11.18.2008

You too can spark!

I got an email the other day from cousin that told me about a new website that I am totally obsessed with. The website is www.sparkpeople.com This is a website that is committed to helping you achieve your weight loss goals and maintain a healthy lifestyle. What is so refreshing about this site is that it really seems to want to help you succeed with no strings attached. IT. IS. TOTALLY. FREE. There is no trial membership, no partial free stuff and the rest you have to pay for. Not only is it free (I know I could just stop there) but it is really one of the best sites I have ever used.

The found says that he and his wife were some of the founders of eBay and decided that since they could afford to retire early they wanted to help people get healthy. The site is very user friendly and has a lot of cool stuff. It is set up similar to weight watchers except instead of points you have a food journal, exercise log, etc. You set up your own page and can blog about your struggles. They have teams with similar goals/interests for you to join and people are generally very friendly. It is kind of like facebook in that you have profile pictures and buddies to join you on this adventure.

My favorite part is the spark points. They have several ways everyday that you can earn spark points. You get points for logging in daily, putting information in your journals, reading articles, playing games, etc. Then with your spark points you can buy things. You can send someone a high five, buy yourself a pretend massage, etc. SO. MUCH. FUN. I become obsessed with getting my daily quota of points and I learn stuff about how to maintain a healthy lifestyle while I'm at it. Did I mention that it is free?

OK, so the reason I really decided to blog about this site is more than just sharing my new found joy. In my reading of articles for spark points I found an article that really hit home (more like scared the crap out of me). The article asked if your friends made you fat. I laughed at the title but upon reading it I found that if your friends are overweight or are gaining weight you are 76% more likely to gain weight also. If your friends are losing weight you are 46% more likely to lose weight and here is the one that did for me...people who try to lose weight with a support network or with close friends are 66% more likely to be successful. So there you have it...all of my blog readers are now encouraged by me to join me in this weight loss/healthy lifestyle endeavor. This way we call all be more successful together. Now I know you think I am crazy for starting this right before the holidays but here came another article I read (btw I don't quote my stats so believe them or not that isn't the point).

This article talked about how important it was to journal your food intake and exercise. You are more likely to eat less when you have to write it down and you are more likely to exercise more when you record the numbers. This totally makes sense for me. So my plan until after the holidays is simple write it down. I am making no grandeur attempt to curve my diet or up my exercise routines I am just committing to writing it down. I am hopeful that this will encourage me to continue paying attention to what I am eating and how much I am working out but I am not going to worry about it. So join me! (or don't..no pressure) My user name is ksmomma42 and I look forward to seeing at least a few of you on there.

1 comment:

Adriana said...

I got spark points today for referring someone to the website but I can't find you now to be buddies. So if you are countrywalker find me ksmomma42 so we can be buddies :) Or email me so I know who you are so that I can find you.