What It Looks Like To Lose 80 Pounds!

I had a three pound loss this week which brought my total loss to 80.6 pounds! I can't believe it. Today is my 11 month anniversary of starting Weight Watchers. I lost 8.6 pounds just in March. It feels SO good to say "80!"! Here is a slideshow of me and my starting weight and today:

My measurements where a huge NSV for me this week, too! I lost 2.25 inches this month. Here's the breakdown in inches:

Head - .5
Neck - 2.25
Chest -3
Bust -5
Ribcage -4
Waist -16
Hips -11.5
Thighs -8.75 (17.5 for two)
Calves -2 (4 for two)
Bicep -4.25 (8.5 for two)
Wrist -.75 (1.5 for two)
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Total inches lost = 73 1/4! My husband is 73 inches tall!

I'm so thankful for the blessing that Weight Watchers has been to me and for the progress that I have had so far. I'm not done by any means, but I'm feeling so great with how far I've come! WW works!

Rewards

 

This is my new bracelet. Since I started Weight Watchers nearly a year ago, I have been thinking of a unique way to reward myself for my hard work and success. New, smaller, clothes are always fun, but I consider them a necessity not a reward. A few weeks ago I discovered Pandora bracelets and fell in love. I love jewelry and the charms are reasonably priced so this was something I could afford. I did my homework on them and scoured the internet for ideas and inspiration on which charms to get. I thought that I had seen these bracelets at my local Kay Jewelers, where I get my rings cleaned and repaired, so DH and I went in to check them out. Well, Kay doesn't carry Pandora, but they do carry a system just like it called Charmed Memories.  They are a little less expensive and the look and quality is the same. Perfect! The bracelet and charms are sterling silver, the crystals are genuine Swarovski, and beads like my pink one are Murano glass. I've decided that I will get one charm for every 10 pounds I lose. I can't afford to get seven charms for the 70 I've already lost, so I started with three for the first 30 (which I accomplished back in July!) today. I'll add to it little by little and will end with either a dangling star or butterfly. The two end pieces are stoppers to keep the beads from sliding around...they don't count as rewards. ;o) The cross is my first charm because Jesus comes first in my life and without Him, nothing is possible.


How do you reward yourself for goals met or other successes?

Fat Talk

Watch this video:



The Fat Talk Free week is past, but isn't that video so powerful? How often do you look at the number on the scale and instead of seeing the number, you see the word "FAT"? How often do you eat something and "feel fat" afterward. This blog, this new lifestyle of mine, isn't about a journey to being skinny, it is about health. I used to call myself fat quite a lot. I used to see myself as not much more than a fat girl. No more. No more of that "fat talk" in my life. I'm still not at a healthy weight, so am on this journey to get there, but in the mean time I'm happy with my body and the amazing things it does. I'm beautiful and, my dear readers, so are you. No matter what you weigh, how big your clothes are, or what you eat...you are a child of God and you're beautiful!

Confession on Exercise

Photo credit

A reader of mine, who blogs at Healthy Happy & Wise, commented on my recent "Eat and Lose" post.

"Hi, just curious how much exercise you do while being on weight watchers? I think it's important to mention your exercise too (i'm assuming you are getting exercise to lose weight) but don't want to give people the wrong idea that you can achieve weight loss without doing the exercise.."

To answer that question honestly, I don't exercise. I've gone to the gym on and off, I've walked 5K's around a lake and my neighborhood (even did a 10K once not too long ago), I've shredded with Jillian Michaels, but I don't exercise consistently by any means. I should. I want to, but if I'm being honest...I don't. That said, I am the mother to an almost 5 year old boy who keeps me busy. I get a lot of walking done while grocery shopping, running other errands, and certainly keep busy cleaning my house. I move and I move a lot, but as far as structured exercise goes, when I really get my heart rate up and sweat,...not very often. It is something I'm striving to change because it is important to incorporate it into my new lifestyle, but it has been something I've struggled with as far as making the time to actually do it.

So, yes it certainly is possible to lose weight without a lot of structured exercise. I've done it. BUT...I don't recommend it.  I recommend getting exercise, getting that heart rate up and breaking a sweat. I just don't want to be hypocritical and pretend that is what I do because, in all honesty, I don't. Not yet, anyway...I'm working on it!

If you want to read some great tips to help you get back into exercise, read this!

Weekly Weigh-in!

I weighed in this morning, here are the results:

Starting Weight: 292
Last Week: 214.8
This Week 214.4
Weekly Loss -0.4
Total Loss: -77.6

I'm only 0.4 away from losing 80 pounds, which I hope to do next week! I dropped a daily point allowance, too, to 33 daily points.

Today I'm wearing a pair of capri pants that are far too big for me. Kind of fun! They are size 20 and I'm in a size 16 now. They don't look terrible, but are obviously too big as they were tight on me last year and now are so baggy. I need a belt. I need to go shopping for some warm weather clothes...soon!

