6th Time's A Charm! (Comments Welcome :) )

[jdanjou]

Let me start by telling you my story. I've been doing Weight Watchers since January 2011 (this is the 6th time I've been on WW). During that time I've lost as much as 40 pounds, but am currently sitting at 23.6 pounds lost. I have about 50 pounds to go. This is the first time I've stuck with the program longer than 4 months. I made a conscious decision this time to not give up, no matter what, and I can say that I faithfully attend meetings every Saturday. While there are times I beat myself up because I'm not at goal after 2.5 years, I feel like I'm losing it the way I intend to live it so I'll be much more likely to maintain the loss.

I plan to use this forum to keep track of random thoughts, good days, bad days, food finds, workout routines, and just my unusual musings. I hope this journal can inspire and motivate others along their weight-loss journey, or at least provide a laugh or two. Stay tuned...

 

[jdanjou]

My WW leader is a bit crazy. But since she's basically my twin, I guess that makes me a bit crazy as well. She is probably one of the biggest reasons I've stuck with it so long this time. In the last 2 and a half years, I've never had a bad meeting as long as she's been leading it. I can relate well to her because we're both accountants by training, OCD, love chocolate, and we are both opinionated.

Last fall I had a Jamaican vacation planned and had bought all new bikini's to wear. I didn't have a single 1 piece suit, or a tankini in my possession. About 9 weeks out I realized that I needed to drop about 15 pounds in order to look decent in them. I was having a hard time motivating myself and couldn't seem to get my tracking and eating under control. Knowing that my leader is crazy, I willingly emailed her and asked her to make me her pet project for those 9 weeks. This included me having to send her my tracker every day, and her making an example of me in quite a few meetings. I didn't mind, as it was a huge help, and I got those 15 pounds off before I left.

Well, since then, I've put every single one of those pounds back on and have kind of been avoiding her. She hadn't said much to me either. So this morning, after the meeting, I went to ask her about the trip she took to Disney several months ago, just to get some tips. That is when the scolding began. It wasn't rude, mean scolding, but she basically told me that I need to get over myself, quit being lazy, and start working the program like I did before Christmas last year. We then spent 15 minutes talking about all things Disney, including comparing the spreadsheets we had created to help with dining reservations. I knew I liked this lady. I figured she would probably freak out when I told her that we were doing the deluxe dining plan, and she actually thought it was a fantastic idea because it would give me some better food choices than just the quick service meals.

So now I'm on her radar. She asked if I needed to start sending my trackers to her again like I did last year, but she settled on just asking me every Saturday how things are going. So now I must be on my best behavior for the next 23 weeks , because she will look up my weight record in the WW system if I'm not there. I'm shooting for 30 pounds. Let the challenge begin!

 

[jdanjou]

Yesterday I went to a baseball game with my parents. They have a memebership at the club restaurant at the ballpark and they decided to make reservations for an early lunch before the game. I had no idea what would be on the menu or what kind of food would be offered, so I really couldn't plan for the meal. When we walked in, we saw them setting up a brunch buffet. Normally, buffets are very dangerous for me. After looking at the menu and seeing very few low point options, all of which were salads, I decided to give the buffet a try. The plus side here is the fact that were not seated close, and I would have to climb a flight of stairs to reach the buffet.

I went up for my first trip and they had a huge tray of fruit and another huge tray of fresh vegetables. I loaded up on those. The next station was shrimp cocktail. I had just enough room on my plate for 5-6 shrimp and some cocktail sauce. Another plus to a buffet is I don't like my food to touch on my plate. By the time I was done eating that first plate, I was almost full. The grand total for my first plate was 1 points plus (pineapple, strawberries, cantaloupe, carrots, zucchini, less than a teaspoon of ranch, and about a teaspoon of cocktail sauce).

After hauling myself up the stairs for my second trip, there wasn't much that looked good to me, and I think that's because I was full. Trust me, on the first time up everything looked great! I got some more zucchini and ranch (I had no idea I liked raw zucchini), about 2 tablespoons of pasta salad, a half cup of roasted potatoes, and a slice of prime rib. The prime rib was awful and after 1 bite I was done. I ended up using only 5 points plus for lunch. Never in my life have I been able to get full at a buffet for 5 points. I was so proud of myself!!