my email to weight watchers to share my success
Starting weight: 301.4 (7/4/2007)
Current weight: 244.0 (7/23/2008)
I started out with weight watchers online because I worked 50 hours a week and could not find a meeting that fit into my schedule. I also didn’t want the entire world to know that I was on the plan for fear that they would see me as the fat person that I saw myself as. I bought the weight watchers scale and it was delivered on July 3rd… I stood on it and it showed 301.4 lbs. HOW IN THE WORLD??? I never would have said that I weight over 300 lbs, things had gotten way out of control. In order to hit my goal weight I had to lose 120 lbs. I had to lose an entire PERSON off my body… was I really that fat?
My path started the next day and has continued since. On 7/4/2008 I entered in my first points tracking information and began changing my food habits. I won’t pretend it was easy for a second. I had to learn that ice cream wasn’t served in gallon containers, and nachos are not a food group. If I wanted to eat out, I was never going to be able to eat the same foods that I had lived on for years—certainly not in the same portion sizes. I slowly began checking into point values of my favorite fast foods, and quickly learned a lesson in healthy eating. One of my worst habits was NOT recording foods if I knew I would go over my daily limit. It was like if I didn’t write it, it wasn’t so bad. Lesson learned the next week when the loss would be 0 and my spirits would take a hard hit.
Its been over a year and I don’t remember a lot of that pain surprisingly. That is the best part of sitting in a meeting today and looking back – it seemed impossible on that day, but now it feels manageable. In January I moved to Indiana and stopped tracking for about 3 months… I still lived the mentality but wasn’t faithful in my tracking or journaling. In April of 2008, I realized that my schedule could accommodate the meetings and I joined with my mother to attend the meetings via the monthly pass. Meetings have taught me a lot about the diet, the program, and myself as a dieter. I have learned that sometimes giving others advice or tips becomes another lesson for me. Also, that as we work through others successes or concerns, I am learning right along with them. I faithfully weigh in every week and have becomes distraught if I cannot attend a meeting (only twice in 4 months) because I feel like I need to be tracking it always.
Lastly the most important lesson I have learned is that I can do it! I have lost 57.4 lbs off my body in one year and have about that much to go. I am not quitting, I am not discouraged, and I am not setting unrealistic goals for myself or my body. Losing one pound a week means this time next year I will be at goal, and knowing that this time last year I had just begun means I KNOW I can do it!
Tips:
(1) Explore healthier options for foods you love and then make them part of your daily processes.
(2) Learn from others at the meetings and STEAL those ideas or methods.
(3) READ labels on your packages to learn portion sizing and realistic calorie count.
(4) ALWAYS check nutrition information for a restaurant before you go (if you can)… if not, take your time and order smart and pay attention to portion size
(5) Find an exercise buddy or favorite activity and schedule it in your life – if it shows up as an appointment on your calendar, you can plan for it and feel more obligated to do it.
Thank you Weight watchers for giving me the tools to be a healthy person at the weight I need to be at and the knowledge to stay there.