I knew I could never make it back to 105, especially after I dealt with an eating disorder in college. So I set my goal weight at 135.

After Christmas was over, I decided to do something about my weight. I joined SparkPeople and started tracking my calorie intake. At first I was too ambitious. I tried to lose too much weight too fast, and I couldn’t handle being hungry all the time.

I had stopped exercising but started back up, doing Yoga Booty Ballet, bicycling, jogging and jump rope. I found that as I exercised more, I could eat more and still lose inches.

SparkPeople was less of a “diet” and more of a tracking tool. I found that I was eating to deal with boredom or emotional stress, rather than eating because I was hungry. It was also encouraging to track my exercising and see how many calories I was burning.

After a few months of SparkPeople, I had my portions under control and stopped tracking my daily food intake.

I was eating when I was hungry and exercising at least 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. I weigh 135lbs and am a healthy size 8.

I still do Yoga Booty Ballet, and I have added Pilates and Shiva Rea’s yoga DVDs to supplement. I’m not an emotional eater any more, I feel stronger, and I am much more toned.