Spark Spotlight: Amber (BABYSTEPS2015)

By , SparkPeople Blogger
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: Amber (BABYSTEPS2015)
Age: 32
Location: Ontario, Canada
 

Amber's Small Success of the Week

After falling off the nutrition wagon, instead of beating herself up, Amber pinpointed what went wrong and made a plan to move on.

What's your overall goal? 

I have two overall goals. I want to lose a total of 80 pounds and get to 130, but my most important goal is that I want to be comfortable in my own skin. If I don't make that number and my body settles at something else, but I'm healthy and happy, that's where I want to be. 
 
How is SparkPeople helping you get there? 
 
The community here at Spark is absolutely amazing. No one is trolling anyone, and we all genuinely want to see each other succeed. Between the SparkPeople community and the trackers, it's really helping to keep me accountable. 
 
What's your biggest challenge right now? 
 
My biggest challenge right now is that, to finish paying off student loans quicker, I work three jobs with not-so-regular hours, and am nearly always on the go. I was doing meal prepping, but with my work hours, that fell by the wayside. We're in the middle of a couple of renovations at the moment, so when the dust settles, I'll be getting back into that.
 
What advice do you have for someone who just joined SparkPeople today? 
 
I would tell them to embrace SparkPeople in its entirety. Join a calendar challenge or two. Join a group. Be active in those groups. Be active on the site. The community feed is how I was keeping myself accountable. If you're not posting and being truly honest, it's too easy to make a mistake, not log it and pretend it didn't happen. I think Dr. Phil is the one who said "You can't change what you don't acknowledge." I didn't want to post about falling off the nutrition wagon, but I knew that if I didn't, I wouldn't maintain that change. 

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!