I have lots of weight to lose and see this as rather an uphill struggle. I manage to keep on track for a few weeks or months and then lose motivation and put all the weight I lost back on and a bit more as well. With the help of all the useful information on this site and with the support of the friends I have made I hope to achieve a regular weight loss each week. BE POSITIVE We all have negative thoughts at times. Negative thoughts are unhelpful and self-defeating. They keep us stuck in our old ways and get in the way of us making positive changes for ourselves. Learn to question and challenge our negative thoughts and come up with more positive alternatives can help us to make the changes we need. BARRIERS TO LOSING WEIGHT Negative thoughts. Time factor. Lapse in motivation. Emotional eating. Temptation. Using food as a comfort. SOLUTIONS Maintain positive thoughts. Remove temptation. Build healthy eating into lifestyle changes. Start with setting mini goals first which are easily achievable. Set realistic goals that you are able to achieve. Support from Spark friends and Spark teams. UNDERSTANDING BEHAVIOUR LAPSE - a one off slip from your new eating pattern. RELAPSE - a string of lapses that occur over a short period of time. COLLAPSE - a complete return to your previous eating pattern and behaviour. REMEMBER: Lapses are natural and an accepted part of change. Eating a "wrong" food is a slight mishap and not a personal failure. Follow these steps to cope with a lapse situation. 1. STOP.. ..Go away from the situation to a safe place to think about what has happened. 2.SAY...."One slip-up does not mean the end of the world". 3.LEARN....What was going on before the lapse? Try to work out why it happened. 4.PLAN...What can be done next time to prevent another lapse from happening? 5. BE POSITIVE....Has anything really changed? 6.ASK...How can I balance things out? REMEMBER.... there are no such things as bad foods only bad diets. ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF COMFORT. 1. Have a bath. 2. Telephone a friend or relative. 3. Listen to music. 4. Go for a walk. 5. Relax in the garden. 6. Read a book or magazine. 7.Meditate. 8.Do a crossword/ sudoku puzzle. 9.Cook as long as its healthy food. 10. Count your blessings and feel good about yourself. DON'T STRIVE FOR PERFECTION! If you won't settle for anything less than perfection, you're putting crippling barriers in your way. If you set your aims lower you will achieve better results. You can still achieve results even if you did something 80 per cent or even 50 per cent correctly, it would still be worthwhile! Tell yourself it's good enough on a daily basis. Ask yourself "What is the worst thing that could happen" And stop and think " Would that really be worse than letting my pointless perfectionism hold me back from attaining real achievement". ARE YOU GUILTY OF OVERINDULGING? Think about the future. If you teach yourself to act long term rather than merely satisfying fleeting feelings, you have a much better chance of controlling your desires. Consider why you are reaching for a bar of chocolate. If you're happy think about why those feelings will last. if you're unhappy focus on the reasons why and those feelings should pass. Things are never so bad and you'll make your life so much better by choosing a healthier snack like a piece of fruit instead of a bar of chocolate. Find other ways to reward yourself that don't involve food or spending too much money. Distract yourself. This is a helpful tool to use when dealing with food, especially if you're at home when the urge to eat happens. know your own triggers so you can plan to thwart them. A trigger could be a particular time of the day. People can also be triggers, a family member or a friend could encourage you to binge. Or it might be that you overindulge in certain situations such as family meals or on holiday. It could help to keep a diary and note when you overindulge and what kind of mood you are in. If a pattern begins to emerge you can work out a plan in advance. Don't underestimate the power of cravings. Overindulgence to boost a mood or keep it going is a habit that you can break. Its in your own power. MY TIPS FOR LOSING WEIGHT 1. Log all food into a food journal or sparks nutrition tracker. 2.Drink a a minimum of 8 glases of water a day. 3. Eat your food slowly and it will curb your desire to eat more than you need. 4.Learn to know your hunger signals and try to gauge how much food your body really needs and how much is right for you. 5. Get into a routine. Make an effort to eat regular meals so you don't become too hungry and then end up overeating. 6. Eat a healthy breakfast like cereal or eggs on toast. When you start your day with a healthy breakfast it increases your chances of eating healthily throughout the day. 7. Keep temptation out of the way, You may think you can control what you eat but its a lot easier if you don't have the crisps and chocolate in the house. 8.Put leftovers out of sight. To avoid overeating at mealtimes, serve your portion and put the leftovers out of sight and there will be less temptation to keep refiling your plate. 9. Eat without distractions. When you are not concentrating on what you are eating it's harder to listen to your body and recognise when you are full. 10. No food is off limits. Don't ban your favourite foods the moment you decide you can't eat something you want it more. Including your favourite foods in moderation will make you weight loss plan easier to stick to. 11. Curb evening snacking. Not meeting your energy needs during the day and eating at night means you won't lose weight. 12. Fill your plate with vegetables as they contain fewer calories and have smaller portions of pasta and meat. 13. Join a spark team and participate in the posts. 14. Exercise a minimum of 30 minutes three times a week. MY DIET GOALS. Eat smaller meals throughout the day, every 3-4 hours. Plan 3 meals and 2-3 snacks daily. Reduce portion size in meals. Rationale; 1.Less tendency to overeat at the next meal. 2.Regular eating may keep metabolism high. 3.Maintains energy level throughout the day. Eat 25 - 35g of fibre every day. Eat 5 servings of fruit and vegetables daily. Eat fresh fruit as a dessert or as a snack. Add vegetables to sandwiches or stir frys. Eat oatmeal or other high fibre cereal for breakfast. Sustitute white bread for 100% whole wheat. Rationale: Helps to prevent constipation. Fibre can decrease the absorption of dietary fats. By filling up on vegetables and fruit makes it less likely you will eat high calorie foods.

1. Lose 14 pounds. goal reached 6/2/09. 2. Lose 10% =36lbs. goal reached 17/02/2011. 3. Lose 50 pounds goal reached 27/05/2011. 4. Lose 65 pounds goal reached 5.Lose 80 pounds

Following weightwatchers propoints plan. Exercise minimum 5 times a week at least 60 minutes daily. Offer help and support to other Spark members.

Hi I am 55 years of age married with 2 children.

Like reading books particulalrly autobiographies. Favourite film Dirty Dancing. I love cats and at the moment we have 2.

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