It's Official!

Well, it is official.  Mike and I joined Weight Watchers. It will definitely help that my sweet husband is doing this with me. In the past I have tried to do this on my own. That was tough! I would cook healthier foods, but he would not be counting and it just made it easier for me to slack. Thanks for joining me on this new (old) endeavor, Mike! I LOVE YOU!!!!


I am not even going to tell you what my weight was.  YUCK.  Let me just say that going all summer without getting on the scales was NOT a good thing for Beth.  I will tell you that I am allowed to have 29 points a day.  Mike gets 50!  Everyone said there would be a big difference in the amount we each get.  Men always get lots more is what I was told.  Guess they were right!  This should be interesting.

After all that reluctance, I found that the people at the meeting were VERY friendly and helpful.  I look forward to getting to know them a little better!  I do not know why I even hesitated to go.  It was great and will continue to be great.  Especially after I begin to shed the pounds!

I think that once I get used to the new PointsPlus program I will like it.  It is not really that different except for the amount of points you get each week and the points values of foods.  I noticed that lots of the things that they point out as different are things I already knew.  The little start up packet they give new members is very helpful.  I am just happy to have all the new information now so we can get started!

My goal is to very strictly stick to Weight Watchers for a full year. I know it can be done. It will be nice to see what happens! I already have several items in my closet that I have been keeping as "when I lose weight" clothes.  Does every woman do that???  Maybe in the next few weeks I will break them out and show them to you.

Do not be too surprised if I mention Weight Watchers pretty frequently.  I do not intend to turn this into a Weight Watchers blog.  There are PLENTY of those out there.  They are all good and very helpful!  I have a few that I follow and know I will follow a little more closely in the weeks to come.  I will be sure to share any interesting information that I discover.

With my crazy full time wife/mommy/student schedule, I need all the help I can get.  If you know of EASY recipes (preferably ones I can cook in a slow cooker) I would greatly appreciate you sharing them!  PLEASE TRY TO INCLUDE PointsPlus VALUES IF YOU KNOW THEM!  Who knows, if I get enough I may just force myself to become a little more computer savy and create a separate page on my blog for recipes. 
 
 
I LOVE tips! I want to hear about helpful WEBSITES, BLOGS, and most of all EASY RECIPES. Do you have any that work well for you? Please feel free to leave a comment and share with me. 

Considering Weight Watchers... again.

So, I am seriously considering going back to Weight Watchers.  It will not be the first time I have done it.  This works for me!  It is so realistic and teaches healthy habits that my entire family can benefit from.
I first tried Weight Watchers in 2004.  Our first child was two years old.  I lost quite a bit of weight.  Yes, I have been on a roller coaster my entire life.  I will say that I have not ever gotten back up to the point I was when I first joined in 2004.  Even full term pregnant with my second child I did not weigh what I did in 2004.
I have a couple of obstacles that I am needing some help with:

• I have heard that the meetings I used to attend no longer exist.  This is a problem because we live in a small town and there is only one other place to go.  Everyone I have talked to about the place that is still running says negative things about it.  
• I do not have a fancy phone that I can use to keep up with all the points values.  With the new system, I will have my points recalculated and so I will no longer have so many things memorized from the old system.  I still have lots of my old materials, but I really want to JOIN and GO for the accountability.  Everyone that I know that has used the new system is very pleased with it, but they also talk about the convenience of having it on their phone.  It is just not as easy if you have to constantly be looking everything up.

Do you have any suggestions for me?  Do any of my local friends know of a good Weight Watchers or weight loss accountability group?  I actually went to a group in a surrounding town before.  That is the one that no longer exists.  I do not want to drive any further than about ten minutes to get there though.  That would just get to be too much and I have a feeling it would not last long.  I CANNOT GIVE UP!!!!!

Baby Steps

I have decided that it is all about the baby steps.  Little things make a big difference.  This is a phrase that has become very popular in our house over the summer.  I started using it in an attempt to get my kids to help out more with laundry, dishes, etc. 
Walking/running is going well!  It is exciting.  I have yet to weigh myself and REFUSE to do so until my birthday at the end of this month.  Knowing that I have less than a month is really motivating me to do more, MORE, MORE!  I know I have no will power and so I am going to make a conscious effort to make little changes, take baby steps, and do little things.  Eventually they WILL make a BIG DIFFERENCE.
Cool quote I ran across this morning...

 "SHALLOW DESIRES PRODUCE SHALLOW EFFORTS."

I know I have mentioned the book Made To Crave before.  I am beginning the 21 day challenge today and I WILL NOT GIVE UP!!!  This is not a shallow desire!  Anyone feel led to do it with me?  The following is an excerpt from the email I received on DAY 1...

"One day I looked up the definition of the word indulge, which means “unrestrained action.” And 

for me, it was unrestrained eating. You see, eating in its proper context is not the problem. God 

gave us food for nourishment, strength, and even celebration. But when pleasure becomes unrestrained, there’s a problem.

I had to get honest enough to admit it that I relied on food more than I relied on God. I craved food more than I craved God. Chocolate was my comfort and deliverer. Cookies were my reward. Salty chips were my joy. Food was what I turned to in times of stress, sadness, and even in times of happiness.

I knew it was something God was challenging me to surrender to His control. Really surrender. Surrender to the point where I’d make radical changes for the sake of my spiritual health perhaps even more than my physical health.

Part of my surrender was asking myself a different question, a really raw question. May I ask you this same question? Is it possible we love and rely on food more than we love and rely on God?"

WOW.  That last question hit home for me.  Do I give food and my own personal (shallow) desires more attention than I give my own creator?  Unfortunately for me, the answer is a big, fat, ugly YES.  

Here is my verse for the next week:

"Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness 

because we fear God."     -2 Corinthians 7:1

A key word for me in this verse is EVERYTHING.  Everything, as in food, shallow desires, distractions, junk, ANYTHING that is keeping me in this rut of producing shallow efforts.  The second sentence in this is so important.  I DO fear God and because of this, I should be striving to do more for HIM and not feeding (pun intended) my fleshly desires.  

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is 

not in him."   -John 2:15

Things in the world...  Oh, there are so many things I could say about this!  There are so many things HE says about this!!!  Do you have "things in the world" you struggle with?  Things that may be keeping you from HIM and keep you in the same rut I am in?  It does not have to be food!  We all have different struggles.  We all deal with different "shallow desires".  I WILL make a change.  I WILL do my best to have strong efforts and deep desires!