Quite honestly, our Useful Website of the Week this week is one of the most comprehensive, user-friendly, and fun weight loss websites I have found.  SparkPeople.com is the name, my friends, and if losing weight/living a healthy lifestyle is your game, then this is a must-see website.  As with many subscription based websites, you have to register (of course) to gain full access to what SparkPeople has to offer.  But if you don’t want to register, I’ll try to break it down for you as best as I can here.  Let me just say that from the moment I set my eyes on SparkPeople, I’ve been back everyday since.

Basically, SparkPeople is another weight loss website that offers all the same stuff that almost all of them do.  That would be food journaling/tracking, exercise tracking, recipes, message boards, advice, etc.  There are several things that set them apart from the pack though.  First of all, the website is visually pleasing with it’s soothing yet vibrant colors, easy navigation, and wonderful start page that packs all your necessary info into one place.  But that’s not all.  Below are several other items that I have found to be particularly cool, different, and exciting in my use of SparkPeople:

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Well, what can I say?  I am going to claim temporary insanity.  At least I would but I don’t want to be insulting to anyone who is doing the Upday Downday Diet.  I still believe this is an effective diet and that there are plenty of people who have made it a success.  But for me and where I was coming from, it was crazy.  I just haven’t been right since getting back from Disneyworld.  Maybe it was all those darn churros!! 

I’ve not been patient with my weight loss or motivated to do much.  I am most definitely a hardcore creature of habit.  Does any watch the Big Bang Theory?  Okay, that is seriously one of my favorite shows now.  It’s right up there with The Office and Survivor (my top two all time favs).  So if you are familiar with the Big Bang Theory… I can simply illustrate my point about being a creature of habit by describing myself as Sheldon.  I’m grinning right now because some people are probably cringing at the thought.  But it’s true, right down to eating cereal on the same spot on the couch every morning, watching the same show every morning while I eat it, and not wanting to really talk to anyone until I’m done.  Yep, my hubby totally agrees that Sheldon and I are one.

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Well, I’ve decided to try something different.  After months and months of hard work, dedication, and frustration, I am ready to take a different track on my weight loss journey.  I’ve come to terms with the fact that my body does not want to budge from it’s current weight and that I need to make a change from what I’m doing. 

That being said, I am going on a diet.  Yep, an actual diet to get this weight off.  I’m already living my lifestyle change.  I already eat healthy, exercise, and am living a much healthier lifestyle than I ever have before… I’ve been doing really good with it.  My food portions are good, my caloric intake is right on target, and I do cardio four days a week and am training for my two 5k runs this summer.  Doesn’t it seem like the weight should be coming off? 

So yes, back to this diet.  I found a diet that I am going to try because I think it has some good potential without doing anything too crazy.  It’s called the Upday Downday Diet.  Very simply put, you alternate between low calorie days and higher calorie days.  Apparently the jumping back and forth between the days helps kick the metabolism into gear.  Sounds easy enough, right?

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Am I in the middle of a HUGE lesson in patience?  That’s what this feels like.  I feel like for some reason, I am stuck at 156 pounds and come hell or high water, that number in it’s 10 variations (156.0, 156.1, 156.2, etc.) are plaguing me to no end. 

So yeah.  Today is my weigh-in day and rather than wait until Tuesday to weigh-in, curiosity got me and weighed I in yesterday.  To my major dismay, I went from 156.0 last week to 156.8 this week.  Wow.  W-O-W.  W-O-W!!!

Pardon the tone of this post, please.  I am feeling very frustrated and angry at this point.  I’ve been stuck at 156 for what is now the beginning of three months.  And that is despite my going from running 3 minutes straight to 36 minutes straight.  And despite that I have added working out my arms with 5 lb. weights and started yoga for abs.  And that is especially despite my absolute healthiest week of eating, ever, in my entire life… this past week. 

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I was thinking, there are really two sides to this whole getting healthy thing.  There’s the mental side and the physical side.  Let’s call them Brain and Body.  And they rarely seem to agree.

For instance, Brain really isn’t too keen on running.  Brain would rather be reading, sitting at Starbucks sipping a white chocolate mocha, watching Top Chef, or something like that.  Brain thinks running is pretty draining because it takes a lot of mental work to stay focused enough to keep going. 

Body, on the other hand, absolutely LOVES running.  Body loves running so much that it practically begs Brain to take it running.  Body loves the feeling of pushing itself to the limits and seeing just how far it can run.  Body loves sweating, moving, and any kind of activity because it makes Body feel like it’s alive!

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Okay, time to be brave, folks!  I was inspired by Betsy from Girl Gone Healthy’s brave posting of her “before photos“.  I think it’s high time that I put mine up as well.  Why?

Accountability.  So you know why this weight loss mission is so important to me.  Facing me fears. 

And most of all, simply admitting that that was me at 198 pounds, my heaviest.  I’ve since lost 42 pounds and am well on my way to my goal.  But it’s always good to remember where I came from and why I’m here doing this. 

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Right now it seems as though my path to weight loss has a big, fat, red brick wall sitting across it.  I’m working really hard in my workouts (harder than ever, in fact) and eating the minimum amount of calories that I should be, and yet, the numbers are not moving.  This keeps happening and I’m not sure why, but I have a couple of theories. 

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The website I have chosen as the Useful Website of the Week is one that I have found to be incredibly informative and, well, useful!  The website for iVillage’s Healthy Living Program is what I am referring to.  This program is the most comprehensive online weight loss program I have found and the part that surprised me the most is that it’s FREE. 

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One of the thing that really helped kick my weight loss into high gear this time around has been smoothies.  Everyday for lunch I now have a protein/fruit packed smoothie and that has seemed to make a very big difference overall.  My favorite smoothie is here.    The only change that I made was to use a whole banana instead of just a half.  And I must say, this is a delicious way to have a 350 calorie lunch!  I have a major sweet tooth and I used to crave something sweet everyday after lunch (probably because for years I had a Starbucks white mocha everyday after lunch!).  This smoothie has enough sweetness to wipe out any desire for something more after. 

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Accountability.  It’s funny how being accountable can change things.  I discovered on Saturday that if the people around me know that I am on a “diet” or as I prefer to say, “being healthy”, then I tend to eat more responsibly. 

My in-laws were in town this past weekend for Easter and after my father-in-law offered me some Burger King breakfast sandwhiches and other breakfast treats for the third time, I finally explained that I am trying to eat healthy.  It wasn’t a big deal or anything but they’ve seen me pig out on cookies and other yummy treats at their house before so it was important for me to let them know. 

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