Eat and Lose

Weight Watchers gives me 34 points a day plus 49 points that I can use throughout the week. If I had started on the new WW PointsPlus program, I would have started with 45 points per day, plus the weekly 49. That is a lot of food to eat and lose weight. Weight Watchers is just so great like that. As long as I'm making good food choices, I can eat quite a bit each day. If I feel like indulging I can do that, too...and still lose weight! Here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast
Three eggs, scrambled 6
1/4 cup 1% milk (in the eggs) 1
Bagel Thin 3
Laughing Cow garlic herb cheese wedge (spread onto the bagel) 1

Lunch
3 cups of whole wheat pasta 13
Prego marinara sauce, 1 cup 5

Dinner
1 slice of light bread 1
deli turkey breast 1
1/2 slice of cheese 0
1/4 tbsp brummel & brown spread 0
Pop Chips, 1 oz 3

Snack
jello dark chocolate pudding cup 2

Beverages
water and one 12oz diet coke 0

Daily Total: 36

Lunch was my indulgence. Pasta was a craving that I gave into knowing that I could "afford" it if I had a light dinner (1/2 a turkey sandwich). No fruit or veggies yesterday, I really need to be better about having more of them! Yesterday's breakfast wasn't typical for me. My breakfast is usually a Fiber One bar with fruit or a bowl of cereal with fruit. To use my 49 weekly points, I splurge on high carb foods like pasta or pizza or an ice cream treat (smart ones or skinny cow). I love peanut butter, but it costs a lot of points so I use the 49 for that. It is okay to indulge like that and still lose weight. Those 49 weekly points are there to use! I figure if I use them now and lose weight, then I'll continue to lose weight and be able to eat them as I get closer to my goal. In the 10 1/2 months that I've been a Weight Watcher, I've never felt hungry or deprived. Not once! WW isn't a diet. Diets are temporary. Weight Watchers is for life. It isn't something you can start and expect to have continued success if you don't commit to it for the long haul. Weight Watchers allows you to eat whatever you want. No going "cold-turkey" on anything. What some chocolate cake or a glass of wine? Go ahead! Just don't eat the entire cake  or drink the entire bottle! Be accountable for everything you eat, track it, and you'll have success that is long-lasting. It is possible to indulge and lose weight!

Wonder Woman

I saw this cartoon on someone's facebook page and thought it was too funny! There are times during this journey that I have felt like Wonder Woman, able to tackle any challenge! Cookies? No problem! Ice cream? Who needs it?! Gain on the scale? I'll lose it next week! Other times I feel like The Invisible Man is holding me down and I just can't get over a craving, negative thought or other challenge.

What do I do when when the Invisible Man is messing with me? I often pray about it and find the challenge to be no big deal. Other times I give into the craving and find it wasn't so bad after all. Sometimes I binge and eat well into my 49 weekly points. I'm always accountable for whatever it is I eat, though. I always, yes I can say always, track everything that goes into my mouth. Tracking is my super power! I've been going to Weight Watchers meetings every single week for 10 1/2 months. Many times I've heard people in the meetings complain about how they hate to track their points. That is what Weight Watchers is all about. Well, no, that isn't what it is all about as there's much more to it than that, but it is a HUGE part of the WW program. If you're not tracking what you're eating, then you can't be successful. It is like having money in a bank account and spending and spending and spending without keeping track of it and then not knowing how you ended up in bankruptcy (a gain on the scale)! You wouldn't do that with your money, why in the world would you do that with your food? Track your food intake and you'll see results. Use the super power that tracking is and don't let the Invisible Man get the best of you!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

May the sun shine all day long,
Everything go right and nothing go wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you
And may all the wishes you wish come true!

 

 

Stay safe if you go out to celebrate tonight and have a designated driver!

Weight Matters

Picture credit

As I've mentioned before I'm in a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. A friend of mine, and fellow Weight Watcher, is our coordinator for the group and she wrote an article for our March newsletter about body image and how God doesn't look at your body, but looks at your heart. The first sentence of her article was "I weigh ...". Wow. That article goes out to our entire MOPs group of 60 or so women and the staff of the church where we meet. I found it to be so brave of her to share her weight so openly. It wasn't something that she thought would be fun, but she prayed about it and felt led to share it in that article to drive home the point that the number on the scale just doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to God, anyway, and all too often too much emphasis is put on that number. Her article got me thinking about how much emphasis I put on that number. Here I am blogging about my weight-loss and sharing a lot about myself here, but never the numbers that show on the scale week after week. Why does it matter? It doesn't! Today at our WW meeting, one of our members actually said THAT NUMBER out loud to the whole group. No one does that, not even at WW meetings! I applauded her! After reading my friend's article and hearing the lady at our meeting say her number...I've decided to share mine. It doesn't matter. It doesn't change who I am. I am a child of God and am wonderfully made.

My starting weight was 292 pounds. My starting jeans size was 24.

My current weight is 214.8 pounds. My current jeans size is 16.

Weight Watchers gives me a healthy weight range goal of 128-160, so I have at least 55 more pounds to lose. You can see all of my weekly weights on the side bar.

