Weight Watchers Week One = Success!!!!!!

Mike and I weighed in tonight.  We were not able to stay for the actual meeting, but we did make a point to go and weigh in.  I was NERVOUS.  Yesterday was my birthday.  I had pizza for dinner and also some cake that my sweet Mom made for me.  

The cake actually was not too bad on the points scale.  It was made especially for me and was Weight Watchers friendly.  I will share the recipe with you in a later post.

I know you are just DYING to find out how we did...

Wait....

Ready for it???

First I will tell you we lost a total of 7 1/2 lbs. combined!

Mike lost 2.5... good job, baby!

I lost 5 POUNDS!

In ONE WEEK!!!!! 

SWEET!  I am thrilled.  I know not to expect it to be this way every week.  It actually does not NEED to be this way every week.  This sure will help keep me motivated though!  I am only 4 pounds away from reaching my 5% goal and I know my 10% will be here before you know it.  I would REALLY like to reach that by the time the holidays get here.  We will see!

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!

Hip Hip Hooray!

Every time I say that I think of sweet Mr. Payne.  He was my principal at Sequoyah Elementary School.  He would always pump his fist into the air and say "Hip Hip!" and we would respond with a big "Hooray!"  What a sweet, precious man he was.  :)

The reason I am excited is because yesterday I walked/jogged FOUR miles!!!  Then I got brave and tried on that stinkin' dress.  Guess what?  It fits!  AND it looks better than I remembered it looking in the store.  Hip hip HOORAY!!!

I am so happy about this, but know I still have a LONG way to go.  I will not give up!  Soaring Wings Half Marathon is not even three full months away.  Valley Fest 5K is in less than one month.  I realized yesterday that I am already doing a 5K.  I am not running it all, but I AM doing it.  This is more than I have been able to say before.

I may have mentioned this before, but the best part of running at 5 am (which is getting MUCH easier by the way!) is that I have quiet time when it is still really quiet in my house.  It is WONDERFUL!  Having this time alone with my awesome God is so wonderful.  I love doing this right after running because it helps me keep focus on the fact that I am not in this alone.  I want to be healthy.  I want to be a better person.  I want to do this not for me, but for HIM!!!

I am so technologically challenged, but I am going to attempt to post a video of my new favorite song.  It is so simple, yet so true!  HE deserves everything from me!

Magic Shirt Confession

This is a post that I started last week and forgot to publish...

I definitely have NOT been doing too well in the eating department lately.  You can always tell when I am not making healthy decisions because I do not blog for an extended period of time.  Yep, I just told on myself!
As far as the numbers go, I cannot tell you anything.  I have stuck with my commitment to not weigh myself until my birthday.  This is both good and bad.  I did good at first.  After a week or so I realized I was not going to see that dreaded number for a WHILE.  YIPPEEEE!  What a great reason to eat all the junk I want?!?  Nice.  Well, that did not work out the way I thought it would.  
I realized that I had a problem when I began noticing my clothing fitting differently.  Determined to stay off the scales, I made a mental note to eat healthier.  And that is what I did... I made a mental note.  What is it with me and procrastinating?  Ugh!  Then the dress came in....

Holley and I in Times Square

My sister friend is getting married in September and I have the privilege of standing beside Holley as her matron of honor.  Our dresses were ordered and I was waiting on it to arrive.  When I got the text saying it had arrived I twinged a bit.  What if it does not fit?  I have yet to try that dress on.  It is hanging in my office/closet so I see it often.  I see the dress and think "You need to try that thing on... I'll do it later."  AGAIN with the procrastinating!  I WILL try that dress on THIS WEEK.
I needed a new shirt so I went to TJ Maxx and got the only one that fit my crazy shaped, growing body.  It probably would not have been what I would have chosen, but I needed something in a pinch and I did not want to spend a fortune on a shirt.  Well, I guess the shirt is magic because not one... not two... but THREE people commented on the fact that I look like I am losing weight.  HA!  I fooled them!  It did motivate me though.  This new magic shirt is now my favorite thing in the closet!
While I have not been eating as well, I HAVE still been exercising.  I walked/ran 2.65 miles with two sweet friends just this morning.  Training for Soaring Wings Half Marathon is underway!

I Need Your Opinion

Okay, I am a walker and sometimes runner.  I guess I could say that I'm mostly a walker but I would really like to become a runner.  Here is my question for you.  What type of shoe would you recommend?  Is there something specific that you like?  I have had someone look at my feet, the way I step, and my old shoes.  They told me my feet are normal and that I do not necessarily need anything specific as far as a specialty shoe goes.  Help!  I need honest opinions on SHOES and not suggestions to have people check out my feet/gait.  Thanks!