Meet goal on Weight Watchers

For a while now, I wasn’t working WW right and it wasn’t working for me. When I lost 50 pounds, I found I had to alter my eating and activity more than earlier in the program. For instance, all fruits and most vegetables are 0 points. My mindset said free. I ate lots and lots of fruit and came to a point where I was no longer losing. At a heavier weight, I could do this and still lose weight. So I gave up on the meetings in July and gained 25 pounds back. This contributed to feeling like I’m slogging through life, like the bad old days.

Yesterday, hubby and I returned to meetings. The first wonderful thing was that the leader greeted us with a big smile when we came in the door. Then after she weighed me, she gave me a big hug. This helped me feel positive and ready to jump into the program. I’m going to try to carry this positive energy for as long as I can.

I am looking at some thoughts and feelings about following the Weight Watchers plan, rather than just doing it. So here goes…

First of all, although it is not a “diet”, but a way of life, I still feel a bit deprived. What is does is raise a bit of anxiety in me that I subdued with food. I’m sure this is due to not feeding my blood sugar and neurochemical changes. It is not at all overwhelming anxiety, so I am trying to embrace it, and channel the energy productively. It’s all new again, so I’ll have to see how it goes.

I’m looking into small tweakings to help me along. The program changes at least every year. A new focus this year is to adjust routines and patterns. Cool. Although I am enthusiastically jumping into this, I’ve decided to make small changes to help myself along. These changes are small enough that I can do them on easy days and stressful days.

My primary goal for this week is to slow down my eating pace. More mindful eating increases my pleasure and makes me feel more satisfied. This will be a challenge at work, and there I will figure out some strategies.

The program suggests for January’s change in routine, is to eat a fruit or vegetable with every meal or snack. I find this easy, enjoyable, and something I have never tried before. So far, so good!

December’s change in routine is to pack a snack. This is to help ward off the temptation to buy something at Cinnabon. This may be just a bit more difficult for me, but I’ll give it a try. I don’t tend to eat impulsively when I’m out. But then substituting something healthy for buttered popcorn at the movies does seem smart.

Water, water, and more water. Yep, this can be very good. I’m not a soda drinker, but I do prefer sparkling waters. It’s a fizz thing, not a sweet thing. The change would be to cut back on coffee and just amp up the water intake. On work days, I drink G2, low calorie Gatorade because I tend to “glow” at work when running about. I probably won’t change this work habit.

So I think gentle changes can make a difference. Mostly, if I think too big, I tend to not be successful. So here’s to a new year!!

This time last year, I had lost 55 pounds through Weight Watchers, bicycling, and yoga. I felt GREAT!

I did not maintain those practices off and on for a year now. I’ve gained about 15 pounds from this date last year. Yikes! Lots of excuses…depression, weather, difficulty sticking with things, work schedules, and of all things, watching too much baseball. I need to look at my excuses to put a strategy in process. Writing about it here is giving it clarity.

This week I would like to return to the Wednesday meeting. I like the leader and it fits my schedule. Writing about it in black and white here, gives my intentions more weight(ha!).

So now I’m going to set this as a challenge: Strictly stick with the WW program until January 11, 2013. (This means no fudging on points and go to the meetings). My reward will not be based on the number of pounds lost, but on sticking to the program. Reward: Attend St. Louis Cardinals Winter Warm-Up.

My previous returns have not been met with as much commitment as I needed.

So I thought about this. When I first started weight watchers, I enjoyed the novelty. My point target was higher, therefore easier.
When I stopped going in the fall, I was in a slump. My weight was constantly going up and down. And I wasn’t crazy about our leader, who was unfocused and played favorites.

What did I learn? I need to exercise more. It burns points, and strangely keeps my appetite under control. This control may be temporary. I don’t know, but I’ll try to stay aware. We are going to a meeting with another leader, who I like a lot more. I feel more committed. Sometimes I’ll just have to work through the rough spots.

Hubby and I have been away from WW for about 12 weeks, and returned yesterday. My rebellious kid was in charge for a while.

I’m excited to get back to a routine that helps me physically and emotionally. I lost 50 pounds. Regained 10. My goal is to lose another 60 pounds. I’m psyched!!!

in quite a while. It may even be a month that my hubby and I have not gone.

The entire summer was spent losing and gaining the same two pounds. In some ways it was disappointing, in others not. Maintaining a 50 lb. weight loss has really felt good. I’m much more active. When people say I look better, I’m still surprised. But I’m coming around to feeling that I might be looking pretty okay.

Generally, I’m still following the program. Hopefully, we will return to meetings next week.

Total loss 49.2 pounds. Whew!

I’m hoping when Darling 3 returns to school, and my life is a little less busy, I’ll be more committed to a regular exercise program.

The weather needs to be a bit cooler for bicycling. It is not long off, and it is something I’m looking forward to doing.

Also, I’m getting a little excited about buying clothes for the fall. It’s my favorite season, and fall colors suit me best.

So we skipped our meeting this week. Not only did we skip, we ate with abandon. It was my husband’s birthday, after all. I’ve got a busy work week ahead, so I won’t go to WW later in the week.

But tomorrow I will renew my efforts. I need to set a “going to the Y” goal. And I will buy really healthy foods. I should try to get some berry flavored La Croix(sparkling water).

These things happen.

my weight has gone up and down. I’m hanging on to this roller coaster because I am sure that I can be successful.

I had a back strain about 3 weeks ago and I quit going to the Y. Even though I’m feeling much better, I have not made a habit of going back. It is so easy once I get out of the routine. Maybe it is time for another goal.

Anyhoo, on the positive side, my last weigh in…down 47 lbs total. That fuels my motivation ;-)

I’m stuck. Weight exactly the same this week as last. I was up last week, so I’m not happy with the trend. When I came home, I ate above my allotted points for the first time since starting this in January. Keeping track of points just got on my nerves. Now my little tantrum is out of my system.

Today, I’m back on track. Because I had some low back pain, I hadn’t been to the Y for aerobics and working with weights in about 2 weeks. The pain isn’t completely resolved, but I just had to get back to my workouts. I carefully did my weights. Then I followed up with thorough stretching. I finished up with 20 minutes on the recumbent bike. Right now I’m feeling awesome!

On my way home, I stopped by Costco and picked up some fresh fruit bowls, strawberries, blueberries, bananas and hummus. This week I’ll be measuring my food more carefully. Also, I looked up some point values that might have needed to be adjusted. For instance, the yogurt I eat is 3 points per container, but 7 points for two containers. It helps to see where the different approximations lie.

I hope this is a good week.

Oh, well. I’m not exercising as much as I feel I should be. Feeling a little low emotionally. Maybe I’ll take a walk tonight.

I want to keep up with tracking in the three month tracker.