Secrets of Success

Make yourself accountable

Sharing your goals and plans with others helps to make you accountable...enlisting your sparkfriends to keep you on track really helps!

My food sealer is a great tool

Using the food sealer to reseal bags of chips etc. after removing a portion keeps the food fresh but it also helps to control mindless snacking....it requires more thought to cut open the bag for a portion than to unroll or untwist and dig in!

Help yourself by helping others

Find ways to help others whether it is here on SP on the message boards or teams or in your local community. By doing for others you can feel better about yourself and you take your focus away from dieting.

Take the focus off the scale

Make a solid effort to take the focus off the scale....set a goal that is meaningful for you....learning to run? set a goal to run a mile without a walk interval, enter a race, Can't do a push up to save your soul? make a goal to complete a set of ten......whatever these goals....work toward them.

avoiding snacking

often when I am hit with the urge to snack, I can stop it in it's tracks by coming on line and either posting or reading posts....it side tracks me and usually it motivates me to stay on track!

water bracelets

When I'm out and about it's always harder for me to get my water in...my trick is that I have a dozen inexpensive stretchy pearl bracelets (walmart) I place them on my left wrist in the morning and each time I have 8oz of water I transfer one to my right wrist. keeps track & reminds me!

Try something new!

Remember the "Try it, You'll like it" commercials....each and every day try something new....a recipe, a food, an exercise, a new way to do something routine (brush your teeth while doing squats or leg raises)

No Food is Bad

I found that restricting any food only makes it something that becomes bigger than life....by including some favorite things in my diet (in moderation) and really enjoying them without guilt I don't end up sabotaging myself.