Tag: Goal weight

Maintenance and I Broke Up

I do not like Maintenance. She sucks!!!!  I went on vacation weighing 149 pounds and one week later I came back weighing 156 pounds.  I was enjoying my friendship with  Maintenance when I went on vacation and came back fat.  I thought I could eat like a normal person.  It did not happen.  Obviously, I did something wrong.  Maintenance did some pretty bad things to my weight,

So fast forward two weeks.  It has been two weeks since I got home from vacation and I have only lost 2 pounds. I am down to 154 pounds.  Why oh why is it so easy to gain weight and so hard to lose it.  Life is not fair.

I need to take action.  I have been sidelined with a foot injury so my activity has been limited.  I have a bone spur on my achilles tendon.  It hurts to walk and running is out of the question.  I am in physical therapy and hopefully very soon the pain will go away.  In the meantime I need to get out every day and do things that won’t hurt my foot.  I have created a picnic bench workout which takes only 20 minutes but leaves me sore and exhausted.  I can also swim and bike.  My eating the last two weeks has been spot on.  Clean eating.   But drinking wine – not so much.

I have a new weight goal.  I think weighing 145 pounds would be perfect for me right now.  So I am back to “dieting” and maintenance has been sidelined.  I will take this one day at a time. I will start logging my food and counting calories which I gave up during my short friendship with Maintenance.  Even though I am eating clean, I think measuring and weighing my food is a must.  I want to average between 1200-1500 calories a day.  I will do an activity every day.  Weight lifting, biking, swimming, picnic bench workout or kettle bells.  I will not use my lame foot as an excuse not to exercise.

And the last thing I need to change is my favorite after work activity – drinking wine.  My dear friend – Chardonnay – I must break up our relationship for now.   Hopefully, very soon I will be able to rekindle our friendship.  But just for now I have to say good bye.  I am much sadder than you about this break up.  You bring me such joy and relaxation.  But you also brought me several unwanted calories.  So I have found a new drink to relax with – diet tonic water with lime.  It is very refreshing.  And if I put it in a wine glass it tastes even better.

I am taking one day at a time.  I really want to become friends again with Maintenance.  When I reach my goal weight I will definitely have a respect for my new friend.  For right now I don’t like her.  We did not become friends our first go around.  When I reach my new goal weight I will treat Maintenance with new respect.  I will not abuse her.  I will respect her.  So Maintenance just like my glass of wine, I am breaking up my relationship with you.  I am looking forward to rekindling our friendship and I am hoping it will be soon.  And when we do rekindle our friendship I will definitely play by your rules.  You will not make me fat ever again.  I will do everything for you to become my best friend.  Because Maintenance you and I will be life time buddies.

 

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I’ve Reached My Goal Weight

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Weight – 149 pounds

So what is a goal weight?  For me it was the highest weight I could get by with so I could quit paying for meetings at Weight Watchers.  Weight Watchers set my goal at 141.  At the rate I was going with my slow weight loss, I knew that I would be paying for meetings for at least another year.  So with a doctor’s note I set my own goal weight.  I chose 150 pounds.  I thought that a loss of 50 pounds sounded better than 48 or 49.  I like round numbers.

I can now go to my Weight Watcher meetings for free.  It is a very liberating feeling.  However, you need to be within 2 pounds of your goal weight to go for free.  Ok.  That keeps one accountable.  But then I got to thinking about – what if I have a bad week and I gain weight ?  Then I will need to pay again.  And with E-Tools (Weight Watchers on-line tools) you have to pay over $40 per month.  I really wanted to keep my E-Tools so I got another doctor’s note for 155 pounds – just in case.  I have not needed to use that note.  And I hope I will not have to.

Now you might be thinking I am a cheap skate.  Maybe.  But $40 plus dollars a month every month does add up.  I am at a point in my weight loss journey that Weight Watchers is no longer doing it for me.  I am looking for better and healthier ways of eating.  Blasphemy!  Yes I said it.  I am not 100% sold any more on Weight Watchers.  The program was great for me.  It taught me how to eat again.  I learned nutrition.  I learned portion control.  And I had a great support group.

