I'm a member of SparkPeople's editorial team and I write, edit and manage the content you read. I am passionate about living a healthy lifestyle and enjoy cooking for my family and friends, running, strength training, teaching weekly spin classes and playing outside with my kids. I also love a good challenge and recently found that in Barre class. That's not to say I don't enjoy a good indulgence once in a while--wine and chocolate are two of my favorite things. I am grateful to be here, helping our members reach their own healthy living goals.
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Spark Spotlight: Brian (BMCGRAW)
Spark Spotlight: Brian (BMCGRAW)
At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
This Week's Spotlight: Brian (BMCGRAW)
Age: 47
Location: Hoover, Alabama
Small Success of the Week
Brian recently conquered a feat he had never completed before: running a 5K without walking. "[I] ran the Magic City 5K today," he reported to the Community Goal Feed. "I did not walk at all, so even though I was slow, I count it as a huge win."
What's your overall goal?
This past summer, I weighed in at 265 pounds. My youngest son graduates this upcoming May, so I set a goal to weigh 200 pounds by then, [which] would put me at my lowest weight since 2007. I have a "stretch" goal to hit 180 pounds next summer, but I'm taking it one step at a time.
How is SparkPeople helping you get there?
I have been a SparkPeople user on and off since 2007. I use it to track my daily calorie intake, and I use its integration with my Apple Watch to track exercise. Tracking calories keeps me accountable and helps me make informed decisions about what I'm putting into my body. I also used the 5K Your Way Running Challenge to get ready for my 5K. Back in September, I could not walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded—to go from that to running the 5K feels great!
What's your biggest challenge right now?
My biggest challenge right now is that I travel for business a good bit and finding healthy food on the road is a challenge. I also like a lot of variety in my food, so ordering the same entree of salmon and salad can get boring.
What advice do you have for someone who just joined SparkPeople today?
Stay with it. I can look back on my long SparkPeople history and see that when I track my calories, I am able to hit my fitness goals. Don't worry so much about short-term gains or setbacks. You're in this for the long haul!
Want to be the next small success we spotlight? Share your successes on the goal feed or in the comments below, and you might be the next person we contact!
Posted 12/17/2018 12:00:00 AM By: : 30 comments 8,249 views
Spark Spotlight: Michelle (MSMITCHELL2696)
At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
This Week's Spotlight: Michelle (MSMITCHELL2696)
Age: 44
Location: Athol, Massachusetts
Small Success of the Week
Michelle recently announced in the Community Goal Feed that she was celebrating a major milestone: hitting her one year anniversary of making healthy lifestyle changes. While she did hit her weight-loss goal, she gained some things as well.
"I have gained a level of fitness I have never known, a deeper love of nature, a strength to believe in myself and know that I can overcome my obstacles as long as I keep fighting for what I want," she says. "I learned I don't need to be perfect but I do need to be persistent and mindful. I have learned to believe in the process, even through months of no-scale movement, [and] to believe that it all falls together if we are patient and just keep trying."
Posted 12/10/2018 12:00:00 AM By: : 39 comments 9,775 views
Spark Spotlight: Jo (OUTSIDEJOJO)
At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
This Week's Spotlight: Jo (OUTSIDEJOJO)
Age: 53
Location: East Islip, New York
Small Success of the Week
Jo is an enthusiastic SparkPeople member who posted on the Community Goal Feed that she is was on her second day of completing at least two miles per day for 30 days. "Who’s in?" she wrote. "Run, walk or skip. Let’s do this! Day 2 complete."
Posted 12/3/2018 12:00:00 AM By: : 29 comments 9,011 views
Spark Spotlight: Jennie (SADIEMYERS)
At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
This Week's Spotlight: Jennie (SADIEMYERS)
Age: 40
Location: Spring Creek, Nevada
Small Success of the Week
Jennie posted a terrific before-and-after photo to the Community Goal Feed, showing what a difference four years can make. She says she feels so much healthier now, and "slow and steady" got her to where she is today.
Posted 11/26/2018 12:00:00 AM By: : 34 comments 9,198 views
Spark Spotlight: Juli (JULIHC82)
willAt SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
This Week's Spotlight: Juli (JULIHC82)
Age: 36
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Small Success of the Week
This week, we are excited for Juli, who posted to the Community Goal Feed that she finally hit "onederland" for the first time in 15 years!
What's your overall goal?
Onederland is actually one of many goals that I have set for myself, but my overall goal is to lose 125 pounds and weigh around 140. I am almost 60 percent of the way there. I find it very helpful to make multiple attainable goals to really encourage myself to succeed. On my SparkPeople page, I keep track of every step of the way and mark the date each time I reach a goal—it really helps me stay accountable.
What's your biggest challenge right now?
Unfortunately, my biggest challenge is that I have a rare, incurable muscle disease. Though painful and very difficult at times, it's certainly not the worst disease to have, so I'm lucky in a way. It is what it is, so I try to stay positive. My biggest challenge besides my muscles is trying to eat enough quality nutrition. Sometimes I get complacent and make poor choices because I'm being lazy and choosing the easy options.
How is SparkPeople helping you get there?
SparkPeople helps me stay accountable. This community encourages me to be a better version of myself and transform into the person I am supposed to be.
What advice do you have for someone who just joined SparkPeople?
I would encourage a new person to SparkPeople to just be open to this community and really embrace this place where you can just be honest without judgment. Doing that will ignite the spark in you [and] success will follow! It took me longer than I wish it would have to finally embrace my truth and true self. But, thankfully, SparkPeople helped me do that.
