Big Steps - No More...

 

As of today, I am no longer a Weight Watchers client. After some long deliberation with myself, I've decided to cancel my membership. You can view it as giving up, that's fine, but that's not what I'm doing. I simply wasn't using it. And, if I'm not going to use it, I'm not going to spend nearly $20 a month on a membership.

 

It did provide tools that we can all use during our every day lives. Instead of reaching for the iced tea or sugar-free soft drink, opt for a glass of water instead. Eat all the fresh fruits and veggies you can during the day! Fresh is best, but steamed works too. Make sure you don't load them up with butters. I do add seasoned salt and pepper, but avoiding salt is the healthy way! Stick to sugar and fat free when possible. Leave out the carbs. And, everything in moderation. I know, I know! We've heard it for years, but it's true.

 

What I need to do is make more of an effort to make healthy meals for my family. My husband and I can so easily rely on ordering a pizza when we're running late and we don't feel like cooking. Running through a drive-thru is another bad habit. Honestly, before McKinley, we cooked every night. Now, when we get home, we are flat out exhausted and cooking is the last thing we want to do. I've been trying to make two day meals, but the easiest are pastas and casseroles. Those are carb central! Or can be. I need to find alternative ingredients that make them lighter, healthier and with a little less fat.

 

We have been trying to eat more salads. Salads loaded with grilled chicken and shrimp and plenty of veggies! I need to start packing healthier lunches for myself as well. I tend to eat the frozen diet lunches but they get so old. And going out gets pricey! Making a lunch at night helps, but there's that tired part again.... And that's the excuses part of dieting that I referenced on day one!

 

The point is, I need to make some changes. I need to be mindful of what I'm providing to my family. I need to either get back in the gym, do something at home or in the neighborhood. Exercise is key! It releases those happy endorphins, puts you in a better mood, makes you feel better, sleep better and well, look better! So I'm not giving up. I'm just going to move in a different direction. One that doesn't have me spending money on something I'm not using, but putting my money where my mouth is! 

 

As always, stay tuned..... 



Big Steps - New Month

It's a new month. Time to make a fresh start, right? That's what I was thinking too. This is going to be a tough month. One where I could, and probably will, make a lot of excuses to not really follow the diet. This weekend is the Fourth of July and we are taking an extended weekend off. I forsee lunches and dinners out as we have plans to catch the Royals in action, a trip the aquarium at Crown Center, and based on the amazing forecast, a trip to the zoo. The trip to the zoo, and a walk to the local pool, will result in some exercise, but nothing that will exert too much energy! However, I'm hoping the minor activity will help keep the weight gain at bay!

 

   In three weeks we are heading to Virginia for a family reunion and there will be lots of food and drinks to be had. The thought of counting points, withholding treats and drinks, and not allowing myself to have the things I love while on vacation just doesn't sound appealing. And, we aren't going to be getting any exercise so that doesn't really help my case. All, I can say is that this girl will take her vacation in stride and if pounds are gained, so be it!

 

Outside of these two fun filled family vacations, we don't have anything planned for July. If I make poor choices here and there, that's okay. I have the rest of the month to work out the kinks. However, there is our big cocktail party at the end of the month. Remember me telling you about it and how I have the dress all picked out? Well, I need to be careful but not too careful as there was this invention of SPANX several years ago!

 

This past weekend we had a BBQ which involved a lot of food, several desserts and a couple of beers! And, there was leftovers of the food and desserts. (There was plenty of leftover beer, but I only drank at the BBQ.) I can report, that with all the consumption, I still lost 0.8 pounds! I was pretty happy about that. I would say that July has started off with a bang! Get it...bang...fireworks...

 

I'll keep you posted on the progress!



Big Steps - Current Update

 

So it's been a while since I've provided you with an update on the whole Weight Watchers thing. I signed up on May 13th and as of June 24th, I've lost....drum roll please.....three pounds! HA! I will be honest, I started out super motivated. I packed a sensible lunch every day, took healthy snacks and really paid attention to my points. Then the Memorial Day weekend hit and I lost all sight of the diet. I was happy that I only gained one pound, and I lost it within the week back, but I've been up and down every since.

