A Year From Now...

"A year from now you'll wish you had started today."

 

It is a quote that I read on someone's blog in January 2010. It spoke to me and by April I was ready to start losing weight and stick with it once and for all. April 29th, 2010 I walked into my first Weight Watcher's meeting and throughout the last year I often reflected on that quote knowing that a year later I was going to be so glad that I did start that day. Well, that day is nearly here. Yesterday I weighed in for the week and gained 2 pounds, but that number doesn't matter to me this week. I brought my size 24 jeans to my meeting yesterday and received a standing ovation for my year anniversary and accomplishment. I held back the tears and smiled through it. It felt so awesome to be celebrated! This week I'm looking at the big picture. I'm remembering where I was a year ago and am celebrating where I am today.

In the last year I've:

• Gone down from a size 24 jeans to a size 14
• Lost 75 1/2 inches from head to toe
• Exercised, on purpose, and enjoyed it
• Ran through the yard with my son and didn't get winded
• Gone up and down my stairs several times without wheezing or being out of breath
• Played with my son for hours at a time without stopping to take a break
• Wore a dress for the first time in years
• Walked my first 5K and many after that!
• Walked my first 10K
• Met every single goal that I set for myself, and learned how to set realistic goals for myself
• Lost 28% of my starting weight
• Smiled and laughed a lot more...joy from health and energy!
• Shared my journey with friends and family and have encouraged 25 other people in my life (that I'm aware of) to join Weight Watchers
• Never missed a single WW meeting, I went every week!
• Learned that it doesn't matter what number is on the scale or in the back of my pants as long as I'm feeling better along the way and am continuing towards a healthier life.

I'm so incredibly blessed to have the family and friends that I do. The friends who have supported me along the way are wonderful and I'm so so thankful for each one of them.  There are those who support me by literally cheering me on each week through this blog, Facebook, emails or phone calls. There are those who cheer me on when they see me at my MOPS meetings or play dates for our kids. I've had teachers and parents at my son's school cheer me on. There are those who I know are silently cheering me on, too. You're all blessings to me and I'm so thankful for each one of you. I'm not done with this journey, so I look forward to what the next year will bring. I have no idea what the future holds, but I know that with God ALL things are possible and He is cheering me on and giving me the strength to continue.

"A year from now you'll wish you had started today."

This week I'm starting my year once again!

What Does Losing 60 Pounds Look Like?

I did it! I went to a WW meeting this morning to learn all about the brand new program they launched today...more on that later! In order to get my new daily points allowance, I had to weigh in. I wasn't planning to weigh-in today since I usually do on Thursdays, but I had to in order to know how many points to eat each day on the new system. I lost 2.2 pounds since Wednesday, which took me to -61 pounds! I'm thrilled with that progress. Tomorrow is my 7 month WW anniversary, so that averages out 8.7 pounds per month, or 1.9 per week. I'm right on track and am losing this weight at a healthy rate, which is the most important thing to me. Here is a slide show of what losing 60 pounds looks like on me!

61 pounds = 244 sticks of butter

61 pounds = 3 bags of my dog's food

61 pounds = 12 5lb bags of potatoes

61 pounds = my dog + my two cats!

61 pounds = 976 ounces  (ooo....I should calculate my weigh-in's by ounces! Hehe)

Okay, now I'll write a little about WW's new program. I'm not going to write out the formulas to calculate points or figure out how many points you should get (WW didn't even give us that info anyway!). I AM going to encourage you to JOIN WEIGHT WATCHERS if you need to lose weight. It works. It really, really works and it is easy to do! I promise I have not suffered while losing this weight, not at all. I have no paychecks coming from Weight Watchers, I have no stock in the company. I am just the average Weight Watchers who believes in the program and wishes that everyone who needs to lose weight would just join and do the program so that they could enjoy the same success I have! It is worth every penny! What I will tell you about the new WW program is this, science has changed what we know about our bodies and food and how they relate. Because of new knowledge, the points system has changed. Fresh fruits and veggies are now zero points! That's exciting because a regular banana used to be two points. I now get more daily points than I used to and everyone gets 49 weekly points rather than the prior 35. Food costs more points, though. My yogurt used to be zero points, now it is one. My snack bars used to be one point, now they're two. Some foods go up by a lot, some a little and some didn't change at all. Instead of being calculated on calories, fat, and fiber, points are now calculated by fiber, protein, fat, and carbohydrates. That's it, that's all the information I'm going to share. I hope that you'll consider joining WW if you want to know more about it. IT WORKS!!! If you're unsure, go to my Progress Pictures page or my NSV's page and see the results.

