Why I started on Sparkpeople

I'm actually trying to remember. It's part of a challenge I'm in right now through the BLC 45! I'm pretty sure that I got started after I'd met folks through a WW online team and a couple of that group's members migrated to Sparkpeople, because there was kind of meanness and competition on the WW message boards.

When I got to sparkpeople, I do remember that I loved the warm atmosphere and how supportive everyone was. I think my weightloss journey on here really kicked in, though, when I joined the BLC.

I had lost my mother several months before and I'd spent about three years manically taking care of various sick relatives (well, almost 20 years of that, actually, but the previous three years before my mother died were especially difficult). My son was in college, and happy there. I was finishing up a teaching job (recognizing that I'd do something else the following year) and had just come back from a vacation where I'd developed some healthy habits and felt great about them.

I was a turtle then and I'm a turtle now - I've been doing this slowly and steadily and focused on my own health issues and just trying to get healthier and stronger. I've stuck with the BLC all these years, too (I've been a member since January 2013) and been at various levels of involvement there. And over the years I've lost around 70 pounds and still have about 30 lbs to hit my first goal weight - what I weighed when I got married at age 30. The main thing is I haven't yoyo-d, I've just had some pauses.

And I guess what I need most is listening to my body and realizing this is about health - not a clothing size or a number. And finding ways to still enjoy my life fully and food fully, is going to be the route I need.