spark.jpgUnlike Alicia, I’m not brave enough to go on Oprah’s Debt Diet. I love shopping way too much to deny myself. Not to mention my wardrobe is in desperate need of revitalizing. But what I needed to revitalize even more were my eating habits, so thanks to my friend (and Chicago shopping buddy) Carmen for telling me about Sparkpeople.

I’ve never stayed on a diet or fitness plan more than a few weeks. I don’t like exercising and I love sweets, not a good combination if you want to tone up and shave off a few pounds. Fortunately I’m tall and my BMI is in healthy range - but barely. When I saw that, I was committed to giving this a shot.

Sparkpeople has everything you need to meet your goals - a meal planner (tracking calories, carbs, fat, protein and water consumption), suggested meal plans or create your own, fitness tracker with suggested exercise plans and demo, message boards, informative articles, recipes, newsletters (like recipe of the day and the food showdown that I subscribe to), a food database with thousands of grocery and fast foods with the ability to enter your own, ability to group foods, keep a favorite food list, find a diet buddy, and much more.

After one month of semi-faithfully following my meal and fitness plans, I lost 4 pounds. I have a goal to lose 21 pounds by Thanksgiving, so next month I need to lose 6 pounds to meet my target. Now in all fairness, I was sick for a week during my first month, so that contributed to the final outcome, but in all fairness I also blew my calories and fat intake on a number of days because of my love of sweets. This plan has been an eye-opening experience of how bad certain foods can be, and I’ve learned so much about good and better food choices including fruits and nuts. It’s true that it’s about portion control, but it’s really a combination of portion, fitness and the right foods. Because even small portions of really naughty foods can be damaging - and they won’t fill you up so you’ll still be hungry.
Start it now! It’s not easy, you do have to be dedicated, and it’s a lot of work keeping track of your nutrition, but it’s worth it. And most important, did I mention that it’s FREE?

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