How Spark People community can help you lose weight
Spark People
As you might previously heard of Spark People from my other lens Lose Weight with Zumba Fitness
I have decided I should dedicate an entire lens to this wonderful
community which gave me tons of help in my weight loss journey. I can
honestly say it was the only community where I felt comfortable to get
the support I needed and the most important of all, motivation and being
able to stay annonymus if I chose to.
I found it by accident
It's true. As overweight, we usually
feel ashamed or embarassed to go and see a doctor and get help, to join a
gym because we might think people will stare. And most of us don't
usually have the money to buy equipment or slimming DVDs and exercise at
home, buy slimming pills which by the way, in my opinion don't work, or
simply don't have the time to stick to a
breakfast-snack-lunch-snack-dinner diets as easy as they might sound.
And because I felt so embarassed of being overweight I didn't really felt like going to the gym or did I have the money for it. Yes there are vouchers or free trials for a gym, but what's the point to go to the gym for a week trial or 1 day free pass when all of us know it takes time to lose the extra weight.
I always thought of myself I can't do it, I tried diets, slimming pills and failed. I tried the gym for a few months and didn't see any improvment and so I stopped. So wrong I was. And then I said something is wrong, I have health problems that don't allow me to lose weight. So I went to see my doctor and trace any potential health issues that might stop me from losing weight. I failed again. Then I said it's because of stress. Some people lose weight because of stress and some gain weight because of stress. I decided I fell into the second category. I got more depressed and ate more and more.. One day my husband told me what now I would say it's WRONG to even think about, that this is who I am, this is my body and because most of my family is overweight I am the same and there is nothing I can do to change it. Wrong ! Wrong! Wrong!
So one day I started googleing free ways to lose weight. Plenty of pages came up, actually millions of pages came up. I found diets, I found exercises, I found advice, I found miracle plant that helps you to lose weight and so on.. None of those seemed realistic. And then I found Spark People. I didn't believe much, but then I said let me open that website. I thanked God I found it, and still do.
I finally came across something really unusual nowadays. A free website with real people, millions of real people struggling to lose weight, I found success stories, and most important, with so many overweight people in one single community I finally realised I am not alone and I am not the only one struggling. What really made to try it most was that everything was free, so much help available, advice, recipes, exercises, videos, anyways everything one would need to lose weight if they really wanted it. It took me a while to realise it was real but I still wasn't convinced.
Being overweight even during school and highschool, with a heart condition, I've never attended those fitness classes which we had twice a week in school, I never exercised or tought I could do it. I am 25 years old and the first time I exercised was in 2010 when I joined Spark People. I always said because of my weight I will never be able to do it.
I took me a few weeks and daily visits to Spark People to give it a go at exercising. I was visiting other members pages with their journey ( called SparkPages) and I found so many stories identical to what I was going through it was unbelievable. I could identify myself with those stories, actually with those people. They were not afraid to share, they were not afraid to admit their mistakes, they were not afraid to show their weight, they were not embarassed. Then I realised maybe if those people could do it why shouldn't I be able to do it. I am not the only one with a heart condition, I am not the only one overweight, I am not the only one who was blaming something else for my problem.
The most effective way to lose weight is to first realise you are the only one to be blamed for how you are, because you let it happen. And don't forget it is very easy to gain weight, but it takes a hell lot of a work to lose and keep it off.
If you decide to lose weight you need to be ready to change your lifestyle, and you need to consider this journey a way for a better lifestyle, not just a way to lose the weight. Never think you will exercise for 1 year and then stop. It doesn't work like that.Trust me, I've been there, done that, lost half of what I needed and then somehow I deceived myself and stopped. I stopped for a 6 months and I put most of the weight back.
I am not saying to stop enjoying fast-food, or not to eat a bar of chocolate. I am telling you, instead of eating takeaways 6 days out of seven, because your excuse is lack of time, start with eating takeaways once a week as a reward for how well you've deen when you didn't have them. Instead of using whole milk, try semi-skimmed milk, you can swap white bread for a wholemeal bread, it's even healthier.
And because I felt so embarassed of being overweight I didn't really felt like going to the gym or did I have the money for it. Yes there are vouchers or free trials for a gym, but what's the point to go to the gym for a week trial or 1 day free pass when all of us know it takes time to lose the extra weight.
I always thought of myself I can't do it, I tried diets, slimming pills and failed. I tried the gym for a few months and didn't see any improvment and so I stopped. So wrong I was. And then I said something is wrong, I have health problems that don't allow me to lose weight. So I went to see my doctor and trace any potential health issues that might stop me from losing weight. I failed again. Then I said it's because of stress. Some people lose weight because of stress and some gain weight because of stress. I decided I fell into the second category. I got more depressed and ate more and more.. One day my husband told me what now I would say it's WRONG to even think about, that this is who I am, this is my body and because most of my family is overweight I am the same and there is nothing I can do to change it. Wrong ! Wrong! Wrong!
