So this is my fourth week on Weight Watchers. If you are skinny then let me explain how it works. They give all food a point value. I have a certain amount of points and I have to stay under those points each day. I had three really good weeks and one bad weekend. I have lost six lbs so far. I used to eat everything I wanted to. Now my life is made up of compromise…
- At Chick-fil-A I get a char grilled sandwich and a fruit cup instead of a spicy chicken sandwich and fries.
- At Chipotle I get a burrito bowl instead of the amazing burrito.
- For snacks I eat fruit instead of something that is not fruit.
- At really cool hip and trendy self serve yogurt places I get non fat yogurt with fruit instead of non fat yogurt with Reese Peanut Butter Cups and cookie dough.
So Weight Watchers is working. I hate it. I don’t hate that it’s working I just hate not eating everything I want.
This past year there have been multiple things that made me want to lose weight but none of them motivated me to actually do anything about it. You would think the following would have…
- On Christmas Eve I was supposed to ride a donkey, named Jack, down the aisle for our Christmas Eve services at Waters Edge. I had written a sketch, memorized lines, and was set to ride. I got on the donkey and he almost collapsed. He took one step back and then almost fell over. Jack’s owner asked how much I weighed. When I told her she said I weighed 50 lbs more than what Jack could handle. We then had to brainstorm what we were going to do. I got bumped from the segment in favor of someone thinner. When this thinner staff member got on the donkey he took off. It scared the rider really bad. Lucky for me it was so scary I still got to be a part of the segment. I had to walk the donkey instead of riding it. It was embarrassing but it didn’t motivate me to change.
- A few months later we were planning our Easter services and we came up with the idea to have me skydive. I was out of my mind excited about this. Come to find out there is a weight limit on skydiving. I was 20 lbs over the limit. I got cut from the segment. Lucky for me all the other guys were scared out of their mind. We then found a company that would allow over weight skydivers. We had to pay more money and I had to weigh myself before I jumped. It was embarrassing but it didn’t cause me to change.
What finally got me motivated was a visit to the doctor. I went for a physical. I am thankful for doctors but I don’t like them. I’m not a touchy feely person and they are way too touchy feely. The doctor said that I was in great health for a 32 year old. Her only concern was that she knew that my wife and I just had twins. She said that if I didn’t do something about my weight then she was afraid that I wouldn’t be around for my kids. That got me motivated! It’s worth the compromise to be around for my kids.
Have you ever done Weight Watchers? Have you ever lost weight?
i always eat the bowl at chipotle. I ate the burrito the first time there then realized that I liked it without all the bread (plus I got more). 🙂 I have to confess Rob that I have been active all my life and so never had a weight problem. Plus I am 6'5". I now weigh 206. At one point though, several years ago, I weighed 233 after a winter of no cycling and lifting weights (I won't talk about eating everything in sight either). My cholesterol was elevated (288) and the doc wanted to put me on meds. I said, "No" so he said lose 15 pounds and lower the chol in 2 months. In two months, I lost 15 pounds and lowered to 222. he still wanted to put me on meds and I said "no" so I knew I needed to lower it. I lost another18 pounds that summer and lowered my chol below 200. (high is hereditary ). I am pleased that you are taking measures now, at your age, to be around for your kids. My wife has struggled all our married life with it and rues the day she quit caring. Sorry to have yapped on.
Never done weight watchers, but I more or less live on a constant diet. Really, I just try to watch what I eat. Increased weight leads to more problems with my balky knees, it leads to high blood pressure and medication, it leads to increased stress on my imperfect heart. So, I exercise regularly. But it is not exercise that leads to weight loss and weight control for me, it is diet. So I have made peace with this and gotten over my food addictions. Now I can walk past anything without drooling or causing a scene. Stick with it brother, stick with it.
Weight loss is like the thorn in the flesh that Paul speaks about. It's always a battle between desires of the flesh and what I know is best. Just when I'm doing well, along comes a holiday, an office party, or a community group snack I can't seem to resist. Compromise and moderation is key. Getting back on track when I stray is also essential.
Doing weight watchers right now. Just started last week. Lost 2.2lbs.. still figuring it out myself. Have you tried the "giant" round ice cream sandwiches. 4 points. I usually try to make sure I have 8 points available by the end of the day.
(PS…I was just about to blog about my experience with weight watchers on my blog. Glad to know there's someone else out there trying to figure it out too).
