Always Active, But Now I'm Fit
Age 32
37 pounds lost
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
I joined SparkPeople in 2007 but didn't get serious until 14 months later. It was obvious to me that I couldn't do this on my own! I had tried many times before only to gain anything I'd lost back. I lost 25 pounds after my first 25 weeks, then I decided to do a fitness competition in April 2009 and I lost 12 more pounds! I'm also a part-time fitness instructor.
I honestly only signed up for SparkPeople to track my foods... and then I realized there was an extremely supportive and welcoming online community involved with this site as well... and the blogging feature certainly is my second favorite feature!
I hit my highest weight on the scale EVER (155 lbs), and I could no longer fit into my biggest clothes in my closet! I felt like a stuffed sausage while getting ready for work in the morning and that was really starting to make me depressed!
I live my life pretty freely again. I know when I can or can't have that cookie in the coffee room. I feel free to go out to eat because I know that it's OK to order a salad--and I will be satisfied from it! And if I want a dessert, I realize that it requires a whole day's worth of exercise to burn off the calories from that cake/ice cream/whatever! I am definitely more selective about how often I indulge!
I was completely terrified to ever get pregnant because before SparkPeople, I had no idea how to manage my weight and I was scared that (like most of my family members who've had babies) I would just get super fat and unfit if I ever had kids myself! But now that I have made such huge lifestyle changes, I know that any weight I gain during pregnancy will be minor and easily releasable once the baby arrives!
I try not to let one day affect my entire healthy future because I know that, if you are doing the right things 80% of the time, the other 20% you can indulge a little bit and still reach your goals!
