Weight Watchers -- Core or Flex?

It's been a while since I posted here. I haven't quit my weight loss adventure. I had a rough summer. If it wasn't for all the wonderful fresh fruits and veges available, I think I would have quit. Now, I'm back in full force. I have experienced weight loss each week for the past 3 weeks. I have officially lost 12.8 pounds.

I have always thought the only way I could lose weight was to write down everything I ate and to track points. Funny thing, though, I never really lost weight that way. I would get so discouraged that I would just quit. This time I decided I wasn't going to quit. When I began to experience some yo-yo weight loss during the summer I knew I had to change something. I did. I tried the core plan. My leader does the core plan and had been talking about how much easier it was and how much better she ate. I began to see, before the core plan, that I wasn't necessarily making good food choices even though I was staying within my point allowance.

Now that I'm on the core plan, I eat only healthy foods. To be successful, I had to completely eliminate some foods from my diet. I know that Weight Watchers doesn't like to talk about eliminating foods from your diet, but I had to. The core plan does not allow you to have cheese or wheat. If you eat these foods, you have to count them with your extra 35 points. I decided to just eliminate them. It's amazing how many foods I was putting cheese in and on. And every meal seemed to need bread to make it complete. Now, I eat a lot of sauteed chicken with various seasonings and sauteed vegetables in all combinations. I eat a 2 egg omelet with picante sauce for breakfast plus a banana if I'm still hungry. The main thing I do that keeps me happy is to eat Fat Free/Sugar Free Chocolate Pudding. Yes, you can have that on the core plan. It counts as my required milk and my "required" chocolate.

I'm losing little by little. I'm beginning to get comments from friends that they can see a real difference. I hope to lose my first 10% by Christmas.

Top 10 List: Fears of Losing Weight

During our WW meeting this week, the leader asked what are some of the negative thoughts we tells ourselves. I was quiet (I usually am at the meetings), but I had a whole list. Here they are (in no special order):

1. Afraid of all the comments I'll get (I don't like a lot of attention)
2. Afraid I won't reach my goal
3. Afraid that if I do reach my goal, I'll have lots of extra skin to deal with
4. Afraid that I'll find out people really do treat you differently when you're over weight
5. Afraid I won't look as good as I thought I would
6. Afraid I'll have more wrinkles
7. Afraid I'll reach a plateau and quit
8. Afraid I'll gain it back
9. Afraid that if I gain it back, I'll gain lots more than I was to begin with
10. Afraid it's going to take a long, long time

I know these are all defeatest thoughts, but they do creep in every once in a while. That's one reason the meetings are so helpful. I get a boost each week and hopefully some new positive thoughts will take the place of the negative.

On the lighter side -- this is my 3rd week. I've lost a total of 6.8 pounds. I've been eating much better. I've been exercising. It's a good thing.

Two Pounds Gone!

I lost 2 pounds on my first week of Weight Watchers. I'm trying not to focus on the pounds. I really want to do this to get healthy. I even got rid of my scales at home so I wouldn't obsess about it. But, knowing I've lost 2 pounds sure feels good.

I took a day off of counting points yesterday. We went to eat at a Chinese food restaurant. I got a few things that were not the best choice, but I could've eaten there for very few points if I had really tried. It was very good. I tried to eat something deliciously fattening once I got home, but nothing really appealed to me.

I'm off to a good start this morning. I need to try and get my exercise in today. I need to step up the pace on my exercising. I've walked, but not very fast or very long. Since my back is hurting, I probably should try to walk long instead of walk fast.

First Weigh in Tomorrow

Tomorrow I go to weigh in. This will be the first weigh in after the initial weigh in last week. I hope to see a nice drop on the scales.

I've had a very good first week on Weight Watchers. Thanks to the abundance of fresh veges available this time of year, I have not been hungry. I have a friend whose father loves to garden. He has furnished me with cucumbers, squash, zucchini, green beans and cabbage. It has been wonderful.

I had my first real dieting challenge this afternoon. I am a stress eater. I was under some stress and kept wanting to munch on something. After opening the pantry door several times and telling myself no to what was in there, I finally decided to give the carrots and celery a try. I sat down with a Diet Dr Pepper and a cup full of baby carrots and celery. After I ate them, I felt much better. Challenge number 1 -- conquered.

Top Ten List: Things I Don't Like About Being Fat

There are many obvious reasons why being fat is not a good idea. I would imagine that most fat people can sympathize with me on these. Some may be my own, but here's the top 10 list of things I don't like about being fat.

10. Can't see my feet
9. Shopping is uncomfortable physically and emotionally
8. That waistline I used to have is gone.
7. Huffing and Puffing when I exert myself
6. That sweaty feeling when my thighs rub together
5. Looking in the mirror
4. Being afraid I won't fit in the seat (auditorium, amusement park etc)
3. Dreading the turn stiles when entering entertainment venues
2. Knowing that people describe me as the "fat one"
1. My 5 year old saying, "Mommy, you're fat."

Weight Watchers

The only way I've ever lost a significant amount of weight was through Weight Watchers. I grew up on Weight Watchers. My mother was a lecturer when I was young. She had 3 meetings that lectured for and each of us girls got to go one meeting a week. I know more about nutrition than the average Joe. The key is to do what you know. It has always been helpful to me to have someone that I'm responsible to when it comes to eating. I was hoping this blog would do it, but I need more help. so, I joined Weight Watchers this week. I've been on it 3 days and...so far, so good. I hope to blog about my successes and failures as I tackle this huge challenge.

Been A While

So, apparently blogging about it isn't the total answer. I stopped writing down what I was eating on here just like I do when I do it on paper. I actually did have a rough week last week and stopped cutting out the wheat. I suffered for it too. After going off of it for a few days, I started feeling sluggish and eating more. So, I started cutting out the wheat again. After 3 days, I was feeling much better. Now I believe that I shouldn't be eating wheat.

I'm not going to post what I ate today, because, quite frankly I don't remember. I'll do it tomorrow though.