On the Menu This Week

Greek Style Cheeseburgers
Vegetarian Black Bean Chili
Roasted Cornish Hens with Quinoa and Broccoli

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Time to get things started

I'm not even sure where to begin. I have been on this weight loss journey for 6 months now. This is certainly not my first effort at weightloss but I am determined it will be my LAST. For some reason this time it all clicked. A lightbulb went off and it has been easier than ever before. Was it the prep work I did before I started? Was it that the motivation was totally mine and not some desire to look better for others or because my doctor told me to? I'm not sure but it has been easier, I was ready and it has followed from there.

I have not lost every week, and I'm not fool enough to think that I will, that's probably part of the difference, I'm looking at the big downward trend without dates attached, I will reach my goal when I do and an arbitrary date on the calendar won't change that. Yes, I do have goals, I would like to average 1.5 pounds a week, note average not lose 1.5 pounds a week. So I'm looking at months not weeks or days. So far I'm a bit short of that but not much.

How am I doing it? WeightWatchers and exercise. I am following the Momentum program and working out regularly.

What am I eating. Anything I want. IN MODERATION. I have had ice cream, I have wine with dinner a few times each week. I weigh in on Saturday morning and I usually use the bulk of my weekly points on Saturday (some on Sunday) to indulge in higher calorie foods or beverages. This works great for me, I never feel deprived, i'm not loaded with sodium for a weigh-in (hence i try not to eat out on Fridays and have the scale reflect water weight and not a real picture), and I am still enjoying eating out and eating higher calorie options. The key for me is to indulge and then go back to my program. Even the indulgences are part of the program, they are planned, they are calories I plan to spend in a particular way to help me stay on target for the long term.

This is long term, this is the way I plan to eat for the rest of my life. Healthy eating and exercise that's my long term plan and goal.

Ultimately I would like to lose just over 100 pounds which would be almost 125 pounds from my highest recorded weight. I did manage to keep off almost 25 pounds from the last time I did weightwatchers and lost 50 pounds, maintenance will be the key, losing I know I can do, I have to look at how to live the rest of my life so I keep it off.

1 comment:

My Plan

I did WeightWatchers once before in 2004-2005. I lost 50 pounds. I gained some back going through my divorce but the good news is I kept off 20 of them until I restarted WeightWatchers in January 2009.

For the first time, I have found a plan that was easy to stick to. Something just felt right this time. Before embarking on WeightWatchers I re-read some books I had found helpful in the middle of my last journey. The books are listed under "Weight Loss" Books on the side bar, and a blog post about them will follow soon. These books helped get me mentally prepared to lose weight and they are the reason I think I am finding losing to be less of a struggle. I am not letting myself get discouraged by small gains and I am seeing far more consistent results.

WeightWatchers gives you a points target based on weight and basic daily activity level. Every food has a points value based on calories, fiber and fat. Then its like a checkbook you start with your daily balance, subtract for foods eaten and add for activity done which can earn you points. Exercise=More Food. Each food point is roughly 50 calories and each activity point is worth roughly 100, I use a heart-rate monitor to calculate my activity points earned.

You also get 35 weekly points to use as you want anytime during the week. For me the most successful both mentally and on the scale is to use most of those points on Saturday night for a splurge and to then stick to my daily points fairly closely the rest of the week. It helps me to know my favourite foods are only a week away if I want them. People can manage the plan however they want but for me this is the most successful. When I'm working out a lot I try to eat some of those activity points as well. Ironically I get much smaller losses the weeks I don't eat those points on Saturday, maybe it shakes up my metabolism, who knows I just know it works

Finally my last key to my plan is attending meetings. It helps keep me accountable and on track.

Weight Loss Slideshow