What do you say?

The biggest challenge for me is balancing calories in with calories out. I am always being warned that I am exceeding the amount of exercise for my intake. I think it has to do with being a vegetarian and being on the Healthy Heart Program. I must admit I ignore the repeated warnings . I am losing very slowly and not wasting away so I am not worried.

"Eating less and moving more." If people show any level of interest whatsoever, I'll go on to tell them about Spark and how tracking everything and realizing how many calories I was mindlessly sticking in my mouth has changed everything. I also go on to define that "eating less" doesn't mean I'm starving - I eat whatever I want, just not necessarily ALL of whatever I want.

I usually just tell then eating healthier and being aware of my body. I haven't been as good about exercising as I should be and I've found the word exercise to be a turn off to some people. I have a close friend who I am slowly but surely converting to eating better and she is losing too. For her, "Exercise" evokes bad memories of gym class and "calorie counting" produces images of the awful vegetables we were forced to eat as kids in the school cafeteria so I've been showing instead of telling. Seems to have better results. :-) Eating is emotional for lots of us so finding ways to get around emotional blocks is the key.

I love telling people about Spark. I had a woman ask me if I was training for a 5k at the gym the other day (which I was-run/walk intervals). She asked me where I got my plan/how I knew when to run and I told her about the plans on Spark. I describe it as a support system for health with message boards, nutrition articles, calorie trackers, and more. :)

Beezaur, that's the truth. It's amazing to me how many people tell me I don't need to lose weight, even though my BMI has hit the obese range and I am very out of shape.

To the OP, when people ask me what I'm doing to lose weight I tell them I'm not doing anything to lose weight. I am eating a healthy diet and exercising, but my focus is now on my fitness level and not the numbers on the scale. Yes, I am losing weight and I will continue to until I reach a healthy weight for my height, bone structure, and even of fitness, but I consider the weight loss secondary now. Putting it first has done nothing for me but cause me to put too much pressure in myself and then give up when the results didn't match my expectations.

"Eating right and exercising." People's eyes always glaze over at that point. They don't want to hear that; they want to hear the magic pill or diet you're doing that's going to make the weight melt off without any effort on their part. I usually preface it with "The right way; all those fad diets don't work."

I do recommend people check out the website, start tracking their food, and eating healthy and exercising. Too many people want to jump the gun and have gastric bypass and that really drives me nuts! I mean absolutely NO disrespect to those on here who have had it and are successful, but I am extremely opinionated on the subject (I will stop the GB talk here). I try to cook healthy for them if they are in the house and I will ask them if they want to go for a walk, but that's it. The rest is up to them!

I say "eating healthy and exercising". then I tell them about SP and very few have heard of it. What a shame. My doctor however, was very interested.

Isn't it weird how people think of a healthy weight as "skinny"?

I don't say this, but always think of my response: "you've become uncalibrated."

People are always asking me what are you doing? My answer is always Hot yoga and the Spark diet. Most people have never heard of spark and I always decribe it as a motivational website. The last thing I end up talking about is the tracker. I always say I track everything I eat, it keeps me in check. I am down 18 lbs. Yesterday someone said I looked skinny. Unbelievable!....and awesome. So my question is "What do you say?"