Users Log In To Shed Pounds

In two months, 15,000 people have joined a weight-loss website founded by four Harvard alums.

The site, Traineo.com, lets users track what they eat and what they do to exercise. It also calculates the number of calories they burn and gauges their progress.

Traineo CEO Aladair McLean-Foreman ’05 said the site’s users include “loads of college students.”

McLean-Foreman, along with schoolmates Jennifer Y. Lee ’04, James J. Albertine ’04, Devin Lyons-Quirk ’05 created the site, which launched in August.

Unlike other weight-loss websites, McLean-Foreman said Traineo tries to get a community behind user’s efforts to shed pounds. Traineo sends weekly e-mail updates to chosen family members or close friends, keeping these “monitors” posted on the user’s training, caloric intake, and weight change.

Most users give up on their diet plans because of a lack of a strong support network, McLean-Foreman said.

“Users can track their development through graphs with data points and photos,” he said.

While Traineo targets a wider audience, McLean-Foreman said first-years seeking to avoid the ‘Freshman 15’ might find the site of particular use.

Though several first-years said that the ‘Freshman 15’ was far from a concern, others said that the prospect of putting on a few extra pounds worried them.

“[It’s] not something that worries me, and living at Pennypacker means I walk more now,” said Kim Frieler ’10.

But Tiffany M. Bradshaw ’10 said she thought girls in particular were susceptible to weight-gain. “I think ‘Freshman 15’ is a large problem, especially for girls. My roommates and I are buying a scale.”

While the purchase of a scale may help cautious first-years keep track of any extra pounds, student groups such as The Eating Concerns Hotline Outreach (ECHO) and the Harvard University Health Services also provide assistance.

“We have nutritionists here all the time, eager to help you,” HUHS Clinical Dietitian Barbara Ruhs said, who added that she thought the site could be useful.