I will continue to go to the meetings.  I really like my group leader Bonnie.  She is a great speaker.  And there are so many great topics that are talked about.  I still have bad behaviors that I know I will have to be in control of for the rest of my life.  Like diving head first into an appetizer and dessert tray.  I have only done that a few times but that is one behavior that needs to be kept in check.   I do like the support of the group.  It is comforting to know that I am not the only person with uncontrollable behaviors.  And I do learn from everyone there.

What I have quit doing is counting calories and counting points.  Those tasks did keep my accountable during my journey.  But for now it is not serving any purpose.  I no longer journal what I am eating.  I am very aware of the good foods and the bad foods I am eating.  For right now I am concentrating on eating lean meats, fish, a ton of vegetables (I have fallen in love with spinach and kale), limited fruits and healthy fats.  I have taken sugar and grains totally out of my diet.  I eat as much as I want and do eat when I am hungry.  I decided I am not a 3 meal a day person.  I am more of a 5 times a day kind of gal.

I am loving my new look.  And I feel great.  But this is definitely not the end of my journey.  Maintaining one’s weight is extremely difficult.  I have seen so many people reach their goal to only gain all their weight back.  I am determined that I will not be one of those statistics.

So my journey has not ended.  It is just the beginning.  I am just not continuing my journey as an obese person but a normal person.  Being at my goal weight is a great feeling.  But my life long journey will continue.

 

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Five More Pounds

I am five pounds from my goal weight.  I talked with my doctor and he felt that 151 pounds would be a healthy weight.  Weight Watchers set my goal weight at 141 which was on the high side, according to their calculations.  Last October, I realized that this journey was going to take forever and I was getting tired of paying the $40 a month for the meetings.  I wanted to get my Lifetime status back so I could go to the meetings for free.  So I asked my doctor to write a note saying he approved that 151 was a good weight for me.  He asked me why 151?  I said I wanted to lose at least 50 pounds on this journey.

At my weigh in this week I lost 1.4 pounds which put me within 5 pounds of my goal.  Which brings up a big question.  What am I going to do when I reach my goal.  I was listening to Charles D’Angelo the other day on the radio.  He is the St. Louis weight loss guru.  Charles was interviewing a prospective client and asked him “what are you going to do when you reach your goal?”  The prospective client replied “I am going to go out and eat the biggest pizza I can find.”  Charles told the man that he would not take him on as a client because with that mind set he was sure to gain all the weight back.

That made me think about what am I going to do when I hit my goal weight.  I do think about foods I would enjoy eating again.  Ted Drews sounds glorious and I would like to go to PI and eat pizza instead of a salad.  But I am very afraid of gaining back my weight.  So I do have a plan.  I will indulge.  But only very little.  This journey is for the rest of my life.  And I do not want to go through my life not enjoying some favorite foods.  But I do know I would rather eat PI pizza than Dominos.  So I will save my pizza eating for when I go out and not order in.  I would rather eat Ted Drews ice cream rather than Breyers.  So when we make a trip to Ted Drews I will indulge.  But what I can do is not eat a whole pizza.  I can have a slice of pizza with a salad.  And I can have a mini concrete rather than a regular or large.

My taste buds have changed.  I really like eating clean.  I have given up processed foods.  I don’t eat anything that is white except cauliflower.  I eat very little grains. Which I am looking forward to incorporating back into my diet.  I would like to experiment with quinoa and other grains.  I never seem to get tired of eating lean meats and fresh vegetables.  I love fruit.  But for now trying to get the last few pounds off, I have decided to eat only one fruit per day.

I also have gotten back into my exercise routine.  I go to Dave Reddy’s boot camp twice a week.  I go for my three mile walks the other days.  I do take one day off.  I am looking forward to running again.  I took a break from that with the bad weather.  We do have a wonderful treadmill which collects a lot of dust.  I would much rather be outside or walk in a mall than get on that treadmill.  I feel like a hamster in a cage on that treadmill.

I do know one thing, when I reach my goal I am going to buy a jean jacket and some new summer clothes.  All of my summer clothes are huge on me and I am in need of a new wardrobe.  I am looking forward to getting a cute bathing suit, one that does not cover my whole body.  So instead of focusing on what I can eat again, I am focusing on what I can wear again.  It is a great feeling.

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