Who uses Spark People?

[Jan_In_Maine]

I thought I was the only one that went to the closet to check to see what is too big .... or if there is anything that I can now fit into that I haven't been able to wear!

 

PS ... DD is standing over my shoulder laughing, as she says I play the closet game weekly!!!! Enjoy! Jan

[charleysmom]

Thanks! I've been using the nutrition tracker and it's been great to watch my calorie intake go down. I did join WW and haven't been great at it - I'm attempting the Core program which I'm thinking might be harder than counting points, but the Sparks tracker is keeping me motivated since I'm staying within their calorie range.

 

I am really fortunate to work for a nonprofit whose mission is nutrition (http://www.mannapa.org). We provide free meals and nutrition counseling for people who are at acute nutritional risk from a life-threatening illness. The bad news is that I am around food ALL of the time -- and the food that someone with AIDS or cancer needs is not necessarily good for someone who needs to lose weight!

 

On the good news side, I have a doctor's scale in the office to my right and a registered dietitian in the office to my left, so great resources are at hand. Plus, until this month we had a for-profit catering business (we just sold it to the executive chef) and one of their clients is the gym that trained our local "biggest loser" contestant. They provide healthy low calorie meals to clients of the gym and we are able to purchase them too. Now that the holidays are over, that will be my "meal plan" at least in the evenings.... at least until they move to their own kitchen facility. In the meantime, I think I need some cooking lessons from Chef so I can learn to duplicate some of their meals at home. They do an edamame succotash that is amazing.

 

I am trying to stay off the scale and only weigh in at WW, but I feel a bit better just tracking the calories. And those Sparks e-mails really encourage me to log in and track my eating. It's great.

 

Ann

[charleysmom]

I'm finding one of my great downfalls is cream in my coffee. Skim milk just doesn't cut it. I love the FF half and half, then realized that even though it might not have fat, it's LOADED with calories and sugar. Any effective substitutes??

 

Thanks!

[WedNoMor]

I just love that SparkPeople thingy.... It can be a very useful motivator - IF you can get away from your computor...! Here we are sitting at this keyboard daily and not getting the cardio in. I would love to have my computor and my bike attatched together somehow...! That would be perfect. P.S. I'm on SP with the same name (all caps if it makes a dif)

[Jan_In_Maine]

Wow - what a cool idea to have a computer attached to a bike!

 

charleysmom - could you work with 2% milk for your coffee? It does have 120 calories per cup, but there are 48 teasp in a cup .... so it would only add 2.5 calories if you used a teasp of milk. (7.5 calories for a tablespoon) richer than skim, but lots less rich than cream which has 20 calories per tablespoon) (whole milk has approx 9 calories per tablespoon). Do you drink a lot of coffee during the day. I usually have one very large cup with cream, but then I switch to liptons "bedtime tea" ... camomille (sp) with spearmint ... it doesn't need sugar or cream ... I love it.

 

PS - I have found that I need to watch anything that says fat free, as to add flavor when they take out the fat they add sugar .... (I couldn't believe the differences in salad dressing for "fat free" tons added sugar (and calories)

 

I have started a spark people page and I have no idea how to do it, or what to do with it, but it is under the same name as here. I have a horrible picture of myself "before" that I would love to get onto the computer. Jan

[Kristina685]

I love SP! I especially like how I can track my food and keep count of the calories that I eat. I had to go out and revamp my entire food stock to get rid of the cookies, ice cream, etc. I bought veggies, popcorn, rice cakes, and lots and lots of yogurt! My name on SP is the same as it is here. I don't really know how to "friend" people on it but if anyone wants to stop by and give me some motivation I will gladly do the same! Good luck to all those losing weight.

 

Kristina

[sondrad]

I love sparkpeople. DH and I both just joined this year. Love the site!!!!

[Suebee42]

Another Sparker here!

 

I've been a member since Sept '06, and lost 65 lbs with them. I had lost 30 of before my first cruise, this time last year, and I had a friend come running up to me, SCREAMING because I looked so different from the last time she saw me. LOL!

 

I lost another 35 lbs AFTER the cruise, and have been maintaining now for 8 months. I still Spark every day!

 

I'm heading out on my second cruise in 16 days (*squee*)... my friend is going to FREAK when she sees me again! LOL!

 

Best result? I get to wear my 1992 Senior Prom Dress for "Green Dress Formal Night" (my cruise is a themed charter, so "formal night" is more of a theme night, rather than a traditional formal)! Yes, the dress is green. Honking, screaming kelly green. With sequins. I am SO excited!

 

I have the same username on SparkPeople as I do here, so feel free to look me up, AND check out the dress in my Spark Gallery. LOL!

[ldadar]

My 20 year high school reunion was last October. I was thrilled to be able to zip up my prom dress after using SP for a few months. My user name is the same also.

[CruisinInNC]

I've been using SP since November '06. I've lost about 27 lbs so far, those last 5-10 are the hardest!!! :mad:

 

I just found the Cruise Critic Team there the other day!

[crusansusan]

I haven't scheduled a cruise this year. My husband may be having surgery this winter, if he gets approved. Between the brutal recovery (6 months - 1 year) and the possible loss of income, I figured I had better be reasonable.

