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Introduction Text February 2019: So. . . .I've never completely left SparkPeople just quiet but only now have I become more persistent. Life has thrown so many things my way - some great and some not so much. I just know that I need to feel better about myself again and getting healthier is how I've done that in the past. January 2017: See Blog in January 2017 February 2012: Restart of my "race" to a healthy body. After being off and on for a little while, I'm now ready. READY to finish what I started nearly 3 years ago. I have changed my settings to start over here on SparkPeople and wiped away my "past" goals/progress. I'm excited to begin again. ================================================================================ January 2011: A new year - a new name! I was formerly TAKNCAREOFME - while I'm still 'taking care of me', I wanted a new name that has MY name in it and I AM healthier thanks to SparkPeople so I've come up with HEALTHY4CAROLYN. Time to MAKE it happen! I want to see more muscles and less fat on this body that has lost around 40 lbs.+ so far! 9/15/2010 FALL is in the air and a great time to "review" what works and what doesn't!! I've been doing this for about a full year now and I do know what to do to make it work. The losing gets slower the closer you get to goal so you have to STEP IT UP at that point. Sometimes, that's easier said than done - we're human - we get comfortable doing what we 'normally' do and we resist change. But CHANGE is a good thing! I would LOVE to get my remaining 15 lbs. off by Christmas and I plan to do all the changing I need to do for it to happen! 5/18/2010 So we basically skipped spring and dove right into summer! But that's how we "roll" here in the South. 35 lbs. gone and of course it meant I had to have a new bathing suit and I really wanted to wait at least 10 more lbs. down before buying but I HAD to. I will say that it was nice to buy smaller and I don't feel AS bad in a bathing suit but would of course prefer certain "areas" looked better and all toned by now - but it'll happen. First things first. As I mentioned in a blog - I am learning that I have to trick my body by changing my routine up ALOT now. It has learned alot during my exercise and weight loss journey so now it's time to keep it guessing so to speak. My workouts consists of jogging, walking both outside and on my treadmill - when on the treadmill I walk the entire time at an incline of 5 to 8% - that'll get ya going! I also do 40 to 45 minutes of circuit training with weights once a week and I'm so very proud of the muscle I've made! :-) I'm at the place where I want to try teaching myself how to "eyeball" my food to get used to KNOWING how much of something I should / shouldn't have - memorizing the number of calories in foods, etc. I still use the Nutrition Tracker a few days a week for a reality check which is great! Overall, one thing I've learned holds true - You HAVE to MOVE IT to LOSE IT!!! 4/1/2010 It's Spring! A time when things are new, fresh, crisp and clean!! Exactly how I feel! To date (April 1, 2010) I've lost 34 pounds. I joined SparkPeople in the summer 2009 but didn't use it until September 2009. It has been a GREAT journey. I have learned tremendous amounts about my body - what kind of foods make me feel better, which ones make feel terrible and what I can eat to give me energy. I've learned that exercise also gives me energy and allows me to sleep much better than I have in a long time. I've learned that I can make muscle!!, that I AM strong - mentally AND physically. I have also learned that I CAN incorporate good foods into my families meals and that children truly do learn by watching us as parents. I learned too that it's NOT always easy. Sometimes, this new lifestyle can be hard to follow. Sometimes, your very own body will try and rebel - sometimes succeeding. From this, I now know you just pick yourself up and start again. I've read on this website or heard it said that "It's not what you do SOME of the time that affects your diet so much as it's what you do MOST of the time". I love that. I know that some of us can get "comfortable" and think we don't need to track every single meal - but I know now that for ME - I DO need to track every single thing. I have experienced how great it feels to lose 2 or 3 lbs. per week and how disappointing it feels to have gained one here and there as well as simply having no loss OR gain - just staying the same. From staying the same, I'm learning that something has to change to continue MY change. Presently, I am watching my food intake much closer and really focusing on getting those fruits & veggies in as well as enough protein. When looking back I have found I wasn't getting the recommended amount of protein especially. I have adding bicycling to my exercise routine instead of the same walk/jog, DVD, etc. and looking into new activities to shake things up. I would like to loose 18 more pounds. Today, is my NEW beginning. I CAN do this. I'm so thankful to have found SparkPeople and the friends I've made here. This community has been a huge part in helping me meet my goals as well as offering encouragement along the way with great ideas to go along. The color green on my page represents "health"; I've added a background photo of things that look healthy to me as a reminder everytime I check my page! LET'S get healthy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ************************************************************************** THIS is from the BEGINNING: I'm a mother to 3 and wife to the best husband I could've asked for. Now that my youngest is 7 I feel it's definitely time for me to take care of ME. I want to be healthy and feel good so that I'm here to enjoy my family for a very long time. 2/23/2010 - 6 months later - Down 31 pounds!!! I can honestly say that deep down I didn't think I'd do it - but the other part of me had to prove "me" wrong! I only have 15 lbs. to lose to make it to the goal I set for myself but I'm going to push for 20 lbs. more to get right where I need to be to have my BMI at a healthy range and to give me that 5 extra pounds to "work with". The changes have finally rubbed off on my husband and he's lost 19 pounds in a month so I'm so happy that not only am I getting healthier but so is my family! 11/17/2009 So it's been TWO (2) months since I officially began actually USING the tools that SparkPeople offers. Down 17.2 pounds. Love how it feels to exercise and especially how my clothes feel - I don't feel 'constricted' and uncomfortable in them anymore - some things are even too big but I refuse to buy smaller until things just fall off and I HAVE to have new clothes because I plan to get down to 140!! I do realize, however, (speaking of 140) that it's not likely that I'll make that mark by my birthday in February and I'm actually o.k. with that - 'cause I just feel so darn good as it is. I'll just continue on and melt it off as slow or as fast as my body chooses!! Actually looking forward to the holidays and not worried about blowing my plan - I will still exercise and I've decided that I will simply "taste" all the sinful foods we plan to have as is our tradition to have as well. I've even written 2 blogs - first ever for that - it felt good to get some things out and in the open- off my chest so to speak!!





I'm from Tuscaloosa Alabama. I have been married to my wonderful husband for 22 years! We have 3 great kids - 2 boys 17 and 13 and one daughter that is 9. They are all why I have chosen to seriously get healthy - not DIET - though the advantage will be weight loss of course!

"Can't never could" - ~My Dad "Take care of your body - it's the only one you get" ~Aunt "It's not what you do SOME of the time that matters but what you MOST of the time that counts". ~ Somebody on here or I read it somewhere!! LOL

Add a Link ~ Carolyn
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