Yep, been doing WW since December. Its so much more than weight loss, its taught me how to eat healthy and showed me how much better I feel when I do eat healthy. It stinks that is SLOW weight loss, but there have been two different stretches due to vacations and illness that I got off track but they great think was that unlike other diets, I didnt gain anything back. I've set my goal at 1pd a week for 52 weeks and I'm still on track. GOOD LUCK!!!
So glad to hear that you are making yourself a priority!
Those giant round ice cream sandwiches are called Skinny Cows and they are a gift from God. I <3 them. If you struggle with weight, no matter what you do, you will always struggle with it. I tried WW off and on for years with little to no success…and you know where that put me. Even though I'm now thin, I still struggle daily with what to put in my mouth. I still have to be conscious of it or I'll loose the battle. As I was telling you the other night, I did have 1 day where I didn't worry about points. AT.ALL. It was usually my weigh in day. BUT, because I took a day off, I didn't count my extra bonus points for the week. It worked well…I didn't feel deprived of anything (in general, I think that's the good thing about WW…) and there's actually some merit to taking a day off. There have been lots of people who've had luck varying their point intake throughout the week as long as overall, the points end up the same at the end of the week. What that might look like is 26 pts. one day but 30 another day if your average point intake is 28 pts. On the chart I saw, point intake was , at one point 10 pts. higher at one point during the week. It has to do with keeping your metabolism up. Of course, I did the old system and I'm not sure how that would would with the new system. AND, I don't know that I would try it so new to WW…probably not unless you plateau because you have to get your metabolism sped up first! Here's a GREAT website that has lots of recipes (for Monica 😉 ) and lots of restaurants w/ point info…they even revamped it to include the new point values (I think it's also where I learned about point variation?): http://www.dwlz.com/ And, lastly, you always hear that food doesn't taste as good as skinny feels…and from the other side, I can say that it's true. It is a lifestyle change…something that we've always done has to change. Thankfully, I'm constantly reminded I can't eat everything I want to eat. One of the BIGGEST changes I've made is to SLOW DOWN! I could inhale a double cheeseburger in less than a minute. And, because I still thought I was hungry, I'd eat another. It now takes me 10 minutes (or more) to eat one and I realize I'm full. There's no need for seconds!
Good for you! I always have to remind myself that food should be helping me. Not hurting me. But sometimes it still hurts when I decide to eat a salad instead of a cheeseburger. 😉
I did Weight Watchers and loved it. I lost 30 pounds in 4 months. I am no longer counting points, but it did teach me a lot about the importance of exercising and eating more fruits and vegetables (since they are 0 points). I also became a big fan of crystal light because it was also 0 points. Hope it works for you! I have heard so many success stories.
Some days it's like God's giving me a hit-you-over-the-head sign. I'm a bit dense. I've always been moderately fit and athletic, but over the past couple of years I've struggled with being active. So last week I started exercising. Doing DVDs that give me a full body sweat. It's been good. Then this morning, I read a tweet by Liz McLennan (a fab blogger, by the way) about trying to not eat sweets. I DM'd her about being accountability partners (if I have these for writing, why not health?). Then I read this post by you.
I'm dense. But not that dense. Taking care of the body I've been given! Good luck.
No need to appologize. Thanks for the comment.
Will do. I am hoping I can. Down 8 lbs today. Here's to hoping I can keep it going.
CG snack is hard to resist. The points have helped me.
I'd love to read your post. Let me know when it goes up.
Thanks! I had fun at camp with your kids. It was hard to do Weight Watchers at camp but I was able to resist all the yummy goodness.
I am trying.
The slowing down is so hard. I kill some food. Weight Watchers is helping me with this.
Mary, congrats on the 30 lbs. That's amazing. I'd be crazy excited with 30 lbs.
Glad I could help. I need those hit you over the head signs as well.
It's up now.. Points to Ponder…. though I'm not sure I'm adding my points right.. I've been coming in a bit under the last two days. It's 6:45pm right now and I still have 22 points to use.. might just go for some ice cream in this heat.
I lost 20 lbs. on WW a couple years ago.
Don't worry too much about losing weight. It's pretty easy to find.
I've found half those lbs. I lost at the bottom of the ice cream container, in a pizza box, and by avoiding the gym (The Hurting Place).
Mmmm, Chipotle.
I haven't done WW but I know folks who have – and swear by it. Keep pressin' on, Rob. We're here for you!
Great blog Rob. I started WW about 4 months ago and have lost 17 lbs. It has been great and life changing for me. I know you will do well for the fact you put yourself out there and gave yourself accountability. You should take a before pic, so that when you get to goal weight you can do a blog of your before & after pic. You can do this !!!