Secrets of Success

Have a support system

Once I was more involved with Sparkpeople, I picked up on more motivation by reading stories and interacting with other members. Some of my worst days became my best because of my Spark friends!!

Prepare to Start

Start by preparation. Clean out the 'bad' food, read the Getting Started secrets, pinpoint your stumbling blocks and form a strategy to deal with them. Read articles on nutrition, fitness, wellness and motivation. Find common ground teams to join. Don't whine about what you need to do - face it head on and enjoy the journey. It is a wonderful one!

Small steps are still steps forward.

Take it one day, or even one meal at a time. And start small. Maybe you add one additional serving of fruit or veggies per day. Maybe you start exercising in 10 minute increments. I found that once I hit a monthly number of fitness minutes, I want to match that or increase it by say 100 minutes the next month.

Water!

I have a 20 ounce water bottle that goes EVERYWHERE with me! If water is always on hand, it's much easier to remember to drink it. I also will make sure I finish the bottle before a meal/snack so that I'm a little less hungry when I eat something.

Taking off the mask.

Hit the re-start button a month ago. But, this is a different feeling this go around. I dropped the pretentions of being able to conquer these bad habits of poor food choices and why I make the emotional choices. I decided to take the mask off and ask for help. I googled how to stop cravings for sugars and breads, two of my biggest weaknesses. No more sugar drinks and bread for 30 days. And no beef after lunch. Wow ten pounds came off, woohoo! I started exercising by walking.

Tracking Before Rather than After

Tracking meals in advance helps me stay on target. I make better decisions by selecting what to eat BEFORE I am hungry, and am less prone to cravings. The best part is that I don't have to feel guilty about indulging in a glass of wine with dinner since I've already planned ahead for it! I do this with exercise too - the idea of having to log in to reduce miles run from 3 to 2 is enough to keep me on the treadmill a bit longer, and it's a great feeling to log back in and ADD a mile to the run!

Not a secret

Water. I started working out and water is the key. no if ands or buts about it half your bodies weight or more water water water

Charts

measure your weight and body size. You can look at the charts to see where your body resists change and understand those will be your trouble spots. Your body will want to stay that weight or return to that weight. The charts help you understand your body.

If it has been a bad day, create a healthy plan for the rest of the day, now..Don't wait

It's easy to let the whole day slide if part of the day's been bad. If you've had a bad spell, get up and figure out all the healthy actions you're going to take the rest of the day and put the bad part of the day behind you.

Set a reminder to create a habit of tracking

I used the alarm function on my phone to remind me a few times per day (specific to each day of the week) to track my food & exercise. After a while I only remind myself with my wake up alarm. When I get off track, I go back on the reminders. It's like a nagging mother!