FitBody Pro Reviewer's Comments
If your main goal is nutritional analysis, you'll value FitBody Pro's huge food database (with over 27,000 items) and its ability to track a whopping 130 nutrients. FitBody Pro boasts one of the most comprehensive nutritional analysis tools of all fitness software programs.
FitBody Pro focuses on setting goals and monitoring progress. By tracking your nutritional intake and physical performance, you can develop realistic, detailed goals then check progress according to recommended dietary guidelines.
FitBody Pro does not include any features to note medical conditions or psychological elements of your workout. It lacks many frills found in more comprehensive fitness software programs.
The FitBody Pro program is designed around three major databases: meals, cooking/recipes and fitness. The databases are all organized the same, making it easy to master the applications.
FitBody Pro's large food database is unparalleled, and the program's ability to track over 130 nutrients is also rare.
Not that you'd need to, but the program allows you to add any food or recipe to the database and automatically updates each member's program with the new information. And you may print labels in the familiar nutrition facts format for individual foods or recipes if you want.
The program will analyze the nutritional value of any recipe by figuring the nutrients found in each ingredient and totaling the amount. It will total your nutritional data throughout the day. This daily analysis helped me find parts of my diet that needed improvement.
The strength-training database for FitBody Pro is found in the anaerobic exercise section. This database includes valuable exercises, yet you may add new exercises and favorite routines. To enter exercises, you only need to select the focus muscle group then add specific exercise.
The program will track your weights and reps for each exercise and automatically graph your workout progress with each new entry. It records your progress toward anaerobic exercise goals. And you can print blank forms to take with you to the gym to enter reps as you've performed them.
In the aerobic exercise section, you'll find the exercise/sports training database. This database is organized the same as the strength-training database, with predefined exercises and various fitness facts. FitBody Pro tracks the exercise, duration, warm-up times and lap times. It automatically graphs your progress with each exercise entry. The program consistently updates you on progress toward your aerobic goals as you enter data.
FitBody Pro has no method to monitor health conditions or psychological basics of training. It lacks many other convenient features found in more comprehensive fitness programs.
Exercise & Nutrition:
FitBody Pro has a straightforward design suited to those with some fitness software experience. Newcomers may find a few items challenging.
For example, I was frustrated with the food search tool. I had to enter the food exactly as the manufacturer had entered it before I could search. This was difficult and tedious yet could be avoided with drop-down menus instead of a fill-in find fields.
Ease of Use:
This program was easy to install.
Help/Support:
The FitBody Pro demo version we evaluated didn't include a help section. We tried to send an email to receive help, but the e-mail link was dead. We tried calling the manufacturer and reached an answering service. We left a message but never received a return call.
Summary:
FitBody Pro's concentration on nutritional analysis is excellent for those with weight concerns. By prompting you to set practical nutritional and fitness goals and monitoring your progress, FitBody Pro helps keep you motivated to continue an active lifestyle.
But the feature set, including the workout portion, isn't as complete as some other fitness programs. And we didn't access the help or customer support in the demo version we evaluated, as these weren't available.
