
Show HN: Dollar Lean Club – Get and Stay Fit Starting at $1/mo - clervius
http://dollarleanclub.com
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burakbey
I would invest my time reading [http://darebee.com](http://darebee.com) \-
it's free (a.k.a donationware, crowd-funded) and contains valuable exercise
and nutrition information just within the reach of a click. And if you want to
spend money, you can always click the donate button.

~~~
scrapcode
Beautiful resource. KISS info, without "in your face" monetization.

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LBlanc
The 1$ price is a nice low barrier and almost makes it a convenience good, but
it should be equally easy to join.

As a European, i didn't know my weight/height in imperial units which made me
abort the signup process

~~~
JohnJamesRambo
You couldn't type it in a google search bar where it does the conversion for
you?

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angry-hacker
Why would you continue if you know you have to convert units all the time?
Makes sense to cancel since you're not a target audience.

Why cancel ordering a programming course in Hungarian if there is Google
translate?

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EA
I was disappointed to see the $1 a month didn't include a meal plan. The
biggest body transformations come through diet, not exercise.

What is your diet going to do to me? I am already in shape. Will your diet
make me gain muscle mass, gain fat, have more energy, sleep better, induce
insulin spikes, etc?

Also, don't some US states prevent people from providing physical exercise and
nutritional advice without licensed professionals?

~~~
coverband
On the other hand, my disappointment was not having the Automated
Accountability feature in the basic plan. I could see myself paying a small
fee for that, but not $10/month - which is ~25-50% of a full membership to a
real live physical fitness club around where I live.

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f_allwein
Looks really interesting. Will there be an option to use the metric system?
And how flexible are the meal plans, e.g. do they take into account my likes/
dislkies, allergies, seasonal food or dietary preferences ligh high fat/ low
carb?

~~~
clervius
Thank you for the feedback. There will be an option for the metric system.

For meal plans, we calculate the users' BMI, match that up with how much
weight they want to lose/gain and in how much time they want to achieve that.

Right now it takes seasonal foods into account, but not likes/dislikes,
allergies.. We are working to incorporate these in the future.

~~~
EpicEng
So I imagine this is primarily for people who want to lose a large amount of
weight, but the BMI method is going to fall apart for people who are already
fit and want to cut or add weight slowly.

For example, I'm 185 @ 5'11", but I'm also sitting around 10% body fat. By BMI
I'm overweight, and I imagine the calorie deficit you come up with would be
wrong.

I haven't looked (seems like I have to create an account to check), but do you
allow people to enter their own daily caloric goal?

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wingerlang
Interesting enough that I'd consider it, all I want is someone to tell me what
to buy. Can you change the 'extremeness' of the e.g. diet?

However the sample meal plan doesn't work, can't click anywhere despite
looking like I can. Chrome latest.

Also remove that scroll smoothing thing you've got going. Extremely annoying
on macOS. Enough that looking at your page made me slightly angry.

~~~
clervius
Thank you for your feedback.

The Meal plan has the shopping list so you have the "what to buy" in there.
What do you mean by "extremeness"?

I've got some other feedback about the sample meal and smooth scrolling that
match up with yours so definitely making those a priority.

Thanks again!

~~~
pjc50
The sample meal plan (stuck on Sunday) also shows "3,500 calories total today"
which doesn't really inspire confidence for weight loss :)

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Neliquat
Should hire a nutritionist, your concept is flawed in a few ways. First and
foremost, ditch BMI or realize people will know this is bullshit. Pitching
halfasses weight loss advice is downright unethical. Shame on you. If you knew
how hard it was for people you would not choose to profit from it.

~~~
soundwave106
BMI is a flawed statistic. But the advantage of BMI is it is quick and easy to
calculate, with simple measurements at home that are hard to screw up. This is
why it hasn't gone away.

The main alternative that I would suggest possibly including, are methods that
include waist and/or hip measurements. Some of which are believed to predict
mortality better. (See aBSI:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_Shape_Index](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_Shape_Index)
or waist to hip ratio:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waist%E2%80%93hip_ratio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waist%E2%80%93hip_ratio)).

