Melissa Wilkie has been a member of SparkPeople for four months and so far is the epitome of the “Making small, simple, life-long changes” philosophy. She is kind of like the tortoise from “The Tortoise and the Hare.” She is going slow and steady, and she is on her way to achieving her weight loss goal.
When Melissa joined SparkPeople in early August 2003, she had tried different ways to lose weight before. However, as she put it, she needed more structure. She had been simply eating like a “normal” person as she describes it, but that had made her 30 pounds above what her doctor recommended. So Melissa started out on her program, making progress with small steps, just the way SparkPeople recommends.
She started out with a simple fast break – drink more water. Melissa knew how important water was, but had always had a hard time drinking enough. So she found a system that worked for her. Melissa likes to sew and when she does sew, she says she has to get up and stretch more often. This happens when she drinks a lot of water – she has to go to the bathroom more, which makes her get up and walk around.
Melissa took the momentum from her fast break to tackle her weight loss goal: getting rid of those 30 pounds. What she realized is she didn’t have to make drastic changes, just small ones she could stick with, even after reaching her ideal weight.
One of the other things she did was measure more of her food. Melissa found that her ability to eat reasonable portions was way out of wack and she really needed to be more particular about what quantity of food she ate. It wasn’t big entrees either, more like foods such as butter on her toast, peanut butter and cereal.
So Melissa made a better effort to watch the amounts of food she ate. She not only found ways to cut back a little, but also ways to eat healthier food in the process. The sandwiches she prepared were one example. She switched to whole wheat bread, but then also started eating open-faced sandwiches, (one slice of bread instead of two).
For four months now, Melissa’s weight loss has been slow and steady. A pound gone one week, none the next, two pounds the following week, that’s how it’s been going. She even has had a few weeks when she gained a pound. Even when Melissa does gain weight back, she doesn’t get disappointed. She just keeps doing the right things she’s learned since joining SP.
It’s not her results that have surprised Melissa, its how she feels. She has gotten to a point where she does not feel deprived. The way she eats now is something she will be able to do for the rest of her life. Melissa is not starving, and she doesn't worry about what foods she might be missing out on.
The entire SparkPeople website is helpful to Melissa. She uses the food tracker that also counts her calories, the line graph that shows her weight and the pie charts for fat, carbs and protein. Melissa is also all about the message boards. She started her own thread on the Spark Community Journal board, allowing other members to cheer her on and keep her accountable. She has also established friendships with many members on the boards.
Also, just how SparkPeople was drawn up, her weight loss has spread to other parts of her life. She also records all of her volunteering in her program and shares them with others of the boards.
So far, Melissa has lost 12-15 pounds, just about halfway to her goal. While in the past this is when she would have quit or gotten burned out, she is going as strong as ever. Her eating habits have become life-long habits and she is still very determined with no signs of discouragement. She says she is still a work in progress, but so far her progress has been a success.
As Melissa always says, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."
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