I'm on SP... user name Jewlz13, if anyone wants to add me!
I really like the site. I made a few online friends on there who I talk to from time to time, so the social aspect is pretty good. I've added some people who blog a lot on there and who I find to be inspirational, I can go on and read their blogs and things when I feel down - there are some people on there with amazing weight loss stories. The articles are great, too, very informative.
I also like the recipe side of the site, mainly for ideas, and then I go in and calculate the recipe the way I want to make it (I LOVE the recipe calculator and use that tool a lot to see what my portion size should be, which ingredients I should reduce in order to fit the meal into my calorie requirements, etc). It's great for people who cook a lot.
I don't really use the exercise calculator as much, mainly because I'm crap at keeping up with any kind of exercise.
But, by using the diet tracker and doing an exercise video a couple of times a week, I lost fifteen pounds in 2009. Unfortunately, I gained it all back, then did SP again last year and lost it again, but then quit smoking and gained it all back plus a few pounds. I have a real problem with the maintenance phase, so I will have to figure that out once I get there again. I'm hoping to keep it off this time. Now that I've quit smoking, I no longer have that as an excuse!
(Also, joining the team for people who were quitting smoking was helpful to me... so it's more than just diet support, it's great for any kind of lifestyle change, really.)
It does take time to get used to it, as it is a complex site with just about every tool you could imagine - diet tracker, exercise tracker, endless forums and teams, recipes, articles, blogs, the "my space" type aspect where you can add friends and post comments. I mean, it has EVERYTHING. But, I like that I can pick and choose which tools are most effective for me. Some people just love the social aspect of it and don't use the trackers at all and some just use the trackers and don't do the forums or profile pages.
I don't have a problem with logging in the foods I eat, as it doesn't take too long, and there are a lot of UK friendly foods in there if you search other members items (just check the nutritional info looks right as you are adding it). And if you eat a lot of the same things fairly often, it gets much quicker to keep up with it. Once a recipe is logged in, I can just add my recipe into the day's totals and cook it the same way as I figured it, or I can go in and edit it to suit what I have on hand. Also, you can copy a whole meal onto a different day, which is helpful, as I tend to eat the same breakfasts and lunches pretty often, just on rotation.
I will say that you do have to get used to measuring everything you eat, but that doesn't take too long if you have a digital scale and a set of measuring spoons and cups. If you don't do that, then there isn't much point in calculating calories at all, in my opinion.
The points thing is mainly for the social network side of things. It's kind of like playing a game on Facebook. The more points you collect, the bigger rewards you can "buy," which is really just like giving a virtual gift to your friends (like some people do on Facebook with flowers, teddy bears, etc). It's kind of dumb, to be honest.
But, it is kind of nice when you earn enough points to move up to the next big trophy, it just shows you how much work you have been putting into it.
Anyway, hopefully you will like it, but if not, there are plenty of other simple nutrition trackers that are easy to use, such as Fit Day, which is the only other one I have used, and it was pretty good.