So one day I started googleing free ways to lose weight. Plenty of pages came up, actually millions of pages came up. I found diets, I found exercises, I found advice, I found miracle plant that helps you to lose weight and so on.. None of those seemed realistic. And then I found Spark People. I didn't believe much, but then I said let me open that website. I thanked God I found it, and still do.
I finally came across something really unusual nowadays. A free website with real people, millions of real people struggling to lose weight, I found success stories, and most important, with so many overweight people in one single community I finally realised I am not alone and I am not the only one struggling. What really made to try it most was that everything was free, so much help available, advice, recipes, exercises, videos, anyways everything one would need to lose weight if they really wanted it. It took me a while to realise it was real but I still wasn't convinced.
Being overweight even during school and highschool, with a heart condition, I've never attended those fitness classes which we had twice a week in school, I never exercised or tought I could do it. I am 25 years old and the first time I exercised was in 2010 when I joined Spark People. I always said because of my weight I will never be able to do it.
I took me a few weeks and daily visits to Spark People to give it a go at exercising. I was visiting other members pages with their journey ( called SparkPages) and I found so many stories identical to what I was going through it was unbelievable. I could identify myself with those stories, actually with those people. They were not afraid to share, they were not afraid to admit their mistakes, they were not afraid to show their weight, they were not embarassed. Then I realised maybe if those people could do it why shouldn't I be able to do it. I am not the only one with a heart condition, I am not the only one overweight, I am not the only one who was blaming something else for my problem.
The most effective way to lose weight is to first realise you are the only one to be blamed for how you are, because you let it happen. And don't forget it is very easy to gain weight, but it takes a hell lot of a work to lose and keep it off.
If you decide to lose weight you need to be ready to change your lifestyle, and you need to consider this journey a way for a better lifestyle, not just a way to lose the weight. Never think you will exercise for 1 year and then stop. It doesn't work like that.Trust me, I've been there, done that, lost half of what I needed and then somehow I deceived myself and stopped. I stopped for a 6 months and I put most of the weight back.
I am not saying to stop enjoying fast-food, or not to eat a bar of chocolate. I am telling you, instead of eating takeaways 6 days out of seven, because your excuse is lack of time, start with eating takeaways once a week as a reward for how well you've deen when you didn't have them. Instead of using whole milk, try semi-skimmed milk, you can swap white bread for a wholemeal bread, it's even healthier.
How can Spark People help you as well
Before I start putting down all the
free great tools they have, I want to assure you I do not earn any money
by reffering you to this community, I simply do it because I am so
grateful to them they helped me with my journey and still do, I want to
share this with everyone out there who is looking for support but don't
know where to start.
The first step to take in this new journey is to join Spark People here. Then you can explore the website by clicking on the tab named "My Trackers" to see what's all about and when you feel comfortable and ready to start you can simply improve by tracking your daily calories intake. You can track your daily intake by going to the same tab but clicking "My Nutrition". Add everything you eat and drink during the day. Be honest because no one will give you a punch in the face if you eat more than you should. As soon as you start to be honest with yourself you will know you are on the right path. You might be amazed of your daily intake, but don't be scared, there is advice on how you can improve and daily suggestions of which meals you could have for your ideal daily calories intake. I will go through with you reguarding the most important stuff on the website.
The first step to take in this new journey is to join Spark People here. Then you can explore the website by clicking on the tab named "My Trackers" to see what's all about and when you feel comfortable and ready to start you can simply improve by tracking your daily calories intake. You can track your daily intake by going to the same tab but clicking "My Nutrition". Add everything you eat and drink during the day. Be honest because no one will give you a punch in the face if you eat more than you should. As soon as you start to be honest with yourself you will know you are on the right path. You might be amazed of your daily intake, but don't be scared, there is advice on how you can improve and daily suggestions of which meals you could have for your ideal daily calories intake. I will go through with you reguarding the most important stuff on the website.
Spark People contents
As I mentioned above, the first tab
contains all your success over time. After you finished the tour, you
can use "My nutrition" to track your daily calories intake, for each
meal you had. The tracker has a search tab where you can type the meal
and if it is not there you have the option to put it in yourself if you
know the calories you had. There are several meals from other users
custom input, but you can find most of the meals. The tracker will show
you calories, carbs, fat, protein of each meal, gives you a meal plan
which you can change at any time and gives you advice on which minerals
or vitamins you need to improve for your health or even reduce. It looks
something like this:
My Fitness
found in My trackers tab
Here you will have you strength
exercises planned for 3-5 days/week depending on the plan you choose(
recommended 2 days rest), cardiovascular training again a few days a
week, but here you need to input the cardiovascular training you do each
day, you can choose from several videos from the website or from
anywhere else you want. This tracker will show you how many calories you
have burned during a training session and according to your goal weight
overtime you will see a time line which will show you where you are at
in your weight loss journey.
