i am not understanding what i need to do

SparkPoints: (29,509)
Fitness Minutes: (17,458)
Posts: 1,416
1/2/13 12:23 P

When first started, I started with the nutrition and exercise tracker. I thought I was eating healthy until I started to track my foods--what a wake up. Today, I am happy to say that I track my food on good days and bad days-I am always honest(because I am accountable to myself). I like this. I do not follow the menu items, I have foods that I eat that are not on the SPmenu, however, my menus stay within the nutrition requirements for proteins, carbs, fat and the caloric count for the day. My favorite go to food is greek yogurt(low in fat and high in proteins). Good luck, take it slow and know that you are not along.

Pounds lost: 19.0

0 9 18 27

36

Posts: 717
1/2/13 11:41 A

I, too, do not purchase the "stuff". There are many things to do that cost nothing but your time and effort.
I also suggest that you start tracking what you eat. If you can't find something in the tracker list you can put it in yourself buy looking at he information on the packaging.
I also suggest that things that don't come in single serving sizes (and not much does) use a measuring cup and measure what you're eating. At this point in time don't try to "eyeball".
Make a short list of where you want to get to. Break that down in small measureable "bites" that you can achieve.
Example: Overall goal to lose 100lbs That's too big to look at all at once.
breakdown to: I want to lose 1lb per week.
How many calories do you need to cut out to do that? There is an ap for that! There is a calorie breakdown to tell you how much you should be eating to lose wt. based on how much you weigh now.
Decide what exercises you can do. Can you walk? That's a good place to start. If not you can do stationary exercises. All the information is here for you if you search. There are also many people who like a buddy to check in with. That can help too. Good luck!

Pounds lost: 30.0

0 10.25 20.5 30.75

41

Posts: 51,384
12/30/12 8:41 A

I've never followed Sparks "diet" since it is WAY over the cost of what I can afford to buy and I never fix all the FANCY food they promote, but they have a COOKBOOK to SELL, and lots of DVDS, etc. plus all the Shirts, water bottles, etc. I'm much to frugal to waste money on all that. I'm 63 and I raised five children on what others "only could afford" to raise two, because I was frugal with money. But, I know lots of people want to buy all that stuff, which is fine.

I track what I eat on the food tracker. I was shocked when I joined five years ago and found I DRANK 1500 calories per day. So, I went to drinking NO CAL beverages like lemon water, etc.

Start with tracking your food and see what a Normal day for you happens to be. I did that for the first five days and learned why I was at 214# back then.

current weight: 166.2

214 194 174 154

134

Posts: 15,379
12/29/12 9:54 P

The BEST place to start is by tracking everything you eat.
Very enlightening!

Posts: 2
12/28/12 7:43 P

Hi i am Yvonne Botello, I am still trying to understand where i begin and how i start the program. Can anyone help me. I am a mother of 5 and a grandmother of 3. I just turned 54 years old on December 26. I plan to work hard to get fit for 2013. please give me some information on how to begin this journey to my weight loss.