Temptations

It's not secret that you don't become overweight by eating carrots, celery, and broccoli and getting plenty of exercise. Pizza, pasta, cupcakes, and other delicious foods are what have added to my waistline over the years and have come to be staples in my diet. In order to start losing weight and move toward a healthier lifestyle, I need to learn how to enjoy my old favorites in moderation, while still maintaining a dominantly healthy diet.

I started Weight Watchers on Saturday. My daily PointsPlus allowance is 43 points. This number is based on my age, height, weight, and some other factors and is personalized to me and my needs at this point. As I progress, the number will go down, eventually shrinking to a measly 26 points per day! In addition to these points, every person in the program has a weekly allowance of 49 additional points to use as you please. 

The main goal of the program is to focus on eating "Power Foods" such as lean meats, vegetables, fruits, and other healthier options. These Power Foods are expected to make up the majority of your daily PointsPlus allowance. The weekly allowance is for indulging on sweets and other temptations that you may come across in a week.

This week, my first week back on the program, has been full of temptations. On Saturday night, we went out for my cousin's 21st birthday. I used a couple points on doing a Patriot Bomb shot. On Sunday, we had a birthday party for my cousin. I used some the majority of my daily points eating wings, spinach artichoke dip, and birthday cake and had to use some of my weekly allowance later in the day to have something small for dinner. Monday and Tuesday were relatively successful and temptation free. On Wednesday, I went to lunch at a new local restaurant with some coworkers. There were NO healthy options, so I ended up eating a grilled cheese and some french fries. The french fries were not good, but I still ate every last one of them, wasting 11 points for the day. Needless to say, when I got home, I was hungry, and had almost no points left for the day. I used a good majority of my weekly allowance on dinner and an evening snack yesterday. 

That brings me to today - the biggest temptation of the week. A coworker of mine is leaving to start a new job and we had a smorgasbord of food this morning. Cookies, cupcakes, fruit pizza, breakfast casseroles, cinnamon rolls, and other delicious options. I helped myself to a large plate of food. It's a celebration - why not? Well, I have no idea how to track anything I ate. I have no idea how many points I consumed, but it's safe to say, it was A LOT. I haven't had lunch or dinner and I am sure I'm dangerously close to meeting today's allowance and I have only 20 more weekly allowance points. 

Life is full of temptations. Unexpected events, celebrations, or other social gatherings will constantly pull you out of your comfort zone. It's up to you to make the choices or have an alternate plan. I didn't do well in choice making or planning this week and gave in to every temptation that came my way. It wasn't a very good way to start WW, but I'm still hopeful that I'll have a loss this week. I weigh in on Saturday morning. Tonight and tomorrow will definitely be full of exercise!

Week One

I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting on Saturday! It was really nice. I went back to the Weight Watchers I had gone to in the past and there were a few familiar faces. I've been doing well with my tracking of points. It definitely takes longer to figure out if I can eat something because I can't just look at the calorie content and know that it fits into my day. I find it's helped deter me from eating a couple things because I simply didn't want to mess around with figuring out how many points it was! 

I didn't get any exercise in the weekend. On Saturday, two of my friends and I drove a few hours to meet another friend and her husband for lunch. We ate at Olive Garden and ended up being at the restaurant almost 3 hours! It is so nice to catch up with friends I don't get to see often! Sunday was my cousin's 21st birthday so we went out to the bar at midnight to help him celebrate! 

I'm hoping that the coming week will allow me to get some exercise done and speed up my weight loss for my first official WW weigh in!

Weight Watchers

I've been doing well this week. I've stayed on track, I've exercised, and I've kept my head in the game. I realize it's only been three days, but this is an accomplishment for me. I feel like I'm really focused right now and I am hopeful that I am finally in it for the long haul.

I've mentioned that I used to be a Weight Watchers member and that I've lost a good amount of weight following their program. I have really been missing it lately, but I just couldn't pull the trigger and spend the money. I got an email offer on Tuesday about buying one month and getting another free. Registration would also be free with this offer. It really caught my eye and after some debating, I signed up.

I am going to go back to my old Weight Watchers group on Saturday mornings. I am going to go back to counting points, having someone else record my weight, and carrying around a little journal to track every bite that I eat. I am really excited about it. I was talking with a couple friends last night and I explained that as much a I love MyFitnessPal, I easily shut it out of my mind when I don't feel like doing well. I stop tracking or even completely stop logging on to the website when I want to lose focus and indulge on whatever I see. With WW, I've never done that. I've always, always, held myself accountable. Someone else records my weight. I can't lie to myself, because that person will know what I've done. They'll see the evidence on the scale. 

I'm very excited about restarting the program! :)

Baby Steps

It seems like every time that I post, I'm posting about how horribly I've recently done and how I have this huge new plan to start over and do well. This could fall into that category of posts, as I haven't lost any weight, I haven't eaten anything healthy in weeks, and I am nowhere near reaching any of the goals I have in place for my wedding.

I started this week with a plan. On Sunday, I sat down and planned all of our meals for the week and wrote out a grocery list. We went to the store, stuck to the list, and came home with a ton of healthy food to keep us on track this week.

Yesterday went well. We had the most delicious dinner and I even spent half an hour riding my bike. The weather was nice so it helped to keep me motivated and happy. Today, I started off with a healthy breakfast and have packed a good lunch and some snacks to keep me occupied until dinner. I'm planning to work out right when I get home. Even if it's just a quick workout DVD, it's still calories burned.

Baby steps.