The First Three Letters Of Diet Is Die

Dieting is not the way to lose weight or become fit. Your body is equipped with a mechanism that slows your metabolism when it believes that food is scarce. Diets trigger that response so that even if you lose weight, when you resume eating the calories that you are accustomed to, you will gain all or more of it back. That is why you must change your eating and exercise habits for life in order to become and remain fit. I am addressing this mainly to women because of the difficulty many women have with unwanted pounds. Women, as a rule, have slower metabolisms and it is usually more difficult for a women to lose the extra weight. In addition, many women's self esteem is tied into the amount of weight that they carry. Last year I decided that I wanted to become more fit. I wanted to eat more nutritionally and become physically stronger. I thought at first that I would simply count calories and exercise. While looking for a simple calorie counter, I found the most amazing website.

I stumbled upon SparkPeople last year and found a world of acceptance and support. It guides you through every aspect and phase of the lifestyle change that is necessary for a healthier life. It has a calorie counter, a supportive community, and so much more. You can use it to simply log in your food intake and your exercise or you can develop a spark kind of lifestyle. Best of all, it is absolutely free. That's right, there is no charge whatsoever!

The SparkPeople website has three basic stages that you can go through. The first stage is mainly learning to become aware of how and what you are eating. It will guide you step by step and it is so easy that anyone can do it. You enter your weight, height, and how much you would like to lose and it gives you a program. Each member goes at their own pace and can participate as little or as much as they feel comfortable with. You do not have to use your real name unless you want to and it is as much a social network as it is a weight control and fitness site. Before you start, it is recommended that you read the diet overview. It also works on a point system and a virtual reward system. The founder of spark People is Chris Downie and he started this website, not to make money, but to actually help people, one by one, to live a healthier life style. He wanted to make a difference and he has made a difference in thousands of lives.

Other than what money I may make from adsense or amazon, I have no stake in SparkPeople. I had planned on writing about this before it became a hubmob subject. I could tell you about the cardio and strength training programs, or I could tell you about the hundreds of videos that show you how to do every exercise that you could think to do. I could explain in detail how the point system works or tell you about the great teams that you could join, but you can learn all of that by reading a few pages on the spark website. What i would like to tell you is what it did for me.

The last 8 years or so have been somewhat of a roller coaster for me. I entered into a relationship that stole my self esteem from me. It didn't do it by the bucket, but by the spoonful, so that I didn't notice until it was all gone. Last January, I had decided to try and lose some weight because I was having a hard time breathing. I thought that I would count calories, so I went looking for an online calorie counter and found SparkPeople. I saw that it could create a program for me, so I gave it a try. As I learned more about it, I found that I could join teams of people that I had something in common with, and I began to feel wanted. If I didn't log on, I was missed. People seemed to like me. That felt good, so I kept doing it. I started wanting to exercise everyday and I paid attention to what I ate, because I knew that I would have to log it in. Little by little, my self esteem returned and, with it, my will to fight. I fought the depression and I left the relationship. One year later, I have lost about fifteen pounds and I am much stronger, both physically and mentally. SparkPeople gave me my sense of self back and I am grateful.

I don't log on to SparkPeople everyday, anymore. I have so much to do that I don't have time, but I know that it is there. I will always be a member and they will always welcome me back. I still pop in at least a few times a month. I hope that Chris Downie makes a couple of million from his book, because what he gave me is priceless.

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