A Little of This, Some of That

I started this journey as an experiment on June 27. That is 20 weeks or 5 months ago. (20 sounds longer....) There have been bumps in the road, I'll not deny it, but over all I have accomplished a lot. More then I had thought possible in this time frame in some ways and less then others. I still have a long way to go to get to my goal weight. As of this writing, 74 pounds. While that sounds like a lot, and it is, It's better then the 100 I started out with. Had I hoped it would come off faster? I'd be lying if I said I didn't. I believe it is safe to assume we ALL hope it comes off faster! Still 26 pounds in 20 weeks is nothing to sneeze at. Yesterday, I opted to weigh in early. I normally go to a meeting in the evening but with timing for work it would have been very tight. I assumed that I would be down for the simple reason that I was weighing in the morning. NOT. I showed a 2.4 pound GAIN. Can you say discouraged!!??? To say the least, I was discouraged by t...

Week 15, where am I? In the beginning of this journey, my goal was simply to loose weight. I have approached this from various ways, as some of you will know, and have not found anything that I could stick with. Jenny Craig, KETO, Pineapple...you name it. I even did several versions of Weight Watchers, all to no avail.  Why? Because I found them too restrictive or to costly or both. So, I decided I needed to approach the issue from a different angle. I have decided to view it as a job to loose weight. At work, you need to follow the rules and protocols and do you job.  Using this perspective, I again sought a weight loss program.  Weight Watchers new program came up on my radar and I decided to give it a shot again and got in on a six month special. A Win off the back. Over the last 15 weeks, I have seen my weight drop, almost effortlessly. Yes, it is work to plan, but as the weeks have gone by and I see the weight coming off, it has become easier to stick with the ...

I am now three months into my "experiment" with the Weight Watchers FreeStyle program During the last three months, I celebrated 3 family birthdays, including my own, and a 2 and a half week vacation in Europe including places like France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland.  Think, bread, cheese, wine, beer and chocolate. With the amounts of Zero point foods, not once have I gone hungry. While I have denied myself a few things (funnel cakes for one) I have still incorporated my favorites- chocolate, wine and beer, into my own personal plan. So far, three months into my original 6 months, I am down 21.8 pounds. An average of 1.7 pounds per week.  I gained one week a whopping .6 pounds which the following week was a 3 pound loss. In addition to the needle moving on the scale, I have been able to fit into clothes that I haven't been able to wear in a few years. I have learned some interesting food combinations that I would never have tried before, and discovered tha...

I am now 2 months in on the WW program. Someone once asked me about diet programs and what was the best one.... As you know there are thousands of fad diets. My response was the diet you can stick with. While I feel there is still truth to that statement, I have shaped my view a bit more as I'm traveling along this journey. "Diets" don't work. At all. Nada. And about now you are thinking What? Of course they do!  I  lost weight once on...(fill in the blank) before I quit and gained it back. And therein is the crux. A diet is something you do for awhile to loose weight. If  you are like me, you've tried keto, pineapple, powders, liquids...and on and on. And yes, I lost weight on each and everyone. Gained every pound back and then some after I went back to eating 'real food'. So, if diet's don't really work, how do we loose weight? The answer is: Lifestyle changes. Easy, right? NOT. This is were WW program is really making the dif...

WOW! Already six weeks into the weight watchers program. I must say that, while there have been struggles, the time has gone quickly. To date, not every week saw a weight loss. Some weeks were only two tenths of a pound. But as of last night's weigh in, I am officially down 14 + pounds. Have I 'cheated'? Yes. Have I always made good choices? No Have I learned not to make poor choices? Not always. After all, where would be the fun in that? After the first four weeks, the program encourages you to add movement. Not 'exercise' per say, just getting out and moving more. Whatever that may be. It is different for each person's journey. For me, now that I'm down in weight and feeling better, I found a place nearby that I could return to taking horseback riding lessons after a hiatus of a decade. (yes riding is movement and I was very happy to see that it burns as much or more calories as walking!) I've also added walking three days a week for 20 m...

No other way to name today's blog. Ugh. For whatever reason, I was hungry all day  yesterday. No matter what I drank or ate, I simply could not be satisfied, until I opened the cheez snacks...... I used every single point of my dailies and several of my weekly points but I didn't use all. I think several factors played into the issue yesterday. One, I didn't pack enough food for the day at work. I didn't have anything left over for lunch and no quick foods prepared, like boiled eggs. That meant when I got home, I made dinner-at 1530. Since I ate dinner so flippin early that meant I was hungry come 7pm. Hence the snacking. Now, writing this down, I realize the real issue was the lack of planning this week. I'm close to being in the same boat as I write this as I didn't make up any eggs or salads for today. Hummmm. Planning.  Could it really be that simple? I clearly do better when I plan out my meals in advance, always making sure I have left over...