I hope that in sharing this information about myself that you'll be inspired to put less emphasis on the number on the scale and put more emphasis on your health and your heart (your soul). What matters is what is inside of you, not what the scale says.

Thanks for reminding me what matters, C...you're a treasure!

Blessings,

Two

Busy day, so just a quick post for my weekly weigh-in! I lost two pounds this week bringing my total to -77.2! So happy with that number! I didn't realize it until today, but I've now lost over 25%!

Later this week I'm going to post about just how much I eat and still lose weight. Stay tuned for that, you may be amazed!

Weekly Weigh-in!

I lost 1.4 pounds this week which brings my total to....


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75.2 pounds!!!

I'm beyond thrilled to hit this goal this week. All week long I wanted it so badly and prayed for it, too. I drew strength from above when I was having strong cravings, thanks to TOM coming on Sunday, and that strength got me through this week. I did it! I'm flying on a natural high today and am just beaming with joy and doing a little happy dance!

I was recognized at my meeting with the above certificate, the 75 lb charm for my key chain and a magnet. A dear friend stood up and said some very sweet things about me, made me cry because it was so unexpected, and I had so many congratulations from fellow meeting attenders. It felt SO so good, I can only imagine what hitting my lifetime goal is going to feel like once I'm there! Wow...if I feel this great now, how great is that going to feel!?! 

If you need to lose weight to get healthier, know that it can be done! Only ten months ago I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting and look how far I've come. It is unbelievable to me. With God's grace and the WW program, I've come so far already and am looking forward to going even further in this journey. If you need to lose weight, too, you CAN! You can do it, just take that first step, keep going forward and soon enough you'll be sharing in this high feeling of success.

Three Things Thursday

1. I'm looking forward to seeing my husband in less than 24 hours!!! He's been out of town for two (very long) weeks! I'm also looking forward to a women's retreat hosted by my church this weekend. It is my first retreat like this as an adult, and I'm looking forward to fellowship with other women, a few friends, and growing in my faith with them. It will be my first time away from my kiddo overnight, but I'm just fine with that so far...like I said, my DH has been out of town for two weeks, I'm ready for a break.

2. I REALLY want to lose 1.2 pounds this week to hit my -75 mini-goal while my DH is in town so he can celebrate with me. REALLY really really Really want it!!!  Of course, TOM is due to arrive within the next week so who knows what that will mean. I'm drinking my water like crazy to try my best to combat any water retention! Lord, please let it be!

3. I have found myself talking with many friends, some family, and some strangers about joining Weight Watchers and helping them with questions and such. I find it extremely satisfying and am praying about it. Is God leading me to do something like this as my profession? I'm not sure at this point, but I'm definitely feeling a nudge. To date, 23 people, that I'm aware of, have joined WW since I've become more vocal about my efforts. To know that I've inspired 23 people to give it a shot and learn to live healthier lives is so rewarding. It keeps me motivated to keep going, too!

Fresh Look

There's just something about March 1st that makes me want to throw open the windows, dig out my flip-flops, clean my house, and have a fresh look! I thought I'd take that enthusiasm for spring and give my blog a little face lift, too. I got this template free, see the little button on the bottom left sidebar or click here, and think it's cute, fun, and fresh. It is called "Domestic Diva", which is something I strive toward, but fail miserably. :o) Hope you like the new look, if you're a steady reader of mine you know that I often change looks, but I think this one will stay around for awhile!

Enjoy!

March 1st Weigh-in and a little rant about DPA's

I weighed in this morning and lost 1.8 pounds this week! I'm thrilled with the result as I wasn't very good with eating as my DH has been out of town for awhile and I tend to eat more comfort foods when he's away like pasta, pasta, chips and more pasta. I tracked everything I ate, though, and stayed on point and it worked!

At my meeting this morning I was sitting next to a lady and another young lady who I assume is the lady's daughter. Before the meeting started I overheard the older one telling the younger one that it was okay for her not to eat all of her daily points allowance and that she could bank her points for the next day. Meaning if she had 8 points left over at the end of the day, she could eat those 8 the next day without any repercussion. No, no, no! I didn't know what to do, it wasn't my business to correct her as I was just overhearing their conversation, but I didn't want to let it go, either. I told my WW leader about it afterward and she said she would mention it to them. If you are doing that, banking your points, stop right now!!! You daily points allowance is just that...DAILY! Eat those points every day, if you happen to have some left over throughout the day, then you need to change your menu so that you're getting them all in. If you have some left over every day, you'll lose weight, but once you get closer to your goal and you end up eating all of your daily points allowance, you're going to plateau big time and get frustrated. Eating your DPA (daily points allowance) every day allows you to lose weight at a healthy rate and you will continue to do so as you get closer and closer to goal. Don't mess it up by working the system to your benefit now, it doesn't work that way and you won't succeed at maintaining. Weight Watchers works, do the program the way it is intended to be done and you'll have great success!