 

I'm hovering around the same number but the clothes in my closet, that haven't fit since before McKinley, finally do and that makes me super happy. I do need to get refocused though as I have an event coming up at the end of July and I want my dress, that fits now, to fit like a dream in a month! Plus, as I look at my 40 Before the Big 4-0 list, I have numbers 13 and 14 as get back in the gym and lose my remaining baby weight respectively. Based on the whopping three pounds I've lost, I have eight more to go, but in reality I could stand to lose another 10! I would like to lose 15 pounds, but 10 would be nice!

 

I'm not quite sure how to get remotivated! If I needed to be in a bikini for a photo shoot next month, that would really get my butt off the couch! In reality, I simply have "the dress". I've been talking up a trip to LA for my 40th birthday, which is a mere five months away. If that were to really take shape, I'm pretty sure I could find my way back to those regulated points and watch that scale move down the mountain. I will keep you posted on that!

 

I can say that my mom thinks I've lost weight based on the fact that my face looks thinner. And let me tell you, if my mom says I look thinner, then that's no lie! She is my worst critic. I'm not sure I can tell if I look thinner, but like I stated previously, clothes don't lie in the weight department! If they are fitting like they should, and looser than a month ago, I say I'm doing something right!

 

Check back next month for a progress report!

Big Steps - Week Two Update

 

Well, this past weekend was Memorial Day weekend which meant vacation for the family! And what happens over vacation? Eating! And eat we did! From the photo above, we may have had a cocktail or two as well! And because it was a holiday weekend, actually a five day weekend for me, I enjoyed every minute of it.

 

I didn't pay attention to points all weekend and only felt slightly guilty. I blame it on being remote, and with zero internet access, to even try to log points. That's really not a good excuse because plain old pen and paper would have done the trick. I just ate, drank and played all weekend long!

 

I weighed myself this morning and I am up one pound. And that's okay! One pound is easy to lose and I'm actually proud of myself for only gaining that one pound. The site told me that weight gain was normal during the process and that I should review my week. What the site doesn't know is that my clothes fit. Clothes that I haven't worn in a couple of years and that's all that really matters! I'm wearing one of those pieces today and it feels good! I feel good!

 

It's a new day and a new week. I am back at it today. Low sugar oatmeal for breakfast (3 points). Tuna, veggies and fruit for lunch (3 points) and who knows what's for dinner! I have to hit the grocery store and will stock up on fresh goodness there. And I vow I won't be hungry when I do it!

 

So there you have it! I'll be back next week!



Big Steps - Week One Update

It has been one week since I started Weight Watchers and so far things are going pretty well. The hardest part has been figuring out points! Oh, and dieting! They arm you with some terrific tools. However, I have created some helpful cheat sheets, like a spread sheet of foods by catagory and their associated points, so I have something to reference when my computer isn't handy. I'm allowed 26 points a day and I haven't really found it all that hard to stay within them. I've actually been leaving some points on the table. Sometimes two, sometimes more. And, I've been hungrier on some days versus others, but I'm trying to really stick with this and not cheat.

 

Another great tool I've discovered, with the help of my friend Wendy, is their recipe builder. Since you can't literally calculate every single point, the recipe builder breaks down your meal on the points scale, and you can save the recipe if you were to make it again. For instance, Wendy provided me with a 1 Point Weight Watcher muffin years ago and I had lost the recipe for the umptenth time! Based on the new WW points system, we wondered if the muffins were still one point. With the recipe builder, we plugged in all the ingredients, changed our serving size to 24, and it calcutated that our previous one point muffin was now two! Super helpful and I use it all the time now.

 

I love that most, if not almost all, veggies and fruits are zero points! I can fill up on healthy snacks and not feel guilty for eating. Other snacks food are low in points as well. For instance, sugar free Jell-O is zero points! Add a teaspoon of Cool Whip and you have a one point dessert or snack! Add 2 tablespoons of Humus to your carrots or celery and you have a two point snack! A cup of air popped, plain popcorn is one point! All great snack foods that fill you up! That's the key. Fill up! They say you shouldn't be hungry on WW, and for most days, that's true.

