Weigh-in Week 174: Every bit counts?

Well today at weigh-in I was down 0.3lbs for a new weight of 159.3lbs and a total loss of 92.3lbs. Better than the alternative and every little bit counts am I right? I hope so. As you know I’m finding it harder to believe lately, but I am trying.

I am excited about autumn coming soon though! I have great optimism about the coming months and my ability to get back on track and to re-earn my 100lb charm. I told the WW receptionist this morning what had happened and she offered to get me a new one right away, but I turned it down. I’m taking it a sign from the world and an opportunity to re-earn the charm and actually hit and stay at my 100lbs lost goal. I will do it!

It was shiny and gold and I got it on December 27th, 2012. Here’s hoping it doesn’t take until December 2013 to get it back!

Weigh-in Week 59: I’m overweight!

Yippee! Yahoo!  I have officially crossed over into “overweight” territory from the land of “obese” according to my bmi which now sits at 29.8. I weighed in today and I was down 2.1lbs for a new weight of 173.9 and a total of 77.7lbs lost!

I have been away for work for the past week and a half. At my last weigh-in I was down 0.1 lbs and I completely thought I would have gained for this week. I didn’t track for 4 days. I nibbled. A lot. I had access to pastries, and crackers, and cheese. Oh my. I did manage to get in 4 runs over the week and half, but no proper gym session with weight training. I tried to get back on track on Sunday and Monday – and I think I did to a certain extent. I say I think because at least in my head it didn’t feel like I had a good handle on my eating. And so I prepared myself psychologically for a gain. Now I don’t think I did a very good job of it as I actually contemplated not going to weigh-in. Yup. But I went and I was pleasantly surprised.

This also marks a great milestone for me (drum roll please!)….I’ve officially reached my mini goal #3 🙂  Woohoo! (you can see them in the right hand column). I don’t know what my reward will be, I wasn’t expecting this to happen so soon. Ack! I’ll have to think it through. I have been meaning to take a vacation in July when I get back…perhaps there’s something in that!

Something else amazing that happened? I got the Weight Watchers 5K charm for my keychain 🙂  It was only for those participating in this weekend’s 5K walk, but since I was out of town AND I’d previously run an official 5K race I got to have one. As you probably well know by now, I love charms and stickers. Here’s what it looks like:

I’ve added it to my keychain already. I hope it lasts though. This one’s made of plastic unlike the others which are metal. Probably has to do with the fact that they had so many to give out for this challenge.

I’m home for two weeks before my biggest challenge of going to the States for work for 3 weeks. Twelve hour work days again (who says people in the arts don’t work hard! I haven’t had a day off since May!!) and also completely different food and no real access to cooking my food myself. I worry about having to eat out all the time and no time to exercise. I worry about the larger portions.  I think I’ll have to be even more diligent about portion sizes and this will be  a true test of my ability to manage my eating in the face of temptation.

Any suggestions on how to face temptation when traveling for work or on vacation?

Weigh-in Week 56: 75lbs lost!

Oh yay! I can’t believe it. I weighed in today and was down 2.2lbs for a new weight of 175lbs with a total of 76.6lbs lost so far!

I was NOT expecting this at all. I can usually feel when I’ve lost and today I still felt the same. But lo and behold there was a loss of 2.2lbs!

This means I’ve passed the 75lbs lost milestone at weight watchers and I got a new charm for my keychain. Here’s a pic of my booklet and my charms so far:

I also have my 16 week charm, but I forgot to take a picture of it.  The shiny one is the 75lbs – the others are getting dull from my key chain. My leader also found me an old WW magnet which I am thrilled to have! YIPPEE!!!

I think I’ve passed some sort of a threshold with my weight loss. MANY of my friends and colleagues have been commenting on my loss and paying me compliments. A good friend at work commented how suddenly I’d lost a lot of weight. But I really haven’t. As you all know, it’s actually been a bit slow and frustrating the last couple months. But I think that something has happened with my body – maybe it’s due to weight loss or maybe it’s all the running but it’s definitely changed.

I keep saying “I think” because to be honest I still can’t quite see it. At least not in the mirror. I can feel it when I lie down and feel my sternum and my hip bones, or when I just look at my clavicles, but as far as a whole body change, I don’t see it as much. It’s such a psychoclogical journey I find. I hope my brain will catch up.

