Getting on the right health track

PDF: Fitness tracker graph

Tracking health goals and daily fitness activity has gotten a little easier with a free Web tool from the Tennessee Department of Health.

Gov. Phil Bredesen’s Get Fit Tennessee initiative is offering a free online fitness tracker that allows users to record their efforts to exercise, eat healthy foods and achieve personal fitness goals. Tennesseans also can use the site to log weight-loss progress or efforts to quit smoking and print personalized graphs detailing their accomplishments.

Health officials hope that by watching their progress — or lack of it — monitored on a user-friendly site, Tennesseans will be more aware of the daily decisions that can make a big difference in their health.

The site “monitors that and sort of keeps a record for you,” said Heather Newman, Get Fit Tennessee’s coordinator. “It all gets back to that accountability factor.”

Tennessee now is 46th in the nation for health status, because of inactive children and adults, poor nutrition, tobacco use and risky alcohol use, Health Commissioner Susan Cooper said in a release.

“We know that changes are taking shape, and we’re on the road to becoming a healthier state,” she said. “I’m eager to see Tennesseans begin using the Fitness Tracker tools ... and create some excitement around health and nutrition.”

On the Fitness Tracker site, standards from the federal President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports are used to assigned “fitness points” to different activities, such as jogging, biking, dancing and washing the car.

Site users should think not only about traditional forms of exercise, but they should consider adding more activity to their day through simple decisions such as parking farther away from stores when shopping and taking stairs instead of an elevator, said Shelley Walker, spokeswoman for the state health department.

“One of the main messages of Get Fit is that there are simple things, small things that everybody can do to improve their health and fitness, and it’s all about starting where you are,” she said.

Kelly Lytle, Chattanooga dietitian, said the free online tool can give users much-needed incentive to stay aware of their lifestyle choices, and she noted that personal trainers who offer similar fitness tracking services don’t come cheap.

“I think that’s the best resource for the average person who doesn’t have the available money to pay a professional to do that for them,” she said.

Users of the Web site also can organize competitions with friends or co-workers, who can all create confidential profiles on the site, Ms. Walker said.

“A lot of studies show that getting a partner is a great way to encourage people to keep at that fitness goal and keep up your motivation,” she said.

Ms. Newman said teachers even could use the tool in the classroom, encouraging students to create challenges and printing of certificates of achievement.

Gov. Bredesen said in a news release that the Volunteer State has a way to go to achieve good health status.

“Improved health among our citizens is a top priority in Tennessee, and the Fitness Tracker is just one more step in the right direction to better health,” Gov. Bredesen said in a release.

Accountability is really the key to successfully changing health habits, Ms. Lytle said, and it’s best to start early.

“I think particularly the younger generation is more apt to get online than say, get out a notebook and pen” and track fitness goals, she said. “You’ve got to pick the tool that suits you best.”