Gaining Momentum

 I had a gain this week. After suffering a stomach bug the week prior and losing 3.6 pounds as a result, I was hungry and had a gain. It was only 0.8 pound and only my third gain in the nearly seven months that I've been losing weight, so I'm not too upset about it. I'm over the stomach bug, but now I have a cold! I haven't been to the gym for a few weeks and I really want to get back (I've been sick since the 7th!). Hopefully this cold won't last long and I can get to the gym this week. I'm ready to start losing again and I think changing things up will be exactly what I need to do that.

Weight Watchers is changing up their program! They say it is the biggest change in over 13 years to the program! DH and I are going to the introductory class on Sunday to learn about the new program and I'm looking forward to it. I read through WW's website that fruit will now be FREE! I've read, and heard from my meeting leader, that people who are already doing this new program are having great successes with it. I'm excited and think that a big change like this is exactly what I need right now.

Goal and Changes

I finally reached my -55 pound goal! I reached it at home earlier in the week, but my weigh-in at WW this morning made it official!

The last six weeks I've lost 1 pound each week. After having weeks of 2-3 pounds, or sometimes more, one pound at a time has proved frustrating for me. Instead of focusing on that frustration, though, I'm changing things up! Here's how:

• My DH and I joined a gym this week.  I went yesterday and walked a 5K on the treadmill and spent 20 minutes on an elliptical. I plan on going back tomorrow, early morning, to start working out before my DH has to go to work. (Thursdays are my off day since they're my WW meeting days.)
• I'm going to focus more on filling foods, rather than just point values. That means a lot more fruits, veggies, dairy and whole grains. I believe that is how we're all meant to eat and it is what I've learned through WW meetings, it is time to get serious about making that more of a focus.
• I'm going to cut my soda intake to just one a week. I'll have one on Thursdays, which is my "cheat" day, though I still count my points and stay on track. 

If those changes don't bring me a little more success on the scale, then I'll be happy with the changes I'm making in my life and celebrate each pound,

Seeing Stars...

Tonight I went to my WW meeting and I saw stars. I got another 5lb star and this:

I also earned another charm for my key chain. For those who don't know about the WW key chains, you get the key chain when you reach your 10% loss goal. Then you get a washer at 25, 50, 75, and 100 pounds lost. The clapping hands with the "16" on them is for 16 weeks of meetings and I also have a 5K charm for completing my first 5K walk. I have this hanging on a little suction cup on the front of my fridge. It serves as a daily reminder of how far I've come and my success.

 

Here is a slide show of my starting weight and then -50 pounds:

Lose For Good~ Help Feed the Hungry!

Today is Lose-A-Polooza for the Lose For Good Weight Watchers Campaign! For every accepted mention or acknowledgment of “Lose For Good” made on September 14th through blogs, Twitter, Facebook and check-ins via foursquare, Weight Watchers will donate $1 – up to $60,000* – to Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger.

Click HERE to learn more about the Lose For Good campaign and find out how you can help feed the hungry while losing weight; a win for everyone!  


Click HERE to learn more about Share Our Strength. Share Our Strength is a program that helps feed hungry children at school. A hungry child can't learn, which is why they fund organizations that make sure they have nutritious meals each school day. They fund breaskfasts, lunches, snacks and even meals throughout the summer.

Click HERE to learn more about Action Against Hunger. Action Against Hunger has world-wide nutrition programs, water sanitation programs and livelihood programs. Click HERE to see where around the world their work is being done.

Along with donations to these two fantastic organizations, Weight Watchers Lose For Good participants around the world are donating non-perishable food items to their local food banks. I will be donating as many pounds as I have lost by the end of the campaign (Oct. 23rd) in food. I encourage you to do the same whether or not you need to lose weight! Better yet, join Weight Watchers today and join in the Lose For Good campaign. You'll get healthier and you'll be helping the hungry in your area and across the world, too! You can't go wrong!

Be sure to comment on this blog post and include "Lose For Good" in your comment! For each comment made TODAY, another $1 will be donated!!

Seven

Today is four weeks from the last time I took my measurements so it was time to do it again. I was a little nervous, though now I know I had nothing to worry about! I have lost seven inches from head to toe in the last four weeks! Wow! My grand total since the end of April is 12 3/4"! I've been working hard at staying on point and have been doing really well with that, but I'm still surprised by the results. Weight Watchers really does work if you DO it!

Tracking

I didn't track my points yesterday or today until just a moment ago. I was falling away from it and caught myself! Yesterday I did better than I thought I did and was actually under points by 6, but today was a different story with DQ for lunch and a Blizzard for dessert. I had 12 more points today that my daily allowance. Thank goodness for those 35 weekly points! There is still hope that I can lose this week. I need to walk every day and stay on point the rest of the week and I should be fine. I need to push my water intake, too. I've been slacking on that the last few days, too and have felt so tired because of it. I made my confession, now I'm ready to tackle tomorrow with a fresh, healthy start!