 

Since October 1 I have lost 14 pounds, I have about 20 more to go. I joined SparkPeople just the other day and I love it. SueBee42 I saw you on the home page for Spark pages and joined the Cruise Critic Losers! This is really fun!

 

I am SueMroe on SP.

 

Susan

[happysinglemom]

I use Fitday. I looked at SparkPeople, DailyPlate, MyCalorieCounter, and a few others. I chose Fitday because I can add custom foods that are not found in any supermarket...my own sandwiches and recipes. Also there is a pie chart of my daily nutrition, with percentages based on goals that I have set. And there are several reports available also.

 

They are all good, and I think it's just terrific that there are tools like this available for everyone now. It's about time! :cool:

[Suebee42]

SueBee42 I saw you on the home page for Spark pages and joined the Cruise Critic Losers! This is really fun!

 

I didn't even know about it until my SparkPage was bombarded with comments! LOL!

 

My husband said I was the "Creature Feature." LOL!

[4peaches]

Hi,

 

I read this thread the other da and immediately got on to sparkpeople and am up and running. I love the fact I can track my eating with the nutrition tracker - keeps me on target.

 

Suebee42 - I looked up your sparkpage and you look great in your old prom dress! Wow. I'm glad to know there is also a cruise critic team. I'll check it out later.

 

Good luck and thanks for spreading the info!

[DawnAtSea]

I too am a member of Sparkpeople!! I love it!! I joined a few years ago and lost 45 lbs!!:) After a year or so I kind of drifted away from the site. I thought I was too busy to log all my food and exercise.... unfortunatley I wasn't too busy to gain 27lbs back...:( Recently I rejoined, and have managed to lose a few pounds!! Woo Hoo!! I am not trying to lose weight... I am just trying not to gain... I recently quit smoking and I am determined not to gain any weight!!

 

Profile name is erindawn5 stop by if you wish....:cool:

[navybaby1113]

I absolutely love SP. I've been on there for a couple years now and it's helped me lose weight before. I'm working on losing the most ever right now though (20 lbs before March 13th) and I'm having a very hard time. If anyone wants to be my buddy or anything, message me. My username is ashley_jenna.

[Dihead]

I recently joined SP about three weeks ago.. I've already lost 9 lbs! Whoohoo!

I have until Jan 09 to lose 30'ish pounds.. hope I can keep this up!!

[ldadar]

Way to go Di!!

[sassy0930]

I'm finding one of my great downfalls is cream in my coffee. Skim milk just doesn't cut it. I love the FF half and half, then realized that even though it might not have fat, it's LOADED with calories and sugar. Any effective substitutes??

 

Thanks!

 

HEY! try having sugar free, lowfat international delight. I love it. I can get the caffeine, flavor and feeling of drinking my coffee in the morning, without the guilt, calories, or sugar

[ang4474]

I just joined SP last Thrusday and it's wonderful. I have at least 40 pounds to lose by the end of July when we head out on our 1st cruise. :) Actually I heard about it on this website and thank you so much for it. We can do this!

[Tagging Along]

Okay, I joined and even added the CC team. I'm still having a hard time figuring it all out. I wish I joined B4 I lost the weight, but I need help keeping up w/ nutrition & fitness goals.

And I'd like to start uploading pictures on my page.

 

Great site, thumbs up!

Andrea

TaggingAlong on SP!

 

 

____

[ldadar]

What's your user name?

(Mine is the same -LDADAR.)

[wilsonfamily]

I have been on sparkpeople.com for a while now. I quit smoking and gained 40 pounds in 4 months. My mom bought my family and theirs a cruise and i am so excited it is not only my families first cruise but our first vacation together. I am trying to lose 50 pounds by my birthday which is the day before we leave for the liberty of the seas cruise. And i am proud to say that i have already lost 10 pounds since Feb 21.

 

My sparkpeople ID is cruiseweight1 so add me and we chat.

[zany]

congrats wilsonfamily - that's awesome.

 

i just wanted to bump this post since i'm a HUGE FAN Of sparkpeople.com

 

i lost 14 lbs about a year ago (using just sparkpeople) and have been working hard on keeping my habits good to keep it off. the year before that i just tried cutting calories w/out any nutritional info, and also cut the cals way too much because i didn't know what i was doing, so i sufferred soooo much and was hungry all the time - but with sp i don't feel like i'm losing out as long as i plan ahead

 

right now i'm trying to lose an extra 5 pounds as a buffer before my cruise so i won't care when i gain back a few lbs on the cruise. i really don't want to bounce back up from where i am too much.

however i'm not sure if it'll really happen - i'm still pretty bad on weekends although i've trained myself to eat well during the weekdays.

 

another cool site to checkout: http://www.hungry-girl.com

[TDS549]

So I joined http://www.sparkpeople.com back in 2007, and lost 45 pounds. I managed to keep it all off, until about a year and a half after we transferred to Italy. I love pasta and pizza, luckily I only put on about 8 extra pounds. So I dusted off my SP site to get ready for my British Isles cruise in a few months. Just wanted to post here, and give sparkpeople a little shout out.

 

Suebee I went back and looked at your green sparkly dress, very nice. Awesome job fitting back in that dress. I wish I had kept my old prom dresses. Course they would be considered "vintage".