[EveLHaelf]

Is there anyone here who is a member of either Jillianmichaels.com or a member of the biggest loser club? What is it like? Has it helped you to change your lifestyle?

I'm looking for something that will tell me how many calories I need to eat, and how many calories i need to burn each day. I suck at math, whenever I try to figure out all the calculations, I get extremely frustrated and my head starts to hurt, lol. Do either of these sites offer something like that?

Are these sites actually helpful or do they just shove a bunch of ads in your face telling you to "buy this to lose weight!" ??

For the first part of my journey I didnt' count calories or anything and I lost over 60 pounds. But I've come to a standstill and without knowing how many calories I'm eating I can't really fix it properly so I'm going to try calorie counting to see if I can lose the rest of this weight! I may get a body bugg or a gowear fit also....idk...

Any help is appreciated!

[Purplefirefly]

I joined JM.com awhile back and ended up dropping my membership before having to pay again, but it might be what you are looking for. She gives you daily workouts which are basically the same thing you would get if you bought some of her DVDs or did her Wii game...circuit style workouts with lots of lunging, etc. She really doesn't tell you how many calories to burn other than giving you a workout for the day which you have to do off the computer screen with no video or anything...I had her videos so couldn't see paying for the online version which was less motivating for me.

She has some REALLY good recipes, but I ended up changing almost all the menus she gave me because i didn't like a lot of things it auto assigned. It took a lot of time to go through and find recipes I liked and substitute things.

You are basically put on a flat calorie plan eating the same calories daily...which goes against what she says in her first book which is to have a weekly limit and split them out during the week so you eat a different amount each day. The book option worked better for me, so again the calorie limit wasn't helpful to me online. Her book has an easy formula for figuring a weekly limit which I have found to be spot on.

There are some forums where you can talk with others and read blogs, etc. but I did not find them half as informative or welcoming as our boards here. She has some motivating challenges but they go through her blog, so everyone leaves her messages there but she never responds to anyone. It felt like talking to no one for me, seemed pointless and didn't make it very motivational for me.

So, I think it might work for you but it did not for me since most of the resources I was getting a better version of elsewhere. It does give you a weekly menu depending on your calorie level (which you can can change and I did not feel was very accurate for my goals), and the workouts which you could get from a DVD for a one time cost. It's not as personalized as you would think, everyone gets the same workouts, etc. depending on the level you are on.

I have not tried the biggest loser club but will be listening here for others who have.

[beerab]

Maybe you could invest in something like a bodybugg or gowearfit? That way you will have a more accurate idea of what you are burning daily? Then you could track the calories you eat and see how much you've burned for the day- makes it a lot easier from what people say.

I'm totally thinking about a gowearfit for christmas- and it's on sale at their site right now Cheaper than amazon!

[EveLHaelf]

Purple, I too have all of her exercise dvd's. Thank you for giving me some input on your experience. It doesn't sound like something I would want to do. I have her book as well but like I said I am VERY slow when it comes to the math and everything. I can plug in the numbers like she says to do, but I don't understand why I'm plugging in those numbers. Maybe you could help me understand it better? One thing I don't understand is how to incorporate exercise into the equation. I know she has that chart where you can pick an exercise and put that number in, but I don't think that's very accurate because I don't do the same exercises every day. And how do I get the 1000 cal a day deficit? Do I do half from calorie restriction and half from exercise? Isn't the number you get after you follow her instructions all the way through already including exercise? See my heads already starting to hurt again, lol.

beerab, I am seriously considering getting a gowear fit. I think it could help me a lot once I get the right numbers figured out.

I wish they would just release the program that they put the biggest loser contestants on. Because after watching the show, I realize that they have a set number of calories that they eat each day and a set number of calories they need to burn. (this season it's 6,000 burned each day which isn't realistic for me) but I would still like to be able to figure out how much I should burn each day....

[beerab]

6,000 a day?! *faints*

I'm begging my hubby for one for christmas

[JellyBean32882]

I would get a bodybugg or gowearfit but I think you have to pay monthly for the program part of it and I'm on a budget.

[hopefalls]

See, I had a completely different experience with JM.com. It was just what I needed to really help me to lose weight. I am a vegetarian so a lot of the recipes had to be changed, but she gives you a real idea of how you should be eating. The kinds of foods and such. The workouts were great, though as was already stated they are on the computer screen. I found that putting music on drastically helped me get through them. They were a mix of cardio and resistance/weights. As far as the message boards, I loved them. They were amazing... I found them to be so helpful and really found some great friends who I am still in contact with now even though I no longer belong to the board. I found it to be completely worth it, lost about 25 pounds while on the website though that is only an estimate. The only reason that I dropped my membership is that I decided it was either my membership there or the gym... the gym won out ;D So, good luck in whatever you decide to do!

[luckymommy]

I don't know if you have an iPhone or an iTouch, but there's a free application called Lose It and it does calculate for you all the calories, etc....I am HORRIBLE at the math and this is easy to use like nothing else. I love it. My hubby loves it too and he's not usually impressed by much. I just thought I'd mention it.

[lawchica]

I read somewhere that the biggest loser calorie intake is 1300 calories a day. And if they are burning 6000 calories a day, that would explain how they lose so much on a given week! LOL

good luck!
Lory