Today we released a couple of major updates to Health Tracker just in time for the holidays (as we continue on the path to Health Tracker world domination :). These updates include, 1) Profile display of Health Tracker - If you choose to, you are now able to display/share your Health Tracker within your personal profile. This can be kept completely private, it can be shared with only your friends or with the entire ObesityHelp community. 2) My Workouts - You are now able to build and store custom workouts that can be used over and over again. My Workouts will allow you to log multiple exercise/activity items at one time so you don't have to search for individual exercises each time you want to log your activity or exercise session.

Profile Display of Health Tracker .

The profile display of Health Tracker includes Body, Food Log, Exercise Log and the Macronutrient Report. As mentioned above, this can be kept entirely private or you can choose to share your Health Tracker information with friends, family, your bariatric surgeon or other clinicians.

In order to see the profile view of Health Tracker, when viewing your profile or another member's profile, look for the Health Tracker link to the right of the avatar. If there is no Health Tracker link, the profile view of Health Tracker has been set to private.

The privacy settings for Health Tracker can be found in the "Settings" section of My OH. To access your Health Tracker setting click My OH at the top of any page on ObesityHelp, select "Settings" on the left, click the Health Tracker tab and choose the "Sharing" option. Or, just click here to access your Health Tracker Sharing options :)

Workouts

My Workouts makes it quick and easy to log routine exercise and activity. For those who perform similar exercises on a regular basis, with My Workouts you can create a workout consisting of a series of exercises you often perform and instead logging each exercise indivivudally, My Workouts allows to log a single item (a workout) that contains all of the exericses you have performed. Build it once and log it any number of times.

Under My Workouts you will see a list of workouts that you have created and saved. You can log workouts directly from My Workouts by selecting "I did this", choose the day and click "Save"

You can also search for workouts you have created directly from your Exercise Log.

Create your first workout now!

One other addition

For your convenience, in this release we have also made some changes to the account deactivation process. In case you ever have the need to deactivate your ObesityHelp account, you can access this function by clicking My OH at the top of any page on ObesityHelp, select "Settings" on the left, and under the "General" tab select "Manage". Instructions for deactivating your account can be found there.

Have a great Thanksgiving and look for more updates soon!

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this release, please post them in this thread on the Main Message Board.

Here's a great Recipe from Cooking Light for a wonderful Chicken and White Bean Salad. Full of flavor and protein. I think it works just as well with turkey.

White Bean and Roasted Chicken Salad


Cannellini beans, or white kidney beans, are smaller than Great Northern beans and add just the right texture. Great for picnics or lazy-day suppers, this salad stirs together in a flash.


Salad:
2 cups coarsely chopped skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken
1 cup chopped tomato
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/3 cup sliced fresh basil
2 (16-ounce) cans cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained

Dressing:

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced

To prepare salad, place first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; stir gently to combine.

To prepare dressing, combine vinegar and remaining ingredients, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle over salad, tossing gently to coat.


Yield:  5 servings (serving size: about 1 1/4 cups)

CALORIES 369 (25% from fat); FAT 10.1g (sat 2g,mono 5.7g,poly 1.7g); IRON 4mg; CHOLESTEROL 45mg; CALCIUM 117mg; CARBOHYDRATE 41.5g; SODIUM 342mg; PROTEIN 29.2g; FIBER 9.6g

Cooking Light, JUNE 2004

Well, we did it! We trekked to Atlanta by plane, train and automobile and had wonderful time meeting so many virtual friends we've met online and many more we had yet to meet.

It was soooo good to put hugs to the people we've come to know and care so much about as we have made all of our respective journies. 

The first day many sorted through stacks and rack of clothing donated to the swap meet. I'm sure that there were many who had to purchase a new piece of luggage to take home the new smaller lovelies that were so generously shared and passed down. 

After the clothing swap, many milled about and met in the lobby, but the event really kicked off at the meet and greet where we all met so many of those avatar buddies we have only met virtually. There will people that were just embarking on their journey and had not yet had surgery, newbies that were just a little post op and then a number of 'old timers'. Of course, every surgery type seemed to be well-represented, which was so nice. I think that many of us found that we much more in common in our respective journeys, regardless of the surgery type that we have chosen as the tool to help get control of our weight. 

Saturday morning started off with a corridors of vendors catering to our needs, from compression garments, to supplements, beauty aids to exercise DVDs, inspirational books that included book signings by their well-known authors and much more. 

Once the programs got underway, we had a series of speakers throughout the morning that delved into topics such as behavior issues, discussions of surgery types, and intimacy, then we broke for an absolutely fabulous, delicious lunch that was geared to the needs of those losing and maintaining their weight, but I doubt that I single diner felt the slightest twinge of deprivation. The food was beautifully presented, tasted great, varied and plentiful. 

After lunch they had breakout sessions that addressed a whole range of topics from plastic surgery in Brazil, to Zumba, cooking, tools to help maximize and maintain your weight loss, etc... They ran multiple small sessions so that people could go to more than one topic and so that they were small enough to allow you to hear and see well, as well as ask questions. 

The evening festivities were started off with a 'Fashion Show' where about 25 or 30 participants at varying points of their journeys were able to strut their new bodies, sharing the pride of their accomplishments with so many of their friends and peers. We were all so very proud of everyone who came out to share their new found, healthier, slimmer bodies. 

Finally, many danced away the night fantastic, getting in some pretty good cardio workouts. 

It was a lovely event and if there is an event coming to an area near you, I would absolutely suggest that you mark your calendar and make plans to attend.