Monthly WW Update and Inspiration

I haven't moved a muscle to exercise in almost a month. No, I didn't give up on WW. I had foot surgery and have been unable to do more than situps. My one month surgery milestone falls on the same day as my next flight, the earliest he would let me get back in the air. I did find it interesting that:

"The British Government has declared war on obesity, and among its first targets are drinkers. According to British government intel, 'The average wine drinker consumes an extra 2,000 calories a month - the equivalent of 184 bags of crisps.' This comes via The Telegraph, which further notes: 'Few middle class drinkers realise that a couple sharing a bottle of red wine a night are both consuming the equivalent of a Snickers chocolate bar in alcohol.' Appalling. You'd never see the French government release such data."

So my inability to have even an occasional glass of wine because of my meds is saving me a snicker bar every time. Of course, wine is actually ok for you in moderation and as long as you plan it into your overall day. Speaking of planning, I have been tracking and trying to hit my points every day, but with the complete lack of exercise I'll be happy to have a maintenance when I go back next week for weigh-in. I did find the above photo very inspiring. She's exactly my height (5'6") and got down from 211 lbs to her current weight using weight watchers and yoga.

Measuring Success Without a Scale

I, like many people trying to get in shape and lose weight, am not the best of friends with the scale. On some of my best weeks of eating well and working out it won't budge and sometimes the scale goes down inexplicably after I had a Carl's Jr. Guacamole burger (yum). So, in order to stay on track, I need both motivation (our upcoming trip to Hawaii) and a means of measuring success without a scale. Although a generally downward trend on the scale is still important. To date I have found the following to be successful alternates to the scale.

1. Measure with a tape measure instead of a scale

2. Hold onto your skinny jeans and try them on occasionally.

3. Listen to yourself. The more successful I am and the more I have changed the more I hear myself say "no thanks," bring me the doggy-bag with my meal, grill my fish don't fry them, give me my salad dressing on the side. I'll actually see myself stopping when full and pushing the rest away, whereas I used to belong to the clean plate school.

4. I have learned to trim down food associated occasions to be healthy. It's amazing that I totally switched out all of our Super Bowl snacks for healthy ones and the guys didn't notice. I thought that the switch from cheesy pizza and nachos to healthy veggies and salsa would throw them for a loop, but instead they chowed down, wooped and hollered and went home happy.

5. I have learned to reward myself without food. Instead of eating out with appetizers, dinner, and dessert I just splurged on a pair of Lucky jeans. After my first 5 pounds I got a nice new set of pilates gear. When I'm down 5%, I will be going to the spa.


6. When I exercise now I'm not dying after only 5 minutes. I am exercising without exhaustion and can concentrate on form.

7. The last and most completely satisfying way of measuring my success without a scale has been the complements that I've been getting. I don't know if its because of the weight I have lost or the energy I have showing through with my self-confidence, but I have worked hard and my efforts are paying off.

WW Update

Finally had the courage to get back on the scale again today and found out I weigh the same to the 1/10th of a pound what I did on 12/4/08 or the day of my last WW meeting. Ok, holiday didn't totally undo everything and the WW principles totally helped me avoid my typical 5 pound gain and associated guilt. I still need to lose weight, but not more than I did when I started. Yay, go me. Now to tackle my Pilates DVD that arrived in the mail from Blockbuster online.

Being Sick Makes you Healthy

Was sick with a head cold all week which left my head feeling like a solid brick. I still drug myself out to the WW meeting and was pleasantly surprised with a -1.8 loss. This week's weight loss lesson: "when confined to the sofa for the week and eating nothing but broth based soups and lots of liquid, you actually are doing something to make yourself healthy." Heavy foods that you don't want to eat when you are sick are bad for you anyway.

Goings On

Weigh in went well. I was down -.4 lbs. Doesn't seem like a lot, but it represents several small victories. Thanksgiving is a big deal with my family and there always half a dozen options in addition to the basic turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls and pie. I picked things that I don't usually have as every day items the rest of the year, filled my plate with 1/2 veggies and ate only one plate. I was a slow eater so I was eating steadily through the same amount of time as others went back for 2nd and 3rd plate fulls. I was so proud of myself. 

