Of being a member of SparkPeople, that is! I would have posted this yesterday, but I was fighting a fever. (BTW, today I think I won!)
It's a free site that can help you meet your goals of being healthier, more physically fit and losing weight. I think it also helps with budgeting but I haven't touched that area. Or just any lifestyle goals you can think of, I suppose.
My reason for going there was to lose weight. And I did!
Here are my before and now pictures. They are deliberately small because I'm shy.
Please forgive me and break out your magnifying glass. I hope the difference is still noticeable.
visitors can't see pics , please
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almost "before." I didn't take a photo until I was about two weeks into it, but it's close enough. I was 203 lbs on January 16, 2011.
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almost "after." I have two pounds to go yet, to reach my goal, so it's not quite "after." But it's close enough. I weighed 143 lbs as of January 15, 2012.
That's not all! I can tie my shoes. My knees stopped hurting. I could dash UP a snowy hill and get to the top before my little boys did when we were sledding. (Well, at least once or twice, anyway.) I can take an 8 mile walk with no problems. Maybe this year I'll challenge myself to go on my own half-marathon. I can go up and down stairs for 20 minutes straight. Probably longer if I didn't get bored of going from the basement to the living room for 20 minutes, anyway.
My clothes got too big and I can wear smaller things now.
Also, I haven't gotten as sick as frequently as I used to, like with colds and such, and for the most part they are short affairs when I do. So I guess my immunity has gotten a bit of a boost.
I still eat my usual things too, for the most part. I try to fit in a cookie or two a day at least, 'cause I love cookies!
I think one of the fun things I like to show off is my "virtual" walk. I bought a pedometer last year and walk all the time. Even in the house. The pedometer calculates the distance I go and so I used that to calculate how far along I would have been along on a route to my home.
visitors can't see pics , please
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loginIt took me 10 months to cover the distance of 1,583 miles, or the distance between Lethbridge and Yuma, AZ. Plotting a virtual route is a very good motivator to keep walking.
Anyway, that's my off-topic "brag," but some of the credit goes to SparkPeople, their tools and community.
Thanks for taking the time to read.