Traditional Newbie First Blog Post

Traditional Newbie First Blog Post

Friday, July 15, 2011 

It would seem an unlikely time to sign up for an unlikely web site. I'd seen SparkPeople referred to on other web sites I frequent, in connection with food tracking. I had never seriously considered looking at the site, because I don't track food. Don't want to, and the one experiment I had with it in the 1980s was not a long term success. The site is totally unlikely for me. 

Then there's the moment. I was on vacation, visiting family. My sister, ONEKIDSMOM, talked me into looking at how things work. The site says I started on 7/10/2011, but I only registered that evening. Tracking started 7/11/2011 . . . the last day of my visit. A day of big meals eating out. The day before a two day road trip home, with all meals eaten from fast food. Starting a new discipline in this total break from my normal routine doesn't seem like the sort of thing that could last. 

But . . . I'm between 5 and 10 pounds heavier than I was a year ago. A year ago, I was at my lowest weight in 20 years. I was as fit as I've been in my adult life, and it felt pretty good. But it didn't maintain itself automatically. 

I've gone the route of exercising and just trying to eat reasonably without keeping track. It's done well for me, but hasn't worked consistently. Life happens, the exercise falls away, and the eating goes out of control. Maybe not out of control a lot, but enough to gain 10 pounds in a year. Something has to change, and the SparkPeople site got my attention. 

So far, so good. The act of recording changes the decisions that are being recorded, for the better. Eventually, if I keep this up, I should have some idea of what kind of food intake I should be aiming for, and more control of myself in getting there. 

The sixty four thousand dollar question is, will I keep this up? The first test will be next week when I go back to work and have commitments and pressures I don't have on vacation.