Spark People and Blog

I LOVE this site, www.sparkpeople.com. Although I do not use it as I should, I was once very active in weight loss competition my sister Katrina helped to create and I wouldn't be surprised if it is one of the most effect ones on the site to get involved with and loose weight in a fun way. The site is FREE to look at and to join and is for people who want to track their food/calories, loose weight, stay fit and even hold yourself accountable to others if you want. It will also show you graphs and charts of your progress I believe. I also have friends that joined and friends I've made that have a common goal of being healthy. We'll when Evan was born I completely put the site on hold and didn't contribute. I don't think I even gained weight either. If anything, I lost but I wasn't paying attention. At my age (36), your body MAKES you listen cause it doesn't bounce back as it once did from frivolous eating and irresponsible food choices. :) When I started on SP in November? 2007 I was at a total frustration, weighing 187 pounds. Some may not think that is a lot, some may say 'awe, you didn't look overweight" (and don't you dare say i did! lol) but the fact is, it is overweight and I did not feel good and didn't want to take pictures or anything. I got involved at SP and met others with various backgrounds and reasons for why they joined too. You can't help but root for one another cause it's all about feeling your best and for me, being healthy so I can live life to it's fullest for my children (at the time I started, I remind you, I had no child or REN. :) he he). Anyway, I lost weight, I was motivated my others and I felt good about myself. Spiritually I was on a high too and to add to it... I became a mommy for the first time! whoo hoo! That's when I stopped paying attention. Now Cora Grace is here and I know what it is like and I know what excuses are like so I'm beginning again. About a month ago I weighed myself for the first time since Evan was born I think and I was at 174.5 :(. I don't like that so... Michael and I are both motivated to loose weight and keep it off! I will reward myself with new clothes and hopefully I can get a personal shopper to help me figure out what in the heck looks good on me cause I HATE shopping!!! But... I do know what I like when I see it or feel it on so not just anyone can help me. I'm afraid, they will show me their style and I don't want to hurt their feelings if it isn't mine. So, challenge has begun. I refreshed my Spark page and stepped on the scale to see.... 172.5!! Whoo hoo, 2 pounds with out trying, now think about what I can accomplish when I do put my mind to it. I hope to get to 152 at first, see how I feel about it then may go for 5 more, we'll see. I will log pounds, gained and lost on SP and occasionally on here but I'm excited. In related news, as I refreshed my page, I told the story of getting sweet Cora Grace in the blog section. I realized that in all the chaos, I don't think I ever really told the whole story on blogger so the link is below to read it. There are some things I purposefully didn't include on the blog for risk of others being judgemental towards my sweet baby but I'm ready to protect her now from comments possibly made (and people WILL make them, not here maybe but silly things have been said to me as a result of me being an open book). Of course I could have included WAY more details but I decided to spare the reader. he he he. I hope you enjoy it:

http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=3739270