SparkPeople makes tracking health and fitness easier than ever

Last week, SparkPeople, the largest online weight-loss and fitness community, debuted the Spark Activity Tracker (or Spark for short) at Health 2.0, a health conference for cutting-edge innovation. The Cincinnati-based company teamed with Fitlinx, a provider of wireless health and wellness technology that motivates people to live actively and improve their well-being,
 
SparkPeople, founded in 2001, counts more than 15 million registered members. By introducing the Spark, the goal is to give users a comprehensive program and device to help them reach healthy living goals. While Fitlinx has traditionally marketed its products through corporate wellness partners, the partnership with SparkPeople will allow the technology to reach a much wider audience for the first time.
 
The Spark is made to easily attach to a pocket, belt, shoe or bra, and tracks daily steps, calories burned, activity minutes and distance covered. The Spark also combines these features with SparkPeople’s free resources, tools, recipes and community in an effort to give the user a complete program for healthy living, all in one place.
 
“We at SparkPeople want to provide clients with accessible, easy ways to improve their health,” says SparkPeople CEO and founder, Chris Downie. “Members of the SparkPeople movement now have the opportunity to better their lives with an affordable, convenient way to track their health.”
 
In addition to tracking time, distance, steps and more, the activity tracker also detects and captures info from indoor fitness equipment including bikes, elliptical machines and treadmills, is waterproof, and can be used to set fitness goals and view progress. The Spark is now available online at Sparkpeople and Amazon.

By Michael Sarason