SparkPoints: (75,394)
Fitness Minutes: (30,337)
Posts: 30,745
2/18/13 6:31 P

Welcome to Sparkpeople. Be sure to take advantage of all the great free online sources available here, such as the nutrition and fitness trackers. Also, the online community is great. We are all here to offer support when you need it, or celebrate your successes with you.

Here are some links that will help you navigate the site and get started!

* SparkPeople's User Guide:
www.sparkpeople.com/resource/user_guide_AL
L.pdf

* New Member Tutorial Videos:
www.sparkpeople.com/resource/motivation_ar
ticles.asp?id=571

* For Additional Motivation:
www.sparkpeople.com/resource/motivation.as
p

Take this first week to familiarize yourself with the tools here. Once you get used to using them, it becomes easier to use them even when you are busy. Personally, I spent my first week learning to use the tools, and just tracking everything I was already eating and doing for exercise. It gave me a baseline to work from. It also gave me a chance to really decide what my goals were, and how to get there.

This site can only provide the support and the tools to reach these goals. You need to put the hard work in. Personally, I end up kicking my own butt every day. Feel free to check out my blogs to see how I kick my butt out the door to get my fitness in. I can tell you, once I am finished with my exercise for the day, I feel great. No more I should do this and I should do that. Instead, I feel accomplished, and able to relax and enjoy the rest of my day.

current weight: 230.4

238 227.25 216.5 205.75

195

SparkPoints: (260)
Fitness Minutes: (480)
Posts: 4
2/18/13 3:23 P

I am so excited to begin tracking my progress here with Spark People! I have set a goal to lose 15 pounds but if I hit 20 that would be amazing :) I will be joining a cycling group this spring and will be riding 50-100 miles and would also like to train for a half marathon later in the year. I have been doing the Insanity workouts for the last week and have to admit that it is kicking my butt. My downfall is ice cream, I love to have a big bowl of it every night. So if any of you have any great tasting healthy snacks to try, I could use a few ideas. Any other tips on how to stay motivated and hit my goals is also appreciated.
Good luck to us all, I know this will be a great year!