Sparkpeople Review

I joined Spark People through the MyPoints program, and viewed it as easy points, plus something to help me with my diet.  What I found was a great community with the goal of helping me be the healthiest I can be.

Every day in my email I get at least three emails from Spark People.  If you think that's overkill, the nice feature is you decide what emails you want from them.  You get points for every email you read, plus they include articles you can click to read through, polls to take, recipes, exercises, and profiles of members. 

The points system is fun, and even though it's mostly for status, it's a motivator and that's what I need in my life to work toward my goals.  You get points for reading the emails, answering the polls, reviewing the recipes, and reading the articles.  Plus you get login points every day, and there is a long list of activities you can track to also earn points.  Each activity has a maximum number of points per day, so you can't make a million points in one day, but you move up fairly quickly.

The exercise descriptions are wonderful, and the best part is they include a full color picture of a person doing the actual exercise along with the full physical description.  But, to top that, they have a video of each exercise being done for those really visual people like me who like to be shown exactly how to do an exercise.

I suppose if I had to find fault it would be with the recipes.  They do have a huge variety, and they really promote healthy eating, but I have noticed while all the recipes are nutritous, they seem to be higher in calories than I usually like.  I think with many some alternatives could be taken to make them healthier, and probably the nutrition outweighs the calories, I am not an expert in that area at all!

Also a great feature is the message boards and the community of posters there.  Far ranging topics include not necessarily just diet and exercise, but all aspects of life.  These are people in the same boat as you, living their lives, and sharing their experiences.  This is a supportive group, and very welcoming.

Overall I've enjoyed my Spark People experience and plan to get more and more involved.