Besides these strength and cardiovascular there are some extra options you can add, like mileage tracking, step tracking and so on. It is useful and motivating if you choose mini goals, because you will try harder to progress in your goals. You also have options to change those strength exercises or add your own, you can print a weekly exercise plan and you can print your calorie loss overtime.
This is a snapshot of my Fitness Tracker.
Free Calorie Counter at SparkPeople.com
Besides these strength and cardiovascular there are some extra options you can add, like mileage tracking, step tracking and so on. It is useful and motivating if you choose mini goals, because you will try harder to progress in your goals. You also have options to change those strength exercises or add your own, you can print a weekly exercise plan and you can print your calorie loss overtime.
This is a snapshot of my Fitness Tracker.
Free Calorie Counter at SparkPeople.com
My Weight
Weigh in and other measurements
On this page, you can track your weight and a wide variety of other measurements. There is a default set of body measurements to track your progress, but you can add or change what you measure by clicking the "Add/Change" button.
This is a pretty good way of seeing where you need to lose most of the inches, so by exercising you will know which areas need taken care of.
It looks like this:
On this page, you can track your weight and a wide variety of other measurements. There is a default set of body measurements to track your progress, but you can add or change what you measure by clicking the "Add/Change" button.
This is a pretty good way of seeing where you need to lose most of the inches, so by exercising you will know which areas need taken care of.
It looks like this:
Motivational pages and quotes
The hardest thing when starting the
weight loss journey is to get your ass off the couch and start moving.
But most of the times we find ourselves getting on when we are pushed
from behind by family or friends, or reading a news article, watching a
TV show, or perhaps seeing success story. But, in my case at least, I am
not a believer in such things, mainly because I've read so many stories
categorized as "successful", or diet proven to be a success, only to
get dissapointed by realizing that all those photos before-after can so
easily be modified in photo editing software, like Photoshop, Paint Shop
Pro and so on, even online free photo editors. Trust me, it is doable, I
have tried it myself and I was amazed at how I look in my after photo,
this in the perfect virtual world, where everything gets done promptly
with just a click of a button. It doesn't harm anyone to dream or to try
and create that perfect world for themselves, but when it becomes
dangerous you need to stop and realize this is just fantasy. Otherwise
you may end up depressed when reality kicks in and you might start
eating to comfort yourself, especially when you see food makes you feel
better, and then you eat so much because your body
gets used to receiving so much food and asks for that much every time
and after a while you open your eyes and see your real self. And
everyday life becomes a nightmare.
A good way to kick start your new journey is by seeing real people make it, or by finding advice from real people trying to help others in need.
Motivation can help, motivation can overcome problems and most important, motivation can scream at you when you don't want to go on anymore.
This is what motivational pages and quotes can do for you. You can find information, articles, stories in the "Healthy lifestyle" section.
A good way to kick start your new journey is by seeing real people make it, or by finding advice from real people trying to help others in need.
Motivation can help, motivation can overcome problems and most important, motivation can scream at you when you don't want to go on anymore.
This is what motivational pages and quotes can do for you. You can find information, articles, stories in the "Healthy lifestyle" section.
Updates and news on a daily basis
On your homepage, each day you log in
you will see a new exercise of the day, a new recipe of the day, a new
video of the day. Every single day there are new stuff added, even
health news. This is very important for someone trying to lose weight,
because sometimes getting into a routine becomes boring and you might
not carry on, simply because you get bored.
Spark People are trying to keep you interested in the website every day. It is a way of making you log in each day, and since you are logged in, you can as well track the food you had for the day or exercises you had for the day. We all know this is how our human mind works.
With the incredible technology it is even easier for us to stay on track, even when we are at work. If you have an Iphone or Android, you can download Spark People app for free and you will never miss a thing.
Spark People are trying to keep you interested in the website every day. It is a way of making you log in each day, and since you are logged in, you can as well track the food you had for the day or exercises you had for the day. We all know this is how our human mind works.
With the incredible technology it is even easier for us to stay on track, even when we are at work. If you have an Iphone or Android, you can download Spark People app for free and you will never miss a thing.
