Starting Over

I started this blog nearly nine months ago but wrote a whopping total of 4 posts, 3 of which I just deleted. I want to start fresh, and intend, for the time being at least, for this to be a sort of a Weight Watchers diary as I follow the program. I want to post about both the ups and downs so that I have something to look back on as I stumble along the way.

I started Weight Watchers on August 9 and as of my weigh-in last week, I had lost 7.8 lbs. Pretty good for 4 weeks, I guess. I've been alternating really good weeks with so-so weeks, but luckily so far I've not yet posted a gain!

Week 1: -3 lbs
Week 2: -1 lbs (particularly remarkable considering it was my birthday week and I didn't count points for two and a half days!)
Week 3: -3.2 lbs
Week 4: -0.6 lbs

In Week 3 I earned my 5 lb. sticker, and this week I'm hoping to earn both my 5% and 10 lb. stickers. I need to lose 1.2 for my 5% goal and 2.2 to reach 10 lbs. Based on my home scale and my weight this morning, I should hit both of those goals when I go to weigh-in on Monday, but it all depends on how much self control and good judgment I have tomorrow on the first Football Sunday of the season!

All in all, I really like the Weight Watchers program. It's NOT easy, that's for sure. Not for someone that loves food as much as I do and whose social life revolves so much around eating and drinking. But, it IS doable. And it's really opened my eyes about my prior habits and how I got to a point where I needed to lose nearly 60 pounds to be at my ideal goal weight (which is still on the high end of the WW recommendations for someone of my height!). When I think now about the things that I used to eat without a second thought, and not only WHAT I ate, but how MUCH I ate, it's really pretty sickening and no surprise that I gained so much weight.

So, so far so good. I do see this as a program I can follow for an extended length of time, probably forever. I know I'll have bad days, and on those days I just need to remember the victories I have had along the way and remind myself that it's worth doing. I just turned 30 three weeks ago and I refuse to go through another decade of my life being unhappy and overweight and missing out on things because I'm too self-conscious. So this time it's clicked for me and I'm excited to see the progress I'll continue to make!

My Mini Goals:
10 lbs. by September 12
15 lbs. by October 10
18 lbs. (my 10% goal) by October 24
20 lbs. by November 7
25 lbs. by December 5
28 lbs. (my 15% goal) by December 19
30 lbs. by January 2
35 lbs. by January 30
38 lbs. (my 20% goal) by February 20
40 lbs. by March 5
45 lbs. by March 26
47 lbs. (my 25% goal) by April 9
50 lbs. by April 23 - GOAL WEIGHT!!

It's pretty discouraging when I look at the fact that it will likely take me another seven months to reach my goal weight, but I'm trying to be realistic. And I think that by setting up small goals, in either 5 lb. increments or based on small percentages, it gives me easier numbers to work toward and also lets me adjust my goals more easily if I find that I've been either too aggressive or not aggressive enough with my time frame.

Two more days until the next weigh-in!