Weight Watchers 360 – Page 17 – This Crazy Life of Mine

Tag: Weight Watchers 360

13
Jan
2013

A Weigh-In and a Glow Run!

categories: #10in2013, #expectamazing, 5K, accountability, event, Glow Run, hubby, run, sunset, walk, weekend, weigh-in, Weight Watchers 360, willpower

Yesterday was a stellar day. It started out with the super early Weight Watchers meeting, 6:45am to be exact. I’m up anyway, so I like going early. I was so excited to go because it was with Beverly, the leader who’s meeting was the very first one I went to back in 2006 and she saw me through losing weight and making lifetime. She wasn’t there last Saturday, so I had to wait till today. It was so good to see her and she has not changed a bit. She has the most amazing energy I have ever known in someone.

And as exciting as seeing Beverly? Seeing the scale go down again for the second week in a row! Another 2.6 pounds gone – hopefully never to be seen again. I really stayed on point this week, eating fruits and veggies with each meal and snack.

I’m so happy with my progress and the willpower I have found. I truly believe you have to be in the right mindset to lose weight. If you are not prepared to give it your all and fight for results, than you are only fooling yourself. I am giving it my all, and it is paying off. Here are my stats, which I will post weekly, whether a loss or gain, as another way to keep me accountable.

After my meeting, a yummy breakfast at Village Inn, some errands, putting the Christmas tree away, cleaning, and then dinner (holy busy day!), it was time to head to downtown St. Petersburg for my first 5K of the year. And bonus, hubby was doing this one with me! I was pretty excited to get ready to go, especially since this was my first night race.

We knew from all the people we saw that it was going to be a busy race. Everyone was dressed in different degrees of bright fluorescent neon color and more. There were wigs and costumes and tutus. It was going to be a fun time!

We put our glow necklaces and glasses on. My glasses were weird, the arms were too short so they kept falling down my face. But we got the obligatory pictures with them on.

I have to say that downtown St. Pete has become one of my favorite places over the last year. The waterfront is beautiful with a nice breeze. I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of it last night. But I did get this wonderful shot of the sunset.

Once the sun went down and everyone started glowing, the crowd was all pumped up and ready to go for the 6:30 start time. We met up with Steph from Kitchen Kilometers and her love. I have to laugh at the picture of us… Look at my glow stick glasses. They were just not made for me to wear. I look like Scuba Steve, right?

The darker it got before the race started, the more fun it was to take photos of our glowing selves. How can you not have fun with glow sticks? I highly recommend a race with glow sticks. We even saw a guy dressed as Hulk Hogan and he sounded like him.

And then we were off! Even though this was not a timed race, I had my Garmin on me just to see how I did. We walked and ran. The run through downtown St. Pete was pretty cool. Everyone was having such a fun time and it was cool to see the blur of glow sticks as people ran by. I tried to get a picture when we were close to the turnaround and it came out blurry, but you get the idea.

We crossed the finish line at 44:16 and were given our medals. At this point, the crowd was CRAZY. There was music playing and everyone was glowing. We guzzled out water down and took some more pictures because you can never have too many pictures of yourself with glow sticks on.

All in all, it was a fun night. I would definitely do another night race. Hubby had a great time too and did a great job. I was running to keep up with him! First race of 2013 is in the books! #10in2013

Have you ever done a night race? Are you doing the Glow Run 5K in a city near you this year?

06
Jan
2013

2013 Goals

categories: #10in2013, #52weekmoney, #expectamazing, 2013, 5K, blog, books, event, goals, Goodreads, half-marathon, hubby, race, recipe, run, walk, water, weight, Weight Watchers 360, writing, yoga

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about my goals for 2013. I don’t really like to make resolutions because it seems so easy to say “this is my resolution and I’ll stick to it”. Usually we forget about them a week later. In setting my goals for 2013, I try to keep them generalized. I don’t want to set a list of goals I know I can’t do and my goal is not to fail. Most of the items on my list are things I do already and are important to me so I want to keep doing them in the new year.

I was short on the number of books I read last year and didn’t hit my goal of 40. It certainly doesn’t seem like a lot so I’ll try it again this year.

Rather than specify a set number of miles I want to walk / run per week, I set a yearly goal. Let’s face it, in my world, there are weeks that it doesn’t happen. Life gets in the way and I can’t get any miles in. A yearly goal is better for me.