New on Spark People
Spark People have partnered with Withings 
the maker's of the Internet most popular WiFi connected body scale. Your Withings
scale connects to your home wireless network and every time you weigh
yourself and your body fat percentage is automatically transferred to
your Withings.com and since Spark People have teamed up with Withings,
you can update your weight by connecting your account from Spark People
with Withings .
The SparkPeople team is always testing new products that could be useful to their members and have the ability to sync to their website. They found the Withings Wi-Fi scale to be very convenient, helpful and easy to use. It can help many of the members stick with their programs. Weighing in regularly and tracking your fat percentage can help you see your progress and motivate you to continue, and this scale makes that process quick and-dare we say it-fun.
After receiving your scale, simply follow the easy setup instructions that come in the box. During that process, you will set up an account at withings.com. After setting up your account, do your first weigh-in, then return to Weigh in page on Spark People and enter your Withings account information. Your first weigh-in and every one thereafter will automatically upload to withings.com and your SparkPeople.com Weigh In page.
Take your SparkPeople experience to the next level with SparkCoach! Increase your odds of weight-loss success with:
Unlimited access to virtual coaching with step-by-step guidance and feedback from your coach
Structured daily program that features premium video instruction from top health & fitness experts
Ongoing motivation, accountability, and rewards for your hard work
the maker's of the Internet most popular WiFi connected body scale. Your Withings
scale connects to your home wireless network and every time you weigh
yourself and your body fat percentage is automatically transferred to
your Withings.com and since Spark People have teamed up with Withings,
you can update your weight by connecting your account from Spark People
with Withings .The SparkPeople team is always testing new products that could be useful to their members and have the ability to sync to their website. They found the Withings Wi-Fi scale to be very convenient, helpful and easy to use. It can help many of the members stick with their programs. Weighing in regularly and tracking your fat percentage can help you see your progress and motivate you to continue, and this scale makes that process quick and-dare we say it-fun.
After receiving your scale, simply follow the easy setup instructions that come in the box. During that process, you will set up an account at withings.com. After setting up your account, do your first weigh-in, then return to Weigh in page on Spark People and enter your Withings account information. Your first weigh-in and every one thereafter will automatically upload to withings.com and your SparkPeople.com Weigh In page.
Take your SparkPeople experience to the next level with SparkCoach! Increase your odds of weight-loss success with:
Unlimited access to virtual coaching with step-by-step guidance and feedback from your coach
Structured daily program that features premium video instruction from top health & fitness experts
Ongoing motivation, accountability, and rewards for your hard work
Find them on Amazon
Withings WiFi Body Scale, Black
Amazon Price: $159.00 (as of 08/20/2012) 
The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life
Amazon Price: $3.64 (as of 08/20/2012)
Diet & Food Tracker - By SparkPeople
Amazon Price: $0.00 (as of 08/20/2012)
The Sparkpeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight
Amazon Price: $15.70 (as of 08/20/2012)
The Spark
Amazon Price: (as of 08/20/2012)
Spark People Stories
- Never Give Up
- Consistency still continues to be my biggest problem and I'm not sure how to make changes. I am fighting to just keep myself positive enough to remain on Spark and am wondering if it's worth the battle.
- I pulled up the big girl panties! Now GAME ON!!!
- I have been in this weight struggle for as long as I can remember. Along with this excess weight have come a long list of illnesses. Now it is time to get healthy and lose this weight. Yep I will be saying bye bye to the pharmacy of medicines and the globulous on this journey!!!
- "MY SEXY"
- I'm achieving "MY SEXY" not anyone else's! "MY SEXY" is a size that's comfortable for ME! "MY SEXY" includes embracing my curves, because skinny is and never will be "MY SEXY"!
- Changing my life one day at a time
- "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?"
- Working on being happy and healthy in my own skin
- I just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone for your positive feedback and kind words. I am so happy that I have inspired others. It's hard to believe that I was once looking for inspiration and now I am inspiring others! Like I have said, I still struggle with eating right and exercising sometimes, and it does help me to know that you guys are so supportive. I wanted to be honest and tell everyone that I suffer from depression, panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
- "I'm not pregnant, just fat."
- I'm a 32 year old mom of two, who has always lived an active lifestyle... until having kids. My mother was diagnosed with weight-related Type II diabetes, and with a family history, I want to avoid her fate, and set a healthy example for my kids.
- Back for Round 2. Hoping for a Knockout
- This is my second go around with Sparkpeople. The first time around I lost almost 50 pounds and gained a ton of confidence. Unfortunately I got comfortable and some issues from my past pushed me back to a place I didn't want to be. Food tagged along. I have worked through most of those issues and want to gain my confidence back for the second and hopefully last time. I will be 29 years old in less than a month and I intend to go into my 30's fit, fun, flirty, and fabulous!
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