy foods that satisfy hunger as long as possible. The site keeps track of food intake; provides recipes, meal ideas, and dining out tips; and creates personalized weekly progress charts. Signing up online won't allow you to attend local meetings, but it does allow you to access your plan from your cell phone.
(Article courtesy of Yahoo Health)