Complete 10 races… I am registered for 5 already, and have 4 more on the list I know I want to do. That leave me 1 more to find for December. I am determined to do my #10in2013!

For awhile last year, I was trying new recipes on a regular basis and I got away from that. I would love to get back to it and try 2 new ones a month and share them with you.

Go to yoga regularly… I start back today! I did yoga years ago…. It was highly recommended to me by friend Angela and it because something we both enjoyed. It was a great stress reliever for me during our infertility treatments and I found that it was the only place I could turn my brain off. The minute I walked into that room, I left everything outside the door and for that hour, I focused completely on the practice. I had a wonderful instructor. Sadly, the studio closed and since I’ve not found a studio since then that had the same feel. I recently bought two Living Social deals for the same studio so I am good to go for 10 classes and then a month of unlimited. This time around I am doing hot yoga, after hearing so many fellow bloggers rave about it. I am all for a good sweat session. Can’t wait to go today and you can be sure I’ll talk about it on here tomorrow!

Expand my blog…. This is important to me. My blog has become an extension of me and I put a lot into it, and share a lot with you all that I used to keep inside. I truly think it has helped me deal with things better. I have so many ideas for it and hope to try my hand at vlogging this year too. Next month, my blog will be 2 years old!

I already drink water like it’s going out of style, so this is one I want to continue on with. I really feel better when I drink a lot of water.

Start writing a book… This is something I’ve wanted to do for years and years. My mom and I are actually working on a book project together and I hope that it’s something we can complete in 2013. I also have thoughts, notes, and more written down over the last couple years for a very special book about my dad. More to come on both…

Hubby and I enjoy our time together, but we also have our own interests and hobbies that we do on our own. I love our date nights, even if it’s just the two of us going out to eat, and hope that we have more of them this year.

Confession, I am AWFUL with saving money. It’s definitely a weakness of mine. So the 52 week money challenge is a huge goal for me, for us, this year. It seems totally doable and quite frankly, when it’s put out there as a challenge, I’m in. We already have our first week set-aside! Here is the info on that….

And last, but certainly not least, is to meet my goals at Weight Watchers. While I do have a goal of the weight I’d like to lose – 40 pounds – I am not setting any deadlines. It is a journey that I will take once a week, a couple pounds at a time. It’s not a race. I am still very happy with my decision to go back, it has definitely been a fresh start for me this week.

Did you set any goals for yourself for 2013? Share one with me!

05
Jan
2013

Dear Me…

categories: #expectamazing, 2013, choices, Dear Me..., food, happy, healthy, meal planning, meeting, scale, strong, track, weigh-in, Weight Watchers 360

Dear Me,

Just 5 days ago, on New Years Eve, you decided to make a fresh start and go back to Weight Watchers. The minute you went back, you changed your mindset, knowing that doing this for the fifth time meant you had to give it more than the four last times. You had to commit to it like you did the first time you did it – and succeeded.

Since Tuesday, you’ve made your breakfast every day, you’ve upped your water, you made your lunch, included fruits or vegetables in each meal, and even enjoyed a meal out last night. It’s all about making the right choices.

On Thursday, you forgot your lunch. It would have been so easy to not worry about it and just have something else. But something inside made you get back in the car and drive home to get it. That is commitment.

In making the decision to go back to Weight Watchers, you realized that for this to work, you would have to go back to Saturday meetings. Saturday’s are your day, no work or problems coming at you from all angles that interfere with a meeting. You won’t sit through the meeting feeling guilty about the fact that you should be at work or doing about 50 other important things. You know that to succeed, you need to do what works. Don’t set yourself up to fail. Go back to what worked the first time – Saturday morning meetings.

This morning you got up and went to the 6:45 meeting since you decided Saturday will be your regular meeting day. Since you weighed in just 5 days ago and it’s still technically the same week, you had an unofficial weigh-in. That unofficial weigh-in has now set the tone for the weekend and week to come. You know what you need to do and keep doing it. Why? Because you lost 3.2 pounds in 5 days. You didn’t starve, you didn’t feel like you were missing out on anything, you didn’t feel deprived. You jumped back in full steam, tracked every bite you took, measured all your food, and gave it your all.

So anytime you think you can’t do it, remember this. Remember this feeling of being in control, of not letting your body win. You don’t have to be that person who feels so uncomfortable in your skin. That’s not you. Remember, you are stronger than you know. You, my dear, can #ExpectAmazing this year. The proof was on the scale this morning.

