Met My 1st Goal Today!

Today, I met my first "Goal." Weight Watchers asks you to set small goals, like so many weight lost strategies. The whole idea is that if you set your only goal as your total loss, especially in cases like mine where I have SO much to lose, then you will have a hard time actually reaching that ultimate goal. By breaking your weight loss into segments, you can take it one step at a time and reward yourself for the smaller, but meaningful, accomplishments along the path to success.
I don't remember what my first goal was, but I took Weight Watchers advice and simply accepted the first goal they set for me. 21.4 lbs lost and I've reached that first goal. The next Weight Watchers Goal they asked me to set was 214 something. I chose to set my own goal. I chose 200 lbs. It's less of a jump than my first goal and I feel like I'll feel very accomplished once I get to 200. 38 lbs lost will be really something awesome to celebrate. I'm looking forward to it.
Until then, I sure hope my body continues to be THIS predictable. I lose on the average of 1.5-2 lbs for two weeks. Then PMS week hits and I start retaining water and eating like a horse. I lose about .5-1 lbs for that week. Then, the actual period week hits (sorry if this is TMI, but it's not MY fault - talk to Mother Nature), and I loose about a pound. Then, the next week (this week, for example) I make up for it and dump the water weight and get my actual weight loss (3.8 lbs this week).
I know there must be plateaus coming and I'm sure I won't ALWAYS lose at this rate (although, it would be great if I would), but I'll be happy if I lose at the rate I am. Losing more than 20 lbs thus far is pretty dang incredible. I'm REALLY HAPPY! I'm praying that Steve keeps up his losses too. So far, he's losing much faster than I am, but I'm excited for him. He's lost over 20 lbs already! YAY for him!
If you have weight to lose, I don't think it's WHAT program you use or whatever, but it's the mindset. Although, I DO like Weight Watchers and the idea that 1. I eat what I want so long as I don't go over my daily points (so essentially, my calories for the day), and 2. That food I eat comes with consequences. If I want to eat more points (calories), I have to work them off that week. If I eat cheesecake, I'd better swim for a few hours or dance my rear off to make up for it. Surprisingly, perhaps, is that I've NEVER thought about food in this way. I NEVER have accepted the concept of calories in = calories out and that the remaining balance means weight gain. You'd think I'd get that, but it's never stuck. I've never felt in control of my food. I've felt like food controls me and that I had no hope. Weight Watchers has changed that and if there was any reason to recommend it, that would be it.
I will attempt to post my first photo set today (hopefully a before and after (-20lbs)). Other than that, until next week friends! Easter is coming! I'll try to come up with a healthy recipe to share for that indulgent holiday before next week!

Okay, I'm updating this post with news of the first before and after photos. Unfortunately, I didn't take a starting photo, so I had to find my best "before" picture that I could. In May, I'll be able to get a more "comparison worthy" photo set for you. Please check out the Photos tab at the top of the page under the title for the new additions and look for more to come in May! Thanks for being patient and waiting for these!

Hell Week - Redefined

So, it's been a while since I've been in college and I never really experienced "Hell Week," but I understood the concept. This week isn't quite that bad, because nothing would be or could be as bad as being in my first year of university again. Well, ALMOST nothing.

This week has been "Hell Week" for me in this weight-loss journey. First, I figure out that I can't stop eating because it's the week before my period. So, my body is FREAKING out. Then, I start getting the ol' dizzy spells again after having them go away for almost 3 days. They get really bad and I end up in the ER. They checked everything from my urine to my blood to my brain. Nothing is wrong with me, at least nothing THEY can put a finger on. Time to go to my regular doctor. 

All this stress and worry and over-eating because of my PMS and I STILL lost 1.2 lbs. That brings my total to over 17 lbs lost so far. Yay! I feel like I had some advantage because I KNEW coming into the week that the PMS was going to be a factor, so I worked my tail off to compensate. I wasn't anticipating spending most of my Saturday night (St. Patrick's Day) in the emergency room though.

