In lieu of physical activity, this seems a good time to explore the latest in fitness options on the World Wide Web - interactivity.

Interactive fitness and nutrition Web sites supposedly help surfers find something useful amid the Internet glut of information. But right away I'm reminded to take note of where the information is coming from.

At www.fitathome.com, "the world's largest fitness store" (clue No. 1) I take a "personalized health and fitness profile" developed in alliance with the Medical and Sports Music Institute of America (second clue). After first registering (third clue) with my address and details about equipment and workouts, I fill in another form with nine personal questions, including systolic blood pressure, weight-loss or gain goals and whether I'm taking heart medication. The resulting profile gives me a target heart range, says I have a risk factor for cardiopulmonary disease and suggests I consult my physician and walk for exercise. The recommendations are very practical - for them at least: shop at their store to support cross-training and purchase a heart-rate monitor, buy their music to keep inspired and exercise at the right pace.

I find a more useful fitness planner at www.thriveonline.com (click on "Fitness"). I pick two exercises, fill in height and weight, exclude days I can't work out, then view ideal weight and exercise heart-rate ranges plus a chart with a simple program to follow and log my workouts. The site also includes a body-mass index calculator. (The BMI is a weight/height formula that for many people is a better predictor of disease risk than weight alone.)

At www.shapeup.org I can take an 11-question quiz to check my physical-activity IQ. I got 10 right - I missed the one about the injury risks of exercise, maybe because I'm constantly injured. Under "Support" I can print a handy Food and Physical Activity Log. "Assess your fitness level" is not a fitness appraisal, but rather a basic outline of beginning, intermediate and advanced exercise programs.

The American Medical Association (www.ama-assn.org/consumer/interact.htm) has a Personal Trainer section with a more detailed assessment - questionnaire and test with exercises - plus guides for designing a fitness program, including an aerobic fitness log sheet and some illustrated strengthening and stretching exercises. Also here are Personal Nutritionist to gauge eating habits and Personal Family Health History forms.

At iVillage.com (www.ivillage.com) I first go to "Fitness and Beauty" (silly me), where a free profile entices me to join the "Practical Online Diet Clinic" for $20 registration and $9 a month. By clicking instead on "Better Health," then "Personal Health Report," I answer health, nutrition and exercise questions to create a health quotient (a number between 0 and 200) and calculate a risk profile related to lifestyle and diseases.

CyberDiet (www.cyberdiet.com) offers a waist-hip ratio calculator and details on the repercussions of fruity bodies; I'm bordering on the more risky apple shape, rather than the pear.

Even slicker is CyberDiet's Nutritional Profile. I plug in weight, frame and activity level to get healthy weight ranges. Then I add goal weight to see daily nutritional allowances (at customizable fat-intake levels) and broken down by protein, carbohydrates and fats, plus cholesterol, fiber, vitamins and minerals. Then, in the Daily Food Planner, I type in that daily calorie allowance and see selections at several calorie levels (with nutritional breakdowns and some recipes) for each meal and snack to stay within guidelines. There's also an overview of what I've planned, plus a shopping list.

At Prevention magazine's Healthy Ideas (www.healthyideas.com, click on "Get Healthy") I select exercises from three categories (nine cardio, eight upper-body, eight lower-body) to see clear descriptions and workouts for each. A Calorie Calculator lets me select an activity, fill in my weight and number of minutes and find out how many calories I burned, along with some food equivalents (an hour of continuous housework equals one bratwurst). The Workout Personality Quiz confirms I'm inclined toward treadmills and heart-rate monitors. A scary Weight Quiz - "What will you weigh a year from today?" - asks four questions to test my nutrition knowledge. I miss three of four and am informed that I will weigh 10 pounds more next year.

How depressing. I'm hungry. So I go to Cooking Light (cookinglight.com) for recipes. I can search for three keywords, plus specify calorie count, percentage of fat, fat grams, carbohydrates, cholesterol and sodium, searching among more than 1,000 Cooking Light recipes.

To help sort through this information overload, I cruise on over to the American Dietetic Association's site (www.eatright.org), type in my ZIP code, select a mile radius from three to 100-plus, choose up to two specialists and click to identify a local dietitian for consultations, programs or workshops.

All this surfing reminds me to look into a computer chair with arms. I switch the mouse to my left hand and go to www.stretchware.com to download a free 30-day trial of its new software that reminds me to stretch. I follow the ones for neck and shoulder stiffness.

This would be both activity and interactivity, right?

Molly Martin is assistant editor of Pacific Northwest magazine.

Note (if we can squeeze it in):

Ask someone

The American Council on Exercise's third "Fitness on Call" is Saturday from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Callers to a special national one-day toll-free hotline - 888-397-2473 (888-EXRCISE) - sponsored by Family Circle can get advice from fitness experts Karen Voight, Bonnie Kaye or 40 other ACE-certified professionals, plus sports-medicine specialists and dieticians.