Here is a guest article from Anna Fox that is quite different from the regular direction of this site. One it’s about fat loss, which is not my speciality. I choose to focus on high performance and strength, though I recognize this is the primary reason for most people and why they do training. It’s also about using technology, specifically Twitter to help you do that.
So if you’re looking to lose weight and enjoy using tools, or or just looking at a new and possibly fun way to do it, then check out this article.
Sometimes I look at my Twitter feed and find myself wondering if there is anything it can’t do. I find tips and advice there, market my blog and every find friends. I check out trending hashtags and topics, share information and get motivation. I even get a good laugh more often than not. Sometimes to the point of near hysteria.
That is why I wasn’t surprised when I found out people were using it to lose weight. Namely by tracking their progress and sharing in the Twitter community for inspiration and support. Some are even finding ways to maximize their weight loss using advice and systems presented there. It is a practical approach I never would have considered if I had not seen it for myself.
Here are a few ways to use Twitter as a weight loss tool.
Follow Hashtags
One of the easiest ways to do this is through using certain hashtags to connect with other Twitter users. As you can imagine, there are dozens of choices. All you have to do is use a relevant word or phrase to your specific approach to fitness.
For example, there are #weightloss, #calorietracking and #diet. You can also try more targeted keywords, like #running, #swimming or #kettlebells.
Tweet What You Eat
Another simple method of holding yourself accountable is by tracking everything you eat through Twitter. You can also tweet your exercise routine, and details of what you have burned. There are plenty of calorie and exercise counters on the web to help you out. Not to mention the many apps on smartphones that allow the same.
That doesn’t mean you have to constantly update whenever you chow down on a peanut. But at the end of every day, you can post the final numbers, and maybe every few weeks post your weight. You can get support by those following your journey, and keep yourself accountable by showing others your progress.
Twakit
Whether it is your weight, calories burned or consumed, amount slept or anything else, you can use this handy tool to track it. You just enter a numerical value and tweet it to @twakit. Which will list it for you with any hashtags you might prefer.
One of the best parts about this tool is that there is no sign up necessary to use it. You just tweet what you want and you are done. You can also see other people using it on their page, by clicking their hashtags to check out their personal reports.
Weight Loss Charts
If you don’t mind signing up, this is a cool tool. It works by having you sign up and then follow the site’s bots on Twitter. You then send them a daily weigh in. If you forget, they send out a little reminder for you to get it done.
Once your weight is logged, it goes onto the main site. When you sign in you can see charts of your progress, tracking it over time. This has limited use, but is still kind of cool.
Conclusion
Twitter is one of the most versatile websites around. It’s complex algorithm and live update feature mixes perfectly with their simple user tools. So it is no surprise that people have adapted it for improving their weight loss results.
Do you know of any ways that Twitter can be used for fitness? Let us know in the comments.
Anna is the feetness newbie and social media geel blogging at a number of blogs including extremediets.org.
Image Credit: 1.