 

I've been a lot more active this past week as well. I've taken a couple more walks and started the work on building/planting our garden. I've been lifting 40 pound bags of top soil, 16 pound bags of organic soil, digging, raking and planting for the better part of the weekend.  And I get to log all of those activity points and "cash" them in whenever I want. I'm thinking I might use them for the upcoming weekend! Vacations aren't always the best times to diet. Those extra points are going to come in handy!

 

And, as it turns out, the weight loss it taking place. The goal set by Weight Watchers, that I thought was eight pounds in a week, is actually eight pounds total. I'm down 2.5 pounds after week one! Taht might not sound like a lot, but according to my friend Wendy, the average weight loss in a week is two pounds. I'm off to a great start! Let's hope the momentum continues during the week and I continue to shed even through the holiday weekend!

Big Steps!

I know people say to take baby steps when you're first starting out with something new, but not this girl! I've never been that girl! Just ask my mom. I am a "go big or go home" kind of girl! I blogged about self image on Style My Way a couple of months ago and decided to finally take the reigns and do something about it. I mean, no one is going to lose the leftover baby weight but me, right? So, I signed up for Weight Watchers online yesterday. Yes, it was on May 13th. Yes, it was on the second week of May. Yes, I realize that if you are going to set a goal for yourself most people start it off at the beginning of a new month. Again, not this girl!! I also know you are never supposed to utter the words diet in public! One should never tell family and close friends that "I started a diet" because if you fail, they know you failed! However, going back to my forty before 40 post, look at numbers 13 and 14. I pretty much spelled it out!

Dieting is hard. Dieting sucks!! I know that on Weight Watchers they claim that you can still eat the foods you love, but that's not really the case! I love cupcakes, cookies, bread, milkshakes, frosting from the can, candy bars.....can I really eat all of those things? Yes, if I don't want to lose weight! Yes, if I eat them within moderation. Yes, if I stay within the points I'm given per day. But what it really boils down to is, no! I can't really eat those foods as often as I would like! I have to be choosy about when I actually eat them. Like when no one is looking or I lie about it on my tracking tool!

Another component of dieting is the dreaded exercise. For those of you who love to work out, I envy you. I hate it! I dread going to the gym, pulling out the workout clothes and getting on that treadmill or lifting those free weights. However, when all is said and done, I feel better afterward. It's just getting through it! I've made the cardio/motivational play list for my iPad. I read magazines or books will on the treadmill. It's just getting myself pumped to go! Yesterday, since my hubby picked up the peanut, I decided to hit the streets instead of the gym. The weather is too gorgeous right now to holed up in the gym. I put on shorts, the horror, threw on the old tennies and off I went. I walked the general route of our neighborhood and kept pretty a pretty good pace. Lots of hills, I went that way on purpose, and felt really good after I got home. I even slept well for the first time in months!

I'm sore today but it's a good sore. I haven't really pushed myself to walk like that in ages. Sure, I stroll around the zoo, Deanna Rose, the mall, but it's all at the pace of a two year old and that's just not cutting the mustard. Will I get back in the gym, maybe. Will I be more inclined to try and get out among nature, probably? Will I bring myself to charge up the controls to my Wii, yes! Because I have a goal! I need to stay focused. I'm not going reveal how many LBs I plan to lose. That's between me and my reflection in the mirror. Oh, and that little number on the scale that's screaming at me! But I will try my hardest to lose what I can however fast I can. Right now, my eight tracker is telling I need to lose eight pounds by next Monday. That is NOT going to happen because who loses eight pounds in less than a week? Celebrities, that's who!

So, it's out there! Like Harry Burns said, "Call the cops, it's out there!" I'm not brave enough, like Jessica of What I Wore, to photograph myself before and after. I honestly can't be that honest with you on my appearance. Vanity, self-conscious, scared. Call it what you will. I can't bring myself to go that far. I can tell you how I'm doing, tricks I've found, recipes I've tried and loved and how I'm feeling throughout the process! Until then....wish me luck!