What I do know is that I have no summer clothes. Nothing fits anymore. Really it’s a great problem to have, but I’m not looking forward to the cost!!

Weigh-in Week 35: 50lbs Lost!!

WOOHOO!!! I was down 2.4lbs at weigh-in today and I have officially lost 50.4lbs!! I am so excited! I got my 50lbs keychain charm today from the WW leader 🙂 however there were only 4 people at the meeting today.  It is the week after xmas so what did I expect! My leader said she would re-announce it next week if there were more people.

I am on cloud nine! I can’t believe I lost over xmas week – I guess my strategy did work!! And I did manage to exercise yesterday at my brother’s – a half hour on a recumbent bike.

Here’s a photo of my new charm, my other charms, and my stickers marking my 50lbs lost. I ask for stickers both in my PointsPlus book and in my weigh-in booklet. I am such a sucker for those stickers. Seriously.

The most important issue now is…HOW AM I GOING TO REWARD MYSELF?! 😀 I have no idea. I didn’t make a specific plan. I bought those cute bras for my 25lbs. I’ll have to think of something this week!

Here is also my photo of weight lost. A full jug of water and a 10lbs bag of potatoes. THAT’S what I’ve been carrying around with me.

 

I never want to go back to that. I never want to carry around that kind of extra weight again. I feel amazing lately. This worries me a bit to be honest – because I’m worried that it will derail me and my efforts. I’m worried that I’ll start thinking – “hey, this is great, I’m healthy, I’m good. I don’t need to keep going.” If this happens I KNOW that I will not just stop losing weight, but that I will gain it back.  I know I need to address this issue as it will not just go away when I reach my goal weight and start maintenance.  If I don’t look really deeply at what causes me to gain the weight, I will never be able to maintain my weight loss. To be honest I don’t have the answer to this one yet. This is something I started when I recommitted to weight loss in August and something I continue to explore.

I’ve lost 10%!!!

Tuesday and time for my weekly weigh-in and today is a special occasion. I weighed-in and was down 1.2lbs once again for a total loss of 25.2lbs!  This means I’ve reached my first goal of losing 10% of my body weight.  WOOHOO!!!

It took me a total of 22 weeks to get here. (It says 23 in the picture, but that’s because they accidently stamped Sept 14 twice as you can see).  That seems like a long time – even to me.  But I didn’t really get serious about my recommittment to weight loss until about week 14 /the beginning of August.  Between May 4, 2010 and July 27, 2010 I only lost 6.8lbs.  I kept losing and gaining the same weight over and over again. Well something switched in August. I knew that I could do it, I just wasn’t understanding WHY I wasn’t doing it. So I put my big girl panties on and said enough is enough. I took control and here I am – 18.4lbs down in 9 weeks! Yippee! Here’s a photo of my weigh-in booklet:

It’s such a silly thing – but I really like those 5 pound stickers. They really do keep me motivated. But that’s not the only thing I got. At today’s meeting I also got my 10% keychain AND my 25lb charm :).  For those not familiar with Weight Watchers they give you little gifts for various milestones.  When you lose 10% of your weight you get a key chain, at 16 weeks for attending meetings you get a little charm with clapping hands, and then you get disc charms at 25lbs, 50lbs, and 100lbs, and charms when you hit your goal weight and lifetime status (maintaining for 6 weeks). So far I have my keychain, 16week charm, and 25lb disc!  Here’s a photo of that too:

Just in case any of you are wondering what it says on my sticker card (it’s in French because they were out of English ones when I signed up) it says “Adieu les régimes. Allô la vie.” Which translated means “Good-bye diets. Hello life.”  I have to say that is how I feel – I don’t feel like I’m on a diet, but rather that I’m getting better and better at making healthy life and food choices.

Reaching a goal isn’t complete without a REWARD!  So after my meeting I went out to La Senza and bought myself 3 cute new bras.  I was going to go in and get a new plain black bra, which I did, but then decided this was a good occasion to splurge on a couple of funky ones as well.  Here they are:

Aren’t they the cutest?!  I am feeling absolutely fantastic today.  What a great feeling.  Now onto the next goal – to get out of the 200s!