
I choose not to diet. I choose to Live-it. Even though it sounds cliche, this is a lifestyle change for me. I am trying to get healthy and, yes, of course, I’d like the getting thin thing to come along with that. So, I tell people that I am live-it-ing. Diet is a four letter word. I’m not doing this to die, I’m doing this to LIVE.
Last week, I talked about one of the tools that I am using and that was my Fitbit. I am still in love with it, by the way. But, I thought, I have a lot more things that I use to get me going, keep me inspired, help me track what I eat, what I’m doing and how I’m progressing. I thought I’d share them because maybe there is someone out there who is like me and is searching for ways to find a little bit of help on the journey to a better, healthier life.
First, and foremost, I am and probably always will be a Weight Watcher. Their program is easy and helpful. I have my group of friends there that I have known for years and we see each other on Saturday mornings and some of them meet me at the YMCA at least once and sometimes twice a week. It’s sort of like AA for me. Only for weight loss. I need my weekly meeting. In addition to Weight Watchers meetings, I use their eTools for tracking, recipes, ideas, information and inspiration.
I also use a couple other weight loss websites that I like to refer to as Facebook for people who are losing weight. Those are Sparkpeople and MyFitnessPal. I’ve belonged to SparkPeople for a couple years and I just joined MyFitnessPal. They both have different attractions for me. SP I like for the community support and for the way they get you coming every day and reward you for doing that and other things on the site. You can “huddle”, visit other SparkFriends, join groups of like-minded people or people who have similar struggles (for me a couple of them are an ankylosing spondylitis group and an autoimmune disease group), get and give SparkGoodies, blog and the list goes on. MFP is newer to me, but one of the reasons I joined was that it was recommended for tracking your running on the C25K site that I read (I’ll talk more about that in a minute). I like that MFP lets you make your food diary public because I need the accountability and tips that I can gain from someone looking at my food tracker. So, I’ll probably share my food diary with you all from time to time (don’t look yet, there’s nothing there–I’ll start there tomorrow). Having so many ways to track my food and my exercise (Weight Watchers, MFP and Fitbit) helps me get different information and be more objective. And, like I’ve said before, I need the motivation to track because it has always been my weakness.
Tomorrow (Monday) I plan to start the couch to 5K program, aka: C25K. I have searched and searched the web and the most inspirational and complete web program that I found was the Couch to 5K website. You can probably find everything that he has on his site all over the web, but he’s compiled it all in one spot and there is so much inspiration there. I can’t wait to get started.
Finally, the following blogs are my inspiration. I follow them. I read them when I’m down or need a little pick me up. The help me when I’m feeling like this is going oh. so. slow. When I’m tired or sick or sick and tired, I turn to them. I keep hoping that one of them will reach out to me and coach me along, but even if they don’t, I gain from just reading their blogs. Some are more inspirational than others, but they’re all worth a read.
I realize that this may make it look like I am obsessed, but I like to keep looking, keep searching for more information and try to find new ways to keep this journey fresh and inspirational.
Created by MyFitnessPal – Free Calorie Counter