Walking And Weight Loss: HealthFitCounter Handheld Diet and Exercise Counter Review

I received this as a gift to replace a spreadsheet that I had been using at work to track what I had been eating.It is a better way to track caloric intake as I can have it with me all day and it starts you out with a reasonable database of foods.

The unit itself is designed to resemble a PDA with stylus/touchscreen interaction.It is made of plastic and is of lower quality than traditional PDAs, but is a good ergonomic shape/size and simple to use.The touchscreen is effective, although not as sensitive as PDAs I have owned.Both the touchscreen and the unit itself work well for what they are, and the quality of the materials lend to the reasonable price for the unit.There is a thumbwheel on the upper left side which can be used to adjust the screen's contrast, and this feature seemed to work well.

The software/PC link included allows the user to back up their data, as well as more easily add and edit the food database.It installed easily on my Windows XP Home Edition machine without problems, and the link works well if you follow the instructions provided. Data transfer from PC to handheld or handheld to PC involves transeferring all the data, not just updates, so it takes about a minute each time you transfer.It is a very basic program, essentially mirroring the software on the unit itself, but again does the job well.

Overall, I am very pleased with the HealthFitCounter thus far.It has improved my understanding of what I eat by tracking calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbs, fiber, sugar, and protein (where I only tracked calories and fat previously - I now know I eat WAY too much sugar).It becomes easier/faster to use as you add commonly eaten foods to your "favorites" list and add foods that were not preloaded with the unit.You can also use the preloaded food data to build up a meal when you eat out to approximate the caloric content (i.e. instead of "Chicken dinner at_______", simply select 6 ozs of chicken, add your dinner rolls, vegetables, and pasta, and the unit tallies the approximate calories into your daily totals.)

Overall I like this unit and am very satisfied.It is easy to use, always handy, unobtrusive, and it gets the job done.

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Product Description:
The HealthFitCounter has the nutritional data for 1,000's of foods and calories burned for 100's of exercises stored in memory. You can call up foods that you eat and save the nutritional information into daily totals for each of the nine nutritional categories. No more bland foods! Quickly pre-program your own favorite foods - including fast food from your favorite fast food restaurants. HealthFitCounter will track and store nutritional intake: calories, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, sugar, fiber, protein, exercise. All the foods YOU love to eat can be tracked with this health and fitness meal management system. New touch screen technology is so easy to use. Easily add your own favorite foods or recipes. Set your own personal goals in any or all the nutritional categories. Has an extra user defined category that you can use to track special things such as weight watcher points, water, potassium, etc. Tracks nutritional intake over the last 30 days. You can view and/or edit foods eaten over the last 30 days. You can combine foods in the food list to create your own recipes. You can customize the food list using the favorites category. Tracks BMI (Body Mass Index) ... and much much more!