Love,

01
Jan
2013

A fresh start!

categories: #expectamazing, 2013, a fresh start, accountability, blog, commitment, empowered, food, healthy, meeting, Suzi Storm, The Daily Mel, weigh-in, weight, Weight Watchers 360, WW

It seems like such a cliché to go on a diet on January 1st. How many people resolve to eat better, work out, and live a healthier lifestyle only to go back to their old ways within a few weeks time? Been there, done that.

I walked out of a Weight Watchers meeting back in April and never went back. Why? I had it in my mind that I could do it on my own, despite the fact that I’ve never had success with that before. For the remainder of 2012, I fooled myself into thinking it would all click, that one morning I would wake up and know exactly what to eat and what not to eat to magically lose the weight and never gain it back. If only it were that easy, right?

I have thought a number of times the last several months that I should go back to Weight Watchers, but I had an excuse not to every time. Not the right time, why set myself up to fail, I can’t do it, I can’t commit. Blah, blah, blah. Seriously, I am my own worst enemy when it comes to losing weight.

The beginning of December, a new Weight Watchers program was introduced. New look, new feel, new information. Part of me wanted to go running back to meetings at that moment to get all the new goodies that go along with a new campaign. But the little voice in my head told me I wasn’t ready.

A couple of fabulous women I follow on Twitter, discussed the new program quite a bit. One of them, Suzi Storm, a fellow blogger over at Ok, just one more beer…, has been a part of Weight Watchers campaigns before. In print, on TV, and more. She is a rock star. But she is REAL and has had some struggles this year. And while I am all for a happy-ending weight loss story, I am more inclined to forever follow the story of someone who has the same damn struggles that I do. It’s not always easy, no matter how fantastic the program is. Another blogger has written on her blog in great length about the new program, Mel with The Daily Mel, and I will be the first to admit that the information she gave nearly sent me running to the nearest meeting despite that voice in my head.

The last couple of days, that voice changed. It didn’t tell me I wasn’t ready when I thought of trying it again, for the FIFTH time, rather I had thoughts of succeeding. Of being able to deal with it better, to face it head on. So after a fantastic dinner at Kobe Japanese Steak House on New Years Eve, where I didn’t give a single thought to what I was eating or drinking, I told hubby that the next morning I was going to the 9:30 Weight Watchers meeting to start over again.

Despite the cliché of starting a new diet on January 1, I looked at it as a fresh start. New year, new goals, a chance to focus on ME. No more holidays to sabotage me, no more excuses. So, off I went yesterday morning to Weight Watchers in Largo, arriving just before the center opened.

After buying the new member kit in the fantastically cute bag, a salad bowl, and mini-bars, and signing up for the monthly pass, I got on the scale. This was the part I dreaded. Who doesn’t? I officially weigh 14 pounds more than I did at my last weigh-in back on April 5. I am at my heaviest ever. EVER. How did I get to this point? I know I’ve been through a lot, but my goodness, how did I let this happen? How?!

Despite the shock of the scale, I really enjoyed the meeting. It felt right. It did not feel forced or like I might lose interest tomorrow. I chatted up a storm and took part in the discussion and more. I stayed after for the first of two Power Start sessions. I left there feeling – knowing – that today was the right day to go back.

I KNOW that Weight Watchers works. I’ve celebrated making lifetime before and I kept it up for quite awhile. And yes, it pisses me off that I let life get in the way and derail me from the progress I made. I hate that I let circumstances get the best of me. But I cannot think about that now. All I can do is look forward and start today. I made the choice to go to the meeting this morning and commit to a healthier lifestyle and to the accountability that is Weight Watchers. It’s not a diet. It’s a lifestyle. It’s about change and healthy choices. If I want to make a bad choice, I can. I just need to be held accountable for it.

I will be 41 next month. I want to feel good in my skin and not constantly worry about what I’m wearing or how I feel wearing it. I know what it’s like to be on the other side of that, to not spend half my morning wondering what I will wear to hide whatever part of my body is making me the most unhappy that day. Not to mention, I am registered for five events between now and April – two half-marathons, an 8K, and 2 5Ks. I want to give it my all. Taking better care of myself, eating better, and doing anything I can for me (despite what is going on around me) is the goal for 2013.

I can do this. I CAN DO THIS. I will take it one step at a time. My first goal is 5% if my weight and then 10%. I will take it one day a time. I. Can. Do. This.

Do you follow Weight Watchers? Have you made weight-loss related resolutions for 2013?