Meet the Members: Small Steps, Big Results

I'm really excited to bring you another round of interviews with members! As I told you last month, I'm trying to get more of your stories published on the blog this year. In addition to your Success Stories, food reviews and tales of Spreading the Spark, I'm also going to be sharing your best tips.

These tips and stories come from some of our "Spark" preorder prize winners. These SparkPeople members won our daily T-shirt giveaways, and now they're Spreading the Spark in return by sharing their best tips, in their own words.





Ron Weight aka fisherron just celebrated his first Spark-versary on Saturday. (Congratulations!) " I was previously using another site to track everything, but when I found Spark People, I knew I had found the right place," he says. This proud grandfather is just trying to love life--especially the outdoors. He lives in Magna, Utah, where there is plenty of spectacular scenery. He has lost 60 pounds!



What goal is SparkPeople helping you achieve?
My main goal is to maintain the weight I've lost and increase my fitness level. It wouldn't hurt to lose a few more pounds, but my body seems to like where I'm at and I feel good, so for now my goal is to maintain my weight while increasing my aerobic capacity and my strength.

What are your top 3 tips to stay on track?

1. Keep track of food and exercise each day.
2. Relax and enjoy the journey, but BE CONSISTENT. It's hard enough without getting uptight about everything. Don't worry if you don't follow your plan to the letter every day, but don't delay getting back on track either. It's OK to have an off day or so.
3. Find something you really like to do and put a picture up in a place where you see it every day reminding you that it's worth it. I have a picture of me at the top of a mountain with a caption that says: "The view from on top is worth all the effort of getting there."

How do you stay motivated?
I look at pictures of things I like to do or places I want to go (typically high in the mountains or in the middle of a trout stream) and think about how nice it is to be able to do those things and be in those places without huffing/puffing/calling 911!

One of the best ways I've found to keep me going is playing with my grandkids. They remind me almost every day how fortunate I am to be in good shape and be able to keep up with them. My grandchildren are great with games and I love to play with them sometimes even though I'm not so good, but it's funny that when I'm around, what they want the most is play time where they climb all over me and we wrestle and run around a lot. I want to be able to play with my grandkids and have this kind of active fun with them. It's good for all of us. The other motivator I use is challenges here on SparkPeople.com. The challenges help keep me active and working at my goals. I'm a little competitive, so the casual and fun challenges bring that out in me and help me stay active for those challenges.

What advice do you have for someone who is just getting started on a healthy lifestyle journey?
Start out with short term, reachable goals. Don't try to lose all the weight or become a marathoner in a month or two. Relax and enjoy yourself, but be consistent. Understand that it probably took you a year or more to get where you are now, give yourself a year or two to get back to where you want to be. Being consistent wins out over a short term, high energy, high effort pace. Remember that you're changing your life, not running a race. Finally, remember that you are a unique individual and comparisons aren't fair to you or anyone else. Just keep track of your progress. It doesn't matter what anyone else has done. What matters is that you do what you can and just feel good about it.

It took me most of a year to lose the weight I wanted to lose. During that year, I was also learning a lot about nutrition and exercise that I needed to know to be successful. It didn't come all at once, but I made steady progress and found what worked for me. Don't be afraid to try different things. Not everybody responds the same way to the same diet and exercise programs. It's not really about dieting at all. It's all about fitting nutritious food and regular exercise into your daily life. You do have time to be healthy and it's worth all the effort.

What SparkPeople feature is the most helpful to you?
I love all of SparkPeople's features, but the food and exercise tracker is what I use the most. It's very helpful in keeping me on track and letting me know where I am. I also like the forums where I can interact with others. It helps to know others and exchange ideas and work on challenges together.

I have a photo on my spark page that you can use if you want. It's basically my profile photo, but it's also under my photos. Its title is: "Ron and Chloe near the top of Hickman canyon." (see photo above)

It represents one of my main motivations for staying fit--being at the top where the view is unsurpassed.



Chris Lewis aka CHRISLEWIS Austintown, Ohio (as he says, a "suburb of Youngstown... home of the four time national champion Youngstown State University Penguins!!!" ) He joined SparkPeople this May, and he has already met his weight-loss goal, dropping to 202 pounds. Now he's working improving other aspects of his life: health, fitness and self-confidence.



What are your top 3 tips to stay on track?

1. Start with small and easily attainable goals
2. Log in and interact with other SparkPeople for support on a daily basis
3. always remember that setbacks only hold you back if you allow them to

How do you stay motivated?
Taking a look at how far I've come and knowing that I never want to be that unhealthy ever again

What advice do you have for someone who is just getting started on a healthy lifestyle journey?
First and foremost: consult your doctor!!! Plus, do your best to weed out the negative people in your life who won't help you succeed. Negative people can really hold you back no matter how optimistic you think you are.

What SparkPeople feature is the most helpful to you?
Without a doubt... the blogs and the SparkFriends who always seem to be there to offer their support!!!



Ashley Fife aka AFIFE0878 is a proud mom of three boys who hails from Livingston, La. Like Chris, she joined the site in May--and has lost 28 pounds!

How do you stay motivated?
I stay motivated by tracking my nutrition, tracking my fitness, and keeping up with the SparkTeams i have joined. I stay motivated by reading blogs and seeing how others are doing. It gives me the strength to keep going on my journey. I have had ups and downs, but with all the people at SparkPeople, I just keep on going.

What advice do you have for someone who is just getting started on a healthy lifestyle journey?
Set goals you know you can achieve. Start your goals out small, and never give up. It will take time but if you stick with SparkPeople you will make it. Always remeber take one day at a time.

What SparkPeople feature is the most helpful to you?
Nutrition tracker: I love it.

Read all the stories of the Spark Book winners here!

Do you like reading member-submitted stories on the dailySpark? Is there a member you'd like us to interview? Leave your suggestions below.


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