This would involve tracking a couple of optional measurements, though. And not
everyone knows how to measure accurately, so it does introduce a possible
source of error.

If you know of a better statistic, feel free to chime in. :) From what I see,
the most accurate methods for measuring true body fat (hydrostatic, DEXA,
etc.) currently are impractical at home, and other current home methods (skin
calipers, home BIA) aren't that great either (unless you know what you are
doing with the calipers). I do see someone is coming out with a 3D scanner for
home bodyfat measurements ([https://naked.fit/](https://naked.fit/)), but it's
pretty pricey at $700ish for the pre-order.

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vannevar
The biggest obstacle to getting in shape for most people is habit: breaking
old ones (generally diet) and acquiring new ones (usually exercise). These
kinds of services, whether it's Dollar Lean Club or a monthly gym membership,
are really just a way to trick your brain into thinking you've taken action,
to alleviate the negative feelings you have about your fitness. It doesn't
address the problem (which subconsciously, is exactly why it's appealing).

To get started, don't worry about the specifics of the exercise program or the
diet, just focus on building or breaking a specific habit. Examples:

\- Do a ten-minute stretching routine every morning as soon as you get out of
bed. Once it's a habit, turning it into an exercise routine won't be that
hard.

\- Pick a small set of healthy foods and eat some form of them before dinner
every night, whether you're at home or out to eat, even if it means you're
eating an extra dish. Once it's a habit, start cutting unhealthy food out.

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bovermyer
Nice idea. Something to think about for a future feature: the ability to
constrain meal plans by preparation time.

Others have also mentioned things like low carb restrictions; I'm on board
with that suggestion, too.

Great start, though!

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owly
Generic pictures of flawless attractive people lacks credibility. It just
shows that you are savvy enough to hire good models and photographers to sell.
Where's the story?

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AdamSC1
This is an interesting project. As someone who has struggled up and down with
weight at different times in my life I know having structure has been a huge
benefit. Having plans that fit my needs is the most challenging and offloading
that would be a huge time saver. I'd be an ideal target customer for you, but,
based on the MVP today I'm not ready to buy.

Here are a few pieces of feedback/considerations:

1) 'Automated Accountability' is very unclear. Many consumers look at your
pricing table first and may not read into more details. Consider A|B testing
clear language around this or letting people hover over for a description?

2) I'm not 100% about the legal situation in various US states, but, in Canada
for example meal plans and exercise plans should come from registered
professionals (Personal Trainers, and Registered Dietitians or _Registered_
Nutritionists). You may reduce your legal liabilities and increase consumer
confidence if you have these people involved in your project even as advisers.
If that is the case currently, consider making it more clear.

3) Some level of "About Us" seems crucial. In the health industry a lot of
people by into the "why". What is your expertise or story that makes you the
right choice for them.

For Geek Fitness ([http://www.geekfitness.net/](http://www.geekfitness.net/))
it was personal weight loss stories.

For Jenny Craig
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Craig,_Inc.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Craig,_Inc.))
it was Monika Lewinsky [et al] whose stories put them on the map.

For Janet Jacks
([http://discoverthepoweroffood.ca/](http://discoverthepoweroffood.ca/)) it
was helping combat her husbands diabetes.

For Joe Cross ([http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/](http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/))
it was reclaiming his health from weight challenges and skin issues (and
making it into a great documentary).

What's your story that will connect personally with the struggles of these
individuals? They need something to say " _Hey, that 's where I am at. If it
works for them it could work for me!_"

4) $6 seems low for personalized meal plans. In fact, it seems too low.
Personalization is a premium product. As a consumer I'd be skeptical that
anyone is spending any time validating meal plans at that price point. For $6
introduce generic meal plans for weight loss. Charge me a premium price for
personalization. You make more money and I have more faith.

