Online Diet Programs - December 29, 2008

I was a skinny child, a skinny teenager - weighed less than 100 lbs until I turned 30. Three things happened. My metabolism changed, I quit smoking, and changed from a standing job to a sitting job and gained 40 lbs. I never thought I'd have to diet. I've done the Weight Watchers program several times, and it does work for me to lose weight, but I have problems maintaining it. I used the WW online program 2 summers ago, and lost 19 lbs - and have gained most of it back. So if I'm going to pay for an online diet program, I'll rejoin WW online.

I'm trying out some of the free diet tracker programs. What I'm looking for is a food tracker with a large database, ability to add custom foods and foods made from recipes. And I also want a fitness tracker with the ability to add custom activities. I'd like to know what the targets are for % of daily food intake for fats, carbs & proteins. So far, I've tried FitDay.com. There is a premium version, but the free version has a lot of features. I also looked at the Special K site and ShapeFit. I tried looking for reviews & comparisons, but couldn't find a comprehensive comparison of the online diet tools.

College Credit for Prior Learning - December 08, 2008

When I decided to work on my Bachelor's degree after a 28 year gap in education, I looked at the local 4-year colleges in the U of MD system since there are several campuses within easy driving distance, and also some online colleges. I already had 75 credits and my Associates degree in Psychology from Davis & Elkins in WV, but found I was missing some lower level General Education requirements that I could take at Anne Arundel Community College, and then transfer all of my credits to a 4-year college. This is where things got muddy. Advisors at AACC were not really helpful, since they could not know if/how my 55 transfer credits from D&E would be accepted or applied, and each college had slightly different General Education requirements. I narrowed my list of transfer institutions to 2 - Coppin State, because they have Psychology program with an Addictions Counselor track, and they are close to my office, and UMUC - because everything is offered online, though the campus is still within driving distance. UMUC also offered a Prior Learning program where you can get credits through portfolio for life learning outside the college classroom. I had my official transcripts sent to Coppin, and UMUC did an unofficial evaluation from my student copies. Once I had these, it became easy to choose UMUC. Coppin was only going to accept 22 of my 55 credits from D&E, which essentially cheated me of an entire year of prior education. UMUC was not only willing to accept all of my credits, they will also help me get additional credits for those 400+ hours of Addictions counselor training I've accumulated, and for other on the job & life learning. I am excited about this. I have one more class to take at AACC - Statistics - and then I'll be ready to transfer for the Summer term.