Anyway, my inches are ALL down this week with one exception (my, um, boobs get bigger around this time of the month) and that's fantastic! It's been a while since ALL the numbers dropped.

I came into this week figuring it was going to be a wash unless I could pull a pretty sweaty miracle out of my butt. Looks like I did. I'll take -1.2 lbs and I'll call it a major win!

Until next week guys! Hopefully, I'll get my post up earlier and I'll have more interesting news to share! <3

Hungry, Thy Name is Woman

I'm late to post. I know. I was moody and busy and Sunday barely saw me get weighed. I nearly forgot. I DID forget to take my measurements. I have to do that tonight.

And I was going to post yesterday, but I'm having a really bad week. I finally checked it out and this is my PMS week. The grumpy, poopy, chocolate-craving, bloated, water-retaining week before the storm. I HATE this week. And so does my scale. This coming Sunday, it will surely tell me the bad news as all the crap of this week culminates into a very low loss, no loss, or even a gain.

I'm STARVING. I want to eat everything in sight. Bread, peanut butter, chocolate, apples (which I have some crazy allergy or sensitivity to - making my double over in pain), candy, cookies, steak, eggs, ham. You name it; I'm craving it.

And, I tested the theory that, perhaps, I wasn't REALLY hungry. I nearly passed out. I got dizzy and sick. I ate and was better. I'm really, actually, honest-to-God, hungry. My body just doesn't get that I'm on a diet! Hello! Body! I'm not stuffing my face one week out of EVERY month. NOT HAPPENING!!

Ugh. Talk to you next week. Until then, I'll TRY to not eat ALL the food in my house and then come to your house and eat all your food too!

Feeling pretty powerful

Well, today was good. I weighed myself six times this morning. Over and over and over because I couldn't believe I'd lost over 3 lbs this week. Of course, that meant that the Weight Watchers tracker thing had to warn me to slow down. You're losing TOO FAST. The way I see it, I only lost a pound last week. So, this isn't a big deal. If I lose more than 2 lbs next week, I'll be concerned that I'm going too fast. (To date, the tracker says I've lost almost 15 lbs)

Man, if you'd told me six months ago that I'd be watching to make sure I wasn't losing weight too fast, I'd have said you were out of your mind. But, I've learned a lot since then. You can't lose too fast or your metabolism takes the hit and your weight loss won't be possible long term. Your body FREAKS out and thinks your starving it. It goes into "starvation mode" and slows the metabolism to keep you from dying during the "famine" you're in. You've got to eat enough to keep it going and losing rapidly is a sign that you're burning your muscle, not your fat stores, and your body will protect itself eventually by shutting down that "fire" so you don't get hurt.

That being said, I'm not worried this week. We'll see about next week. Until then, I'm going to rejoice that this week went great (despite eating SO MUCH FOOD and really splurging quite a bit). I can really do this. I'm finding myself really craving whole foods and that rocks. It's nice to have healthy food cravings sometimes (even if the horrible ones still get me). I know I can keep this up. I really really can. I have motivation this time. I have a purpose. I can do this. I KNOW I can.

I labored with my son for 37 hours. Most of that time was without any pain killers. I've already proven to myself that if I have a PURPOSE for the pain, for the struggle, then I WILL ENDURE as long as it takes. If I can be in labor for 37 hours, I sure as hell can manage some food cravings, some difficult workouts, being sick but eating right anyway, getting back into exercise after I get well again (I have a horrid cold right now - but did my hip hop dance for two hours anyway), and all the life-changing, old-thought overhauling needed to go from the gross, tired, weak, sick person I've been to the beautiful, healthy, strong, energized person I need to be for my family.

I just pray I get through the struggles that I know lie ahead. I'm learning from others. I'm building a support system of people who know me and people who don't. People who know me have derailed me in the past. They don't always practice tough love. My hope is that by surrounding myself with successful people who've done this and those who are going through this - people who've never met me but need me to succeed or want me to succeed - that I will have the support I need to get through the plateaus and the weight gain that is inevitable on this path to a healthy me.

I can't wait to see what this next week holds. Thank you, Lord, for this time in my life! Here we go!