5) Do you account for allergies or health issues? If I am diabetic would there
be too many carbs or sugars for me? It's worth thinking about. I would
estimate that those who pay a premium for personalization are those under-
served by automated solutions currently. Having one customer who pays $45 a
month for a well personalized plan is much easier to manage than 45 $1 a month
customers!

Best of luck!

~~~
rubyfan
I agree about #3 - right now it looks pretty faceless and doesn't have a
story. In fitness we seem to need an exemplar who is fit, talks the talk and
walks the walk.

The stock images of attractive skinny people don't establish the same
credibility as a first person or team bio.

~~~
Roelven
This is an increasing problem in advertising everywhere. If we keep using
attractive skinny people in our product shots, photo shoots and marketing
communication, we will push a growing disconnect between that and actual, real
people. When people can't identify (which is the initial goal of using people
in your communication) with the messaging, they won't think it's for them.

~~~
monkmartinez
Fit, attractive people exist! "Actual Real" people? Do you mean chubby and out
of shape? Or morbidly obese? Or what?

If you are referring to the fact that there are more fat people than skinny
people, ok. Keep this in mind; that fact is not the fault of the people whom
have managed to stay fit either by luck, genes, or hard work. People need to
be honest with themselves and get their butts moving.

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kojeovo
Do the workout plans take into factor my goals? I sit at work all day, will it
include stuff to undo the harm sitting does?

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ezekg
Your meal plan demo doesn't work correctly, all of the tabs seem to do
nothing. If that's intended, you should incorporate full functionality into
the demo. The meal planning would be the selling point for me and I'd like to
demo the whole thing.

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MistahKoala
Slightly irrelevant: Raleway's legibility on the site is pretty poor (at
least, for me).

~~~
rockostrich
I'm one of those people that probably overuses Raleway. It's a really nice
font, but it doesn't fit everywhere and when it doesn't fit it really stands
out. I'd agree that there are probably a few fonts that would work better.

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sparkling
Please allow the use of metric units during sign-up and for the content
(receipes etc.) itself. The vast majority of people do not "speak" imperial.

Also: you might want to offer a demo login. I want to see what i get before
signing up.

~~~
monkmartinez
The vast majority of people that _may_ buy this product might speak imperial.
How do you know who the target audience is? How many recipe sites have
ingredients in grams and cups/oz.?

Betty Crocker doesn't! Alton Brown? NOPE. Food Network, NAH!

~~~
ceejayoz
"Some people don't do it" doesn't make it a bad idea.

My Cooks Illustrated cookbook gives both metric and imperial measurements,
IIRC.

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yellowapple
Does this run afoul of Dollar Shave Club's trademarks?

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pyriku
Please, can we stop doing scrolljacking? It's so annoying

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slig
It's nearly impossible to use on macOS due to native scroll acceleration that
conflicts with that plugin.

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vSanjo
Confirming this, it's just so difficult. It's not even snapping to areas I
would expect, either.

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mhoad
Just as an FYI it looks like it has crashed. I get a Heroku Application Error
screen at the moment.

~~~
clervius
hmmm, thank you. I will be looking into that.

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coleifer
I was hoping this was leeean, you know, sizurp...

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lfender6445
site is throwing application error

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XJOKOLAT
Are our reps any good? ... Nah

Our reps are f __*cking great.

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sudosushi
How has no one mentioned the fact the company is called "SwoleFreaks LLC". My
heart sank reading that. Come on, at least try to be professional.

~~~
wire9
Didn't know that all companies need to be wet blankets about everything to be
good at what they do.

Disclaimer: I don't know if they're good at what they do. I just think the
'everything needs to be boring so nobody gets offended' idea is crap.

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sharmi
For me, the go to fitness resource has been
[http://fitnessblender.com](http://fitnessblender.com) . For non-western ppl,
the western meal plans and food calorie information often does not work, not
to mention differing body types. So I try to make my own based on guidelines
for my build. Fitnessblender is one constant resource for workouts in that it
has more than 500 workouts based on intensity, cardio/hiit/strength,
upper/lower/core/total, with/without equipment etc.

