The Simple Life at Home

This is a good kind of downward mobility - weight loss!!

I've never been a skinny girl.  When Hubby and I got married, I was a size 10, but I was happy with that and so was he.  However, over the last 20 years, I've put on quite a bit of weight.  Quite a bit.  And it's been hard.  (Not the packing on weight part -that was easy, just eat whatever you want!)

Hard on my self-esteem, hard on our marriage, hard on everything.  Since spring I've been having serious knee problems, severely limiting my life enjoyment.  The amount of money of spent on diet plans, books, pills, drops, you name it - I don't even want to think about it.  I shy away from having my picture taken and now look back and realize I'm not in most of our pictures.  It's a painful feeling to know that your kids and their kids will have limited visual reminders of you because you hated to see yourself in pictures.

Over last summer I discovered SparkPeople.com.  I instantly new this was going to help.  It's a free, yes totally FREE, website that provides all the support one needs to pursue weight loss.  It has trackers that help you keep track of your nutrition, your workouts, your weight, any other goal you want to set. My favorite part is the SparkPoints you can earn by doing simple things like logging what you eat, walking the dog, drinking water, reading health-related articles, you name it.  I am a person who likes to accomplish tasks and check off boxes so this is perfect for me.  You don't really win anything (well, except health and wellness!!), but just the knowledge that I've hit that 25 point mark and win a bonus spin to earn more points is so satisfying to me.

I've been stalled at 15 pounds for several months now, due to me just not doing what I need to do, but over the last week or so I'm down 3 more pounds having recommitted myself to getting healthy.  So close to 20 pounds gone!  I still have a long way to go, but this is more success than I've had in a long time and I'm so excited!

And I've just signed up for another online tool that I think will be very motivational.  DietBet calls itself a "social dieting" site.  I joined a game and forked out $20.  Now over 200 people have joined in on this same game and the pot is up over $4000.  Whoever meets the base goal of losing 4% of their weight over the next four weeks splits the pot.  I am determined not to lose that $20!!  It's a little intimidating, but I know I can do it with hard work and determination.

I'm determined to do it the right way this time - by being more physically active and making healthier choices rather than by some crazy plan I can't maintain for the rest of my life.  I want to be around for my kids and grandkids and maybe even their kids!