Want to be the next small success we spotlight? Share your successes on the Community Goal Feed or in the comments below, and you might be the next person we contact!
Posted 11/19/2018 12:00:00 AM By: : 31 comments 9,162 views
Spark Spotlight: Bobbie Jo (BOBBIEJO1017)
At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
This Week's Spotlight: Bobbie Jo (BOBBIEJO1017)
Age: 44
Location: Sumner, Iowa
Small Success of the Week
Bobbie Jo posted a "sweaty birthday selfie" to the Community Goal Feed along with a post that she made herself get out of bed for a 35-minute run in honor of her own personal "new year."
What's your overall goal?
My overall goal is to eat healthier and lose some weight.
Posted 11/12/2018 12:00:00 AM By: : 21 comments 8,543 views
Spark Spotlight: Ally (ALLYLIZZY)
At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
This Week's Spotlight: Ally (ALLYLIZZY)
Age: 26
Location: Santa Rosa, California
Small Success of the Week
Ally is happy to report to SparkPeople's Community Goal Feed that she is down from a size 20 in shorts to a size 13!
Posted 11/5/2018 12:00:00 AM By: : 36 comments 11,053 views
Spark Spotlight: Alex (ALEXTHEHUN)
At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
This Week's Spotlight: Alex (ALEXTHEHUN)
Age: 65
Location: Arlington, Texas
Small Success of the Week
Alex, a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, didn't let cold weather keep him from achieving his goals. Instead, he took his exercise inside, walking and climbing the stairs to get in a good cardio workout and making sure he kept his #fitnessfeats streak going.
Posted 10/29/2018 12:00:00 AM By: : 32 comments 9,543 views
Spark Spotlight: Robin (RD03875)
At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
This Week's Spotlight: Robin (RD03875)
Age: 61
Location: Tamworth, New Hampshire
Small Success of the Week
Robin was beyond excited to discover she came in second place in the Biggest Loser Fall Challenge for the biggest weight loss overall on all the teams. She didn't think she would ever make it to the top, and then she surprised herself by placing second. "This made me excited!" she says.
Posted 10/22/2018 12:00:00 AM By: : 38 comments 12,016 views
Spark Spotlight: Rhea (RheaElizabeth)
At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
This Week's Spotlight: Rhea (RheaElizabeth)
Age: 73
Location: Somonauk, Illinois
Small Success of the Week
Rhea is a role model for getting fit at any age. In fact, she recently finished her first official 5K race with a first-place win in the 70 and over age group. But she doesn't want to stop there—she wants to lose weight and get as fit as she can and isn't letting anything stop her.
Posted 10/15/2018 12:00:00 AM By: : 38 comments 10,490 views
SparkSpotlight: Jillian (JILLIAN48)
At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
This Week's Spotlight: Jillian (JILLIAN48)
Age: 39
Location: Jacksonville, Florida
Small Success of the Week
Jillian recently discovered that she could fit into a size XL shirt again. She has held on to the shirt for the past eight years and has barely been able to wear it because it has been too tight and uncomfortable. Now when she puts on the shirt, not only does it fit, but it has room to spare!
Posted 10/8/2018 12:00:00 AM By: : 44 comments 11,086 views
Meet 9 Meat-Free Alternatives You'll Love
Alternatives. We all want them. Whether you want to figure out a different way to work out that keeps pressure off your knees or are looking for a lightened-up version of your favorite restaurant food, you want to be able to tweak things to your needs. For those on special diets, that might mean finding alternatives to carbs, sugar or saturated fats. If you are a soda addict, you might be looking for alternative ways to hydrate. And, if you're a vegetarian, vegan or are simply looking to eat less meat, you want to find alternative meat products that look and taste good, yet are still nutritious.
Posted 10/3/2018 12:00:00 AM By: : 73 comments 28,868 views
Spark Spotlight: Noelle (LUCKY1964)
At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
This Week's Spotlight: Noelle (LUCKY1964)
Age: 33
Location: Ball Ground, Georgia
Small Success of the Week
Noelle has the food prep thing down—including all of her snacks. "Food prep should always include your healthy snacks. You can have too much of a good thing easily and we all are guilty of over-sizing our plates or snack bags when hungry," she said in the Community Goal Feed. "I have started portioning my snacks into snack cups the second I come home from the store. This makes the grab-and-go so much easier and also saves me from having to portion each time I eat."
Posted 10/1/2018 12:00:00 AM By: : 27 comments 9,725 views
Try On These 5 Fitness Apparel Trends for Fall
The end of summer means the end of bathing suit season, outdoor workouts with lighter gear, nature hikes and other warm-weather activities. While that might feel like a reason to despair, don't, for fall brings with it a host of new reasons to get outside, hike, bike, walk and run in cooler weather that won't have you worrying about heat stroke or carrying along extra hydration.
Cooler weather means an opportunity to change both your workouts and your wardrobe. Consider switching your color palette, learning to layer or discovering a new fitness trend that can keep you feeling stylish and motivated as you head toward a season switch.
Posted 9/26/2018 12:00:00 AM By: : 87 comments 47,625 views
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Spark Spotlight: Tom (TANGOJAVA43068)
At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
This Week's Spotlight: Tom (TANGOJAVA43068)
Age: 49
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Small Success of the Week
Tom shared a monumental success on the Community Goal Feed a couple of weeks ago. "So excited today!" he says. "This is my first day under 200 pounds since around 2001."
Posted 9/24/2018 12:00:00 AM By: : 33 comments 12,450 views
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