IDEA #86: Mint.com but for Health & Fitness

By Steve Poland • June 12, 2008

I don’t actually know much about health/fitness web startups, so maybe this is already being done but I’m just unaware. I know some people publicly are “fatblogging” (the practice of blogging about their daily struggle to get in better shape).

Mint.com is a cool service for your finances — and it doesn’t require much work at all; it automatically goes into your financial accounts, pulls information for you, and puts that data into context that actually means something to you.

Health/fitness is a different animal that would require the user to input their habits daily, but I think it could be made simple. This website would allow me to easily input what I eat during the day [quickly/easily], what I drink during the day, and what exercise I do during the day (and duration). It can then estimate the calories and fat [and other nutritional info - vitamin c, iron, etc]. And based on knowing my shape, size, weight, height, and body fat (maybe that is calculated at a health club; or via one of those scales you can buy at the store). Daily or weekly it could also ask for your weight — and maybe it’ll be able to more accurately calculate calories burned and such at that point.

It could put you on a plan to “budget” your eating, drinking, and work-out habits. You could set goals — losing 10 lbs in 10 weeks, or something. During the 10 weeks, it can tell you if you’re ahead of the curve, or behind, or on a good pace. It’ll estimate calorie/fat intake you need.

The interface would be super simple. I could input eat/drink/work-out stuff easily via my webpage [and see what my peers are up to -- kind of a Twitter but for health/fitness stuff]. Heck, I could even Twitter when I eat/drink/work-out [i.e. "@healthy just drank 12 oz water"].

It would show me all these pretty charts and such. It would be my website for my fatblogging. It would give me tips on what I’m eating — if I’m eating white bread, it’ll suggest wheat bread to increase my fiber intake. If I’m drinking too much coffee, it’ll suggest I try cutting down on that. Kind of like Mint.com does with my finances [i.e. "get a better interest rate with X credit card instead"].

Revenues come from any advertisers related to health [healthy foods, gym memberships, free food samples, etc].

If this is already being done, great! Please let me know in the comments as I’m looking for something like this.

IDEA #27 - Lunch/Dinner/Bar Specials - Updated Daily A new site launched called Snag Lunch — quite honestly, I think it’ll be short-lived. This isn’t really done well/automated — but I think the idea has potential. If I were launching something similar, I’d...
2009 Goals You always need goals or else how do you know where you’re trying to get to? And how will you get there? Here are some of my goals for 2009: Business/Career — Get my first...
IDEA #75 - Where I Hang Out (facebook app) I’m submitting this in the pool of ideas for Startup Weekend NYC this coming weekend. The Idea: Where I Hang Out (fb app) The Concept: Users specify the bars/restaurants/coffee joints that they frequent. Thus I...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Comments

6 Responses to “IDEA #86: Mint.com but for Health & Fitness”

Jason H. on June 12th, 2008 5:25 pm (perm link)

I use TheDailyPlate.com most every single day. You’re able to set weight goals for yourself but my favorite feature is the immense database of foods and beverages - complete with all the necessary nutritional information. (You can even submit your own items/meals.) Basically, you can add things to your plate every day that you’ve consumed and track how many calories, fat grams, etc. that you’ve taken in that day. You can also track exercise and then weigh it (no pun intended) against what you’ve taken in. For instance, if I have a calorie goal of 1,500 for the day and I’ve already consumed 1,550, I can “earn” how many ever calories more by entering the Jogging @ 4mph item to my plate. Plenty of AJAX at work and I use it as often as I can as it truly helps me keep an eye on everything I’m consuming.
chris on June 14th, 2008 10:12 am (perm link)

Check out Gyminee at http://www.gyminee.com/ - I’m terrible about working out regularly so I have only used this on the rare occasions when I do work out.

Basically, you input goals (e.g. ‘lose 15 pounds’, ‘bench press double what I can now’) and then everytime you work out update the status. Gyminee automatically generates graphs of your progress, etc.

Additionally, there is a social aspect of the site where you can join groups and hook up with friends who share common goals (either real friends or web friends) in order to stay motivated.

Check it out - a brief glance will do it more justice than I have.
Jason H. on June 17th, 2008 8:52 am (perm link)

Just noticed today that TheDailyPlate.com is now integrated with Lance Armstrong’s LiveStrong.com - which debuts today. Interesting.
surendra on June 18th, 2008 11:01 am (perm link)

This idea struck my mind a month back. However checked out dailyplate.com and fatsecret.com and I am thinking about what additional things can be provided.

As for twitter, they already have tweetwhatyoueat.com.
roderickm on July 17th, 2008 2:08 am (perm link)

Stay motivated. Have fun. Get fit. http://gyminee.com.
Manohar Vanga on September 24th, 2008 5:08 pm (perm link)

I have a few ideas that I’m evaluating currently. You might want to check them out at my website. They’re not as sophisticated, but some of them seem to have a niche feel. Maybe you could write one up for your next idea!

Regards
Manohar Vanga
I Blog Here : http://www.manoharvanga.com