I am even more proud because this week also involved a bunch of stressful family and Army events. My husband was promoted into a new position in the reserves. No change of rank or pay, but a big change in responsibility. He now is responsible for 150 soldiers and 13 million in equipment, a very hard thing to manage well as a reservist with a full time life already. This is placing huge demands on his time. 

We worked on setting up his office again and are re-instituting date nights. This one night a week where he agrees not to do Army stuff and we do something together is important. We did this when I was in grad school and tended to just pick at doing my homework rather than focusing on it. We set up date nights which forced me to do my work more diligently and then set aside time for us. We also made a road trip with my in-laws and stayed with my parents for 3 days, all in one week! I would have been happy with all of the family events, holidays and social occasions this week just to maintain weight wise, I was ecstatic to lose.

So lesson learned, plan ahead for social occasions and that takes a lot of the emotional aspects of eating out of it. 

Why Gaining is Good

Weighed in tonight and gained. I'm now up 1.4 lbs and that's a good thing. No, I'm not anorexic and trying to gain, I actually need to lose. But, gaining my first week is a great thing. If I had fudged 2 social occasions and got away with it by still losing then I'd be more prone to fudging again. I'm now hyper vigilant with calculating my points, writing everything down and preparing ahead for social occasions by looking at the menu before going to the restaurant (taking the temptation to splurge away) or by bringing something that I know I can eat to a social occasion at someones house. Also, for the first time since I graduated college I have an exercise routine. I've added 3 days of gym to my haphazard Pilates class attendance. Upside is I'm sleeping better and have more energy. Who would have thought that doing something tiring makes you have more energy? I think I knew that, but now I believe it.

Also, big plug here for WW e-tools. I can sit down for 5 minutes with hubby and pick out all of our dinners for the week, then I add in my breakfasts and lunches and pre-plan our week. I then hit the shopping list button and boom, shopping list is done, sorted by department of the grocery store. No shopping hungry and bringing home junk, hubby is on board with all dinner selections and I have a plan rather than staring into the fridge at night. If we switch things up and order Chinese or something, I just delete or reschedule the pre-planned meal for that day. Makes my life simple.

Me Weight Watchers, Bring it On/Take it Off

One of the gals at work talked me into going to Weight Watchers. I think committing to something like a weekly meeting will be good for me. My husband is my best friend so I talk to him about everything, but it is nice to receive support from someone else. Poor guy, probably tired of hearing my body image complaints. I successfully lost 40 lbs prior to our wedding and got within 10 lbs of my goal. Since that time I've crept back up until today I stepped on the scale and cringed when I saw that the number was within 5 lbs of where I was at my peak 4 years ago. Ouch, back where I started. This time I'm not cutting out all carbs, but am trying for a more sustainable approach. I was diagnosed with PCOS this time last year. My Dr. prescribed a drug for it, but it makes me feel like I have permanent morning sickness so I stopped taking it. The other remedy for PCOS is weight-loss so I promised myself to go with that approach. The same day as I went to my first Weight Watcher's meeting I got my reminder that its time to make my next appointment. I really don't want to sit across from an OBGYN and have him tell me, "So you did nothing and are still having symptoms, surprising." I'll go when I've made a little progress at least. Motivation for many reasons.

I think health is a better motivator than a special occasion. My wedding was a motivation, but not an incentive for a sustainable change. We have a family wedding coming up next June so it would be tempting to lose weight for that, but really I need to do it for me, for my health, and for my way of life. I just want my energy back.

Also, I'm only 25. I had the idea that Weight Watchers is for old fat Moms. Apparently, not true, there were young ladies, not so heavy people, Grandmas and even a guy. I was pleasantly surprised. With the combination of e-tools to make me accountable for everything and meetings for motivation I am hopeful.