A Sparkling Year

One year today with Spark people and I'm amazed at my successful journey.

I lost my weight in 7 weeks and have maintained this loss for just over 10 months now.. I ended up losing more because of my gastric problems, but have put a couple of pounds back on. I'm happy at the weight I am right now, even though it's a bit below goal.

It's been challenging at times, especially in the beginning when I was setting up all my favourite recipes in the "recipe maker". I went on to make my own special cookbook of all my favourite meals, which I find quite handy. And, then getting all my favourite foods into the tracker took a fair amount of time and effort, but was so worth it. Now tracking is just something I take time to do each and every day.

The fitness tracker keeps me on track also and I've faithfully used my stationary bike for the past year at least 3 times a week. My other fitness is mainly walking, yoga and a bit of gardening, not huge calorie burners, but good for my arthritic joints, body and soul.

I did have a long spell with gastric problems and finally after 9 months of ups and downs with this, I've had 2 weeks without any problems.. I feel like I'm on the mend from whatever was wrong. The Dr. said it's like an irritable gastric system, like IBS.. maybe it is?? As long as it stays away, I'll be happy!!

I have been caffeine free for over 4 months and have stayed off gluten for 4+ months also, but I really don't notice much difference from not eating it, so I may introduce it back into my diet and see how that goes. I am sleeping better being off the caffeine and all those of us with fibromylagia, know the value of a good nights sleep!!

Another tool that has helped me maintain is joining the 8 week challenges that the At Maintenance and maintaining team offers.. I think I've done around 4 of them now.

I have always followed the spark recommended dietary balance of 50%carbs, 30% fat and 20% proteins and it's worked for me. Being small in stature and older, I've found I have to keep my calories in the 1300 to 1500 range to maintain, thus I went back to the old tracking system as the new one was always telling me I was under eating!! I still weight myself daily also, just as a tool to see if I should eat a bit more or less each day.

Most of all, the support of my spark friends and the community helps keep me motivated! I love sharing in everyone's daily ups and downs and giving support when I can. I sure appreciate all the support all of you have given me over this past year!!

Here's to the next year...