Why I love SP

Yesterday I received an email from a friend, and she said that she was on another diet forum online and wanted me to write a testimonial for SP that she could add to her 'page' there. (She's the one who got ME hooked! LOL)

I've been thinking about it a lot since I read her request. There are so many reasons why I love to see www.sparkpeople.com pop up on my computer screen!

Those of you who can see my sparkpage will already know all this next part...LOL

I am diabetic, I have fibromyalgia, sleep apnea, and chronic kidney disease, along with a plethora of smaller health issues. Exercise and losing weight with the meds I'm on is at its best a difficult task~ but I absolutely LOVE the SparkPeople's nutrition and fitness trackers.

You have the option of using a preset program based on your goals and nutrition needs~ or doing as I do, customizing it to fit specific parameters. There are more than twenty nutrients you can track, some of which have been extremely important to me personally, since being able to see where diet changes can raise or lower specific nutrients has allowed me to take my kidney disease from Stage 4 at 35% kidney function and one step away from dialysis, all the way to 44%, which is Stage 3.

Is it any wonder I love this?

The food database is HUGE, even including some things like 'our favorites' from McDonalds, Burger King, etc.... and if I can't find an equivalent, there is an option to add in my own items and save them to a favorites tab where I can pull them up whenever I want to... and there is also a link to 'sparkrecipes' where I can add in whole recipes and calculate the nutrient contents of each serving~ and I can even try recipes from other people who choose to share their favorites... all of which can be saved onto my own nutrition favorites to be used later... It's bliss!

If I do it right, I can even have the tracker print out a grocery list for me! LOL

The fitness tracker is equally impressive, and offers much the same versatility as the one for nutrition~ it will even give me credit~ and tell me how many carlories I burn~ doing household chores! LOL

Best of all, I am NOT alone in the struggle. SP has support groups for ALL my health issues and then some, groups that are chock full of wonderful, warm, understanding and supportive people who suffer from the same problems... There are over 24,000 members on just one of the six teams I'm on, and it still feels like family. And there are hundreds of different teams with different interests. We even have members in Australia, Germany, England... and a few from more exotic locations too! ... and, there are resident experts who offer free advice and counsel in case the groups get bogged down on a question.

These people are worth more than their weight in gold. Just knowing there is a site I can
go to that has so much technical back is great, but there is nothing like being able to vent, getting a cyberhug~ or a figurative kick in the backside! LOL~ when you need it.

I'm so glad that friend of mine sent me a link to this website!

Kathy