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KARENCRANER's Recent Blog Entries
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Friday, August 03, 2012
My favorite thing today is the numbers. Yes, weight loss is a simple matter of burn more calories than consumed. Spark supports that by offering a calorie and nutrition counter. Spark supports that by allowing Sparkers to set weight-loss and workout goals and providing appropriate caloric recommendations. However, Spark supports Sparkers beyond the numbers. It caters to the whole person by promoting health, health education, wellness, fitness, and positive change. With Spark behind us, those numbers on the scale no longer have a chance of holding us back!
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
My focus for today's entry is the valuable nuggets of information I've picked up. I got a gold pan as a gift, and the only thing I got with it was hypothermia. :) However, what I've gotten from Sparkpeople is true treasure, and I'm learning more every day.
I'll share a few things that were cold, hard truths that have impacted me the most. First, only 5% of people who lose weight keep it off. This gave me the resolve to change my way of life and not just go on a diet! Second, booze is bad for me. Duh! Just how bad it is for me was eye-opening, though. It's not just calorie laden, but it also weakens my ability to make healthy choices and actually PREVENTS proper absorption of nutrients. Third, there's more to this than just losing weight. What has led me to disregard my health for so long? How will I find the answers so I can fix it for good? With Spark's wisdom, I'll reap the riches of a long, healthy, rewarding life.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
I I experienced success right away. Those Fast Break goals are brilliant! I know that sucess breeds success; I use that principle often in my teaching career. However, I've never applied it to my personal life.
I picked three that were challenging for me: 1 piece of fresh produce daily, 8 glasses of water daily, and telling one person about my goals daily. Wow! I already ate plenty of fresh veggies, so I incorporated fresh fruit into my diet. Ugh! I hated it. It was hard to eat a full portion. One day at lunch, as I was staring woefully at a sliced apple I'd barely made a dent in, a colleague walked by. I perked up and offered him some (yup, trying to cheat). He declined politely and said that I needed practice. After a few days, I realized that he was SO right. I'm actually learning to love several fruits! The water was also a struggle at first. When I finally rationalized that I'd have no trouble if it were beer, it got easier. :) As far as telling someone about my goals, I agonized over who to pick each day who wouldn't judge me or make a face or feed into my fear of failure or, whatever. Now you can't shut me up. I've talked to health ckasses, preached to my doctor, and spread the spark whenever the opportunuty presented itself!
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Another thing about Spark that I love surprises the heck out of me . . . the camaraderie. I've never liked social networking, whether through pyramid schemes or even Facebook, but I love that Sparkpeople actively promotes social contact by awarding points for blogs, comments on blogs, and message board posts.
The benefits have really hit home this week. For one thing, it's great practice for me being open and honest about what I'm going through, something essential on this LONG journey toward healthier living and losing weight. Second, I'm Sparkfriends with some amazing, inspirational, and beautiful individuals. Third, folks here really care and show their support for one another. I was having a tough week, not handling news about having to get my tonsils out well and not handling two long weeks of hearing nothing on a life-changing first home purchase well. Multiple Sparkfriends noticed my withdrawal, checked in via several venues, and helped me get back on track. I sure can feel the love! Can you? 
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Absolutely impossible to describe in just one blog entry (for me anyway), so I'll devote a week's worth of blogs to this topic. Today the answer I choose to discuss is spark's penchant to promote health education.
One of my first thoughts upon enrolling on spark was "Sparkpoints? What the heck are sparkpoints? Obviously they're a lame attempt at a motivational tool. Pathetic." Just a few weeks later, after using the nutrition and fitness trackers regularly during my first attempt in YEARS to lose weight, I discovered that I was ranked 7th out of the 15,000+ in my Sparkclass! Lame motivational tool my a$$! I found that I have a competitive streak. :) In my attempt to earn points to improve my ranking, I started reading seven articles daily. That's when I really started my journey toward healthier living and permanent weight loss. That's when my initial weightloss slowed and when my inner spark was brought into the light. I found, through reading and learning about healthy living, new meaning in life and a renewed zeal for teaching and sharing what I'm learning with others.
So, thank you sparkpeople! Thanks for not only promoting weightloss, but for promoting wellness and health education as well. Thanks Sparkfriends, for your participation and encouragement. 
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