GeekSugar

Website of the Day: Great American Word Challenge

GeekSugar — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:00:38 PST

Many worry that our digital age (you know where a 15-year-old can win $25,000 at the National Texting Championship!?) has contributed to the illiteracy of children and adults alike, but that doesn't mean there aren't a few people rooting for us. Ubisoft Entertainment has created a semieducational time waster: The Great American Word Challenge. You give the site your email and hometown and it generates a series of fill-in-the-blank word quizzes, offering up a definition and a partially-completed answer. You type in the missing letter to score points and a chance to beat out hundreds of cities across the country for the glory of being the city with the greatest vocabulary.

The city that achieves the highest-cumulative average score takes the title and the prize of a Ubisoft donation of My Word Coach video games and Nintendo DS systems to local NCFL learning centers. Even better, everyone who takes the challenge will be entered to win a trip for two to Washington, DC, and have the chance to win one of two Wiis.

To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group,

I know that this long list looks scary, but trust me, once you get the hang of it, it'll be a snap the second time around.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click the pink "Share" menu on the top left side of the page.
Choose "Blog" and “Regular Post.”
Give your story a “Title.”
Fill in the “Body” with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Click “Next."
Choose the audience for your story to “Website of the Day” in the drop-down menu
Add keyword(s) (for example mine for this photo was "Website of the Day").
Change channel to “Technology and Gadgets.”
Fill in tag field with relevant tags.
Click “I’m done” to submit content.

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the geeksugar homepage!

10 Sneaky Toning Moves You Can Do at Work

Self — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 04:30:38 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from Self here on FitSugar!

Your office nemesis isn't that know-it-all in the cubicle over, it's lurking right beneath you: your chair!

The more you're sitting, the less calories you're burning... not the ideal bikini body plan.

Picture this: when sitting, your activity in your muscles drops and the calorie-burning rate decreases to just about one per minute. And, women who spent more than six hours per day of sitting (less than a full day of work!) had a 37 percent higher death rate, according to a study from the American Cancer Society. It's scary stuff.

Since I haven't quite mastered the art of jogging while responding to emails, I asked creator of the MELT Method Sue Hitzmann and creator of FitKit Office Amie Hoff to share tips for combating the effects of being chair-bound. And since turning your office into a pseudo-gym can garner a few strange looks, they've kept their exercises as sneaky as possible. Just tell your bosses what's good for your health is good for their bottom line, and try to convince them to bring these healthy vending machines to the break room!

Check out these easy moves after the break!

Fit Over 40: Why Time Is Key (Even For Celebrities)

Self — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 04:22:42 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from Self here on FitSugar!

Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Halle Berry . . . these days, when a 40-something woman steps out in a bikini, it makes news.

Turns out, there's a scientific explanation for why we're so fascinated by these lean, toned, impossibly supple bodies. In some ways, these apparent genetic wonders are defying the aging process.

"Once a man or woman gets beyond their 30s, they're in a situation where unless they are really proactive about what they do from an exercise standpoint as well as eating sensibly, they are going to lose some muscle tissue," says Cedric Bryant, Ph.D., FACSM, Chief Science Officer for The American Council on Exercise.

Read the rest of this post after the break!

5 Diet and Fitness Myths That Pack on Pounds

Prevention — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 03:06:50 PDT

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Prevention here on FitSugar!

Don't let one of these rumors prevent you from reaching your weight loss goals.
By Diana Kelly, Prevention

Sorry, Journey, but it's finally time to stop believing . . . In weight loss myths at least. Believing popular misconceptions can keep you from taking the right course of action to reach your goals, says Julia Valentour, MS, program coordinator and media spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise. Blaming a plateau (or a gain) on any of these half-truths will keep you stuck in your rut and derail your motivation. Here, five of the most pervasive diet-related rumors and the real scoop on how to hit your goal weight for good.

1. "I exercise every day, so I can eat whatever I want."

The sad truth: Even if you work out religiously, going to yoga several times a week and sweating it out in Spinning, it's not a license to eat as much as you want and still expect to lose weight. This may seem obvious, but the desire to reward a workout well done is natural; after all, you endured those endless vinyasas - you deserve an extra slice of pizza (or three), right? Not if you're trying to lose weight.

"You can outeat your workout," says Valentour. Even though you burn calories and fat when you exercise, it's often not as much as you think - or what the readout on the treadmill tells you. Use Prevention's Daily Calorie Calculator tool to see how many calories you should eat each day.

Valentour recommends eating 250 fewer calories per day and aiming to burn an extra 250 calories a day; that creates enough of a calorie deficit to achieve an average weight loss of a pound a week.

6 Lamest excuses for not losing weight

2. "It's harder for women to lose weight than for men."

OK, this one has some basis. Biologically, men are built with more lean muscle mass (the compact, tight muscles that keep metabolism humming) than women are - meaning his metabolism is working at a 5 to 10 percent higher rate (even if he's the same height and weight as you) when you're lying on the couch together. Annoying, isn't it?

Another biological challenge women face is that we generally have more body fat than men do, and our bodies are more inclined to store it. On top of that, women lose about 1/2 pound of calorie-burning muscle mass a year during peri-menopause and sometimes a pound a year during menopause. With the deck stacked against you, why bother trying to fit back in your skinny jeans?

You can do something about these problems, but it's going to take some work - and sweat. Add strength training to your fitness routine at least twice a week to shed fat and build lean muscle mass that will fire up your resting metabolism.

Get more tips on how to lose weight like a guy

Prevention clears up three more myths after the break.