"I've been fortunate enough to achieve some great results using the SparkPeople System, now I hope to motivate others to do the same!"

Hello!

My name is Chris, I am the founder of SparkPeople.

I decided to become a case study on the site to help motivate other people to use the SparkPeople System because of the incredible results that are possible. Now that we are starting to see great results from other people using the SparkPeople System, I'm even more excited about the possibilities.

Goals
One of my goals is to stay on the SparkPeople System for 365 days - if I reach that, I'll extend it to 1,000 days. I want to do this to both improve myself and let other people see the results of the SparkPeople System to hopefully motivate them to use SparkPeople.

I will keep a journal on the site (as frequently as I can) and do other activities showing results.

Note: I post to the SparkPeople message boards almost every day! I try to keep my thread under "SparkPeople Stars" updated as much as I can. Come and join us in the SP Community message boards.

Current Goals (updated February 10, 2003)

From February 10 Today is day 30 and it feels like a breakthrough day. I feel great today, got up 5 minutes before the alarm went off and was ready to go.

So far I've averaged a little over an hour of exercise per day during the new streak, but had a great foundation already going into it. Still, I'm focusing mainly on "consistency before intensity".

Today's exercise has been rather routine so far - just 20 minutes on the exercise bike while reading Lord of the Rings. It's not all that hard!

Today's highlight is that Karina and I went to the baby doctor and heard the heartbeat of our baby for the second time! The nurse said it kept moving around on her and said we have an active little baby.

From August 15

A big thing I'm working on now is to get in optimal shape mentally and physically to be able to get out and tell the world about SparkPeople. Here are the steps I've taken so far:

1. Over the past 5 years my sleep has been really messed up - mostly from working so much on the last startup company I co-founded, Up4Sale Auctions (which we later sold to eBay, so the hours were worth it!). So, first I spent about a month getting my sleep fixed by just going to bed whenever I was tired and slowly cutting off my caffeine by not drinking caffeine after a certain time in the day.

2. After fixing the sleep, I tackled my caffeine addiction (another bad habit picked up in the crazy work hours from the last startup). I think caffeine is OK in moderation, but I was way overboard - drinking about 4 cups of Folgers instant every day. So, I spent about a month cutting out caffeine - even went 100 hours without caffeine during this time. Now, I'm consistently drinking about 70% less caffeine every day.

3. After fixing the caffeine, now it's time to really tackle my fitness and try to get into optimal shape. I have noticed in the past that if I consistently do a base amount of cardio and weight workouts - and then add anaerobic workouts like jump rope and sprints - then I am able to think better and even talk better.

   This is where I am now.

   From my journal entry of 8/15: Things have been going great lately! As I come to the end of this 1,000-day streak, it's all coming together!

   I have been noticing a dramatic increase in my energy levels lately. I'm starting to see some of the same signs that happened in 1996 when I did this for the first time. Here are a couple of examples:

   • Being extremely excited to get into work to be productive and do good things (which is even more heightened since I'm working at SparkPeople now!)
   • Going home from work and having so much energy that I start organizing the house. Lately, I've been going home and cleaning out the garage and not having it feel like a chore. This is not like me at all!
   • My tennis game has improved dramatically as well. I'm starting to beat people that I used to lose to
   • My recovery time is getting a lot shorter in many areas - both fitness and non-fitness. This lets me get more done and have fun doing it!

Here is a picture of me and my wife Karina! We've been married for about 15 months now - this was taken about a month after the wedding instead of engagement pictures. I'll post one from Guatemala when we get those developed