After many years of being overweight, and even having lost 100 lbs. (and gaining it all back!), I had almost given up on being able to lose weight. Two years ago, I was feeling lousy all the time- tired, no energy, and everything in my body ached. I decided to join a gym, and started with 30 minute walks on the treadmill and some weight training. Little by little, the weight started coming off. I had lost 40 lbs. until I hit a 3 month plateau. I started to think that diet had something ...

After many years of being overweight, and even having lost 100 lbs. (and gaining it all back!), I had almost given up on being able to lose weight. Two years ago, I was feeling lousy all the time- tired, no energy, and everything in my body ached. I decided to join a gym, and started with 30 minute walks on the treadmill and some weight training. Little by little, the weight started coming off. I had lost 40 lbs. until I hit a 3 month plateau. I started to think that diet had something to do with this, and when I was looking for an online calorie counter, I decided to try sparkpeople.com. What a wonderful website! I can't thank everyone at sparkpeople enough for the gold mine of health and inspirational articles, recipes, exercise videos , and nutrition and fitness trackers. I don't have a lot of time to spend with my spark teams and message boards, but I hope to be able to do this when I retire! All of the great advice on this website has given me renewed determination when the weight loss has been slow. I never would have thought 2 years ago that I would be able to lose 78 lbs., run for 30 minutes straight, or be able to enjoy activities like spinning and kickboxing! Thanks for helping me reclaim my health Sparkpeople!