Weight Watchers <tm> Discussion

[Kiwi Girl]

Wow! Great job, Divash!! I wasn't aware of exactly how much weight you had lost in total! How long have you been doing WW? Good luck with those 5 lbs!

I was down 3.2 this week, thank goodness my work paid off! whee  

[Divash]

I went down 3.2 pounds last week, and am up 0.6 pounds this week.

Starting weight: 227
Current weight: 178.6
Goal weight: 115 to 140 (Weight Watchers declares this to be my healthy weight range)
Goal for this year: 160

Last year I had a net loss of 6 pounds. I kept going up and down, hovering between 173 and 186, but my weight on 31 December 2007 was exactly 6 pounds down from my weight on 1 January 2007. So this year, I think I need to step it up several notches. Things that will help:

* I'm moving to a new place. There's no elevator, so going anywhere will involve climbing or descending three flights of stairs.

* I'm going to be purchasing a family membership to the Jewish Community Center. They've got weight rooms, pools, Pilates and yoga classes -- and women-only sessions, for those of us who don't like to do a lot of bending, stretching, and dancing in skimpy clothes or swimsuits with men around.

* My RLSO is talking about buying us a couple of good bicycles, so we can ride around together. They're expensive, but we'll see.

* I'll be living MUCH closer to the kosher grocers that carry lower-fat items as well as the plain, bland, higher-fat and higher-sugar items that the mainstream stores carry. Much better kosher selection of healthier foods will surely help.

* The weather this winter is the coldest that our area has had in the past 25 years. It's been too painful this year to go on our usual walks for fun. But spring is coming, and the summer promises to be a rather mild one, so I'll get a lot more opportunities to go outside and walk around and play.

* I've ordered two new workout outfits, and I'm just itching to try them out, once they get here.

* The new apartment has a large living room. I'll be able to get my Dance Dance Revolution on and boogie my way to fitness.

Things that won't help so much:

* Closer to kosher groceries. Even though they carry a lot of healthier items than the mainstream stores, they also carry a wider variety of the not-as-healthy choices. Willpower will be called for.

* I can't walk to work anymore, but have to take a bus, then a train. I could walk to the train, but it's nearly two miles, and that will really only be bearable for about three weeks in the spring and another three weeks in the autumn; otherwise, we have extremely long, cruel summers and extremely long, cruel winters. Not a lot of mild weather here.

* Since the commute to work will be half an hour longer each way, I'll have less time to get dinner ready. I'll have to do a lot of pre-planning if I want to have fresh vegetables and fruits ready for mealtimes. I could become lazy and just make pasta or pre-made packaged foods a lot of nights, and that won't be great for me.  

[Kiwi Girl]

Aww, I'm sorry to hear that you've gone up this week. crying Least it wasn't too much!

The apartment with three flights of stairs thing definately helps. I live in an apartment like that, too, and it used to hurt my legs so bad coming up the stairs several times a day.... Now I don't even notice at all!

I hope that you are able to adapt to your new changes well and that it all ends up working out best for your health! ^_^ I'm gonna be moving, too, in about a week... D: Not sure how this is gonna affect me, either...

Down 2.4 this week for a total of exactly 10!!! I saved up some money and bought new shoes, socks, and insoles as my reward for making this goal. :3  

[Divash]

Woo hoo, that's awesome! Not only did you lose 10 pounds, which is very cool, but you also found a non-food reward for it! Way to go, hero!  

[Kiwi Girl]

^___^ This week I didn't do as well though; I pretty much expected that, though. It's been a busy, stressful week cuz of moving stuffs. I'm down 0.6, but I know that next week I'll do better. :3

How'd ya do Divash?  

[Divash]

Well, as the post above yours says, I'm up. wink But I've learned from it, so it's okay. I know how to go back down again.  

[Kiwi Girl]

Gyah, I'm up this week, but I figured I would be with my moving and such. x_x; So now I just gotta get back in the groove.  

[Divash]

Aha! Just as I knew I could, I got my weight back down this week. I'm down 2.4 pounds from last week's rather disappointing weigh-in. The total is exactly 180. Starting weight was 227, so I'm down 47 pounds from my starting weight. Another 40 pounds, and I'll be at goal. (Actually, my goal is 144 according to Weight Watchers, but I want to be at an even number.)

In other words, I'm more than halfway to my goal!  

[Kiwi Girl]

Woot! Go Divash! ^_^

I was up 2 pounds last week. crying But this week, I'm down 2.6!!!  

[Divash]

Well done, Kiwi Girl! I'm down this week too, against all odds. Down 0.8 pounds, and lovin' it. Now if I can keep that trend going... I'd really love to hit 170 by Rosh Hashanah (autumn holiday).  

[Lady Schist]

I talk to a lot of people who are off weight watchers, mostly because they got bored. Is this true?  

[Divash]

Funny you should mention this, Schist. My friend and I, who joined the program around the same time two years ago, have been getting a little fed up. Not with Weight Watchers, but with the fact that our favorite leader quit leading and is now working for the Obama campaign. Jack was amazing. He'd spend a good twenty minutes of the half-hour meeting talking about the Topic Of The Week, so that you'd feel you actually learned something. The LAST ten minutes of the meeting were for "bravos" (congratulating those with successes to talk about, and giving them stickers), challenges (things that were hard for people during the week), and quick recipe ideas (which he liked to photocopy and pass out for everyone). He was very encouraging, and could make people enthusiastic even when they were in a slump.

Every other leader at my location near home, and at my location near my office, is just the opposite. Twenty minutes or more on bravos and talking about individual successes, five on challenges, and MAYBE five minutes to talk about the weekly topic. Frankly, I don't care if I lose five pounds a week or even hit goal -- we don't have to talk about it. I want to learn about the Topic of the Week, and I want to feel generally encouraged. I want a little photocopy of a good recipe idea from another member or from the leader. I don't need five million people to get Bravo! stickers, I really don't. I'm frustrated that Weight Watchers leaders aren't better trained to address what people need. I'm glad Jack was my leader for a year and a half. If someone else had been my leader, I might not have stuck with the program long enough to lose my first 45 pounds.

Still, I know that weekly weigh-in keeps me honest. I know that if I weren't going to meetings, I would slip further and further back towards my upper weight instead of maintaining this plateau that's about 45 pounds lower than my original starting weight (55 lower, if you count the ten pounds I lost before joining WW, which took me a full year). So even though I'm frustrated at the meetings I've been attending, I'm going to stick with Weight Watchers. I'm just going to try getting to another meeting, with a different leader, and see if I can rejuvenate my enthusiasm a bit.

I'm also going to see about walking from the Metra station to home (from work) in the evening, instead of taking the bus from the train station. It's about 1.75 miles, so that should help me work my way out of the weight plateau and back into weight loss. I'm about 180.4 pounds now, and I would like to be 170 by Rosh Hashanah.  

[Lady Schist]

That's a good plan, as soon as my knee heals up and it gets warmer I plan to start riding my bike home from work (It's 6 miles : O )

(I shouldn't wait on the warm, I should just start I know)  

[Divash]

Once your knee heals up, you mean, not NOW?

Yes, waiting isn't as good as starting once your knee heals up. After all, you'll get very warm while biking six miles.  

[Kiwi Girl]

I was up 2.8 last week (x_x; I over calculated my points and did badly with what I ate...) but this week I'm down 2 pounds. I need to get more serious about adding in the vegetables and make it habit to exercise more and I think I'll be getting to my goal a lot faster.