Stick with what works

February 1st will make a year since I started on this weight loss/healthiness journey.  I am REALLY close to hitting my goal of losing 100lbs in one year and am trying desperately to get there.  I know it's not the end of the world if I don't make it, but I really want to be able to say that I lost 100lbs in a year.

In a last ditch effort to try and drop the pounds fast, I decided to try something new starting on Monday.  I was going to do the South Beach Diet for two weeks to try and drop the big weight they promise you will lose in those two weeks.  Well, I prepared myself last Sunday and started on Monday.  My plan was to follow the diet, but stay within the confines of my WW points so that I didn't go overboard.

I did really well on Monday and Tuesday, but by Tuesday evening I just felt AWFUL.  My stomach was all messed up and I felt so deprived.  It was terrible.  I decided that I wasn't going to be so strict with myself and by Wednesday evening, all bets were off.

I know the low carb/no carb thing can work for some people, but it was not for me.  Weight Watchers has worked really well for me and I've never felt deprived of yummy, yet healthy, options.  Being told what I cannot have makes me want just that!

That being said, I've decided that my motto is to just stick with what works.  Weight Watchers has worked really well for me.  I've lost at a reasonable pace and there is no real reason to change that.  I just started getting greedy and it backfired on me.   I'm back to my original weight loss plan - Weight Watchers & Exercise.

I am holding out until Tuesday to post my official 1 year weigh-in!!

Introduction

Almost a year ago, I was morbidly obese.  My BMI was over 50 and I was FAT!  I knew my weight was a problem, but I felt helpless.  I just figured I was always going to be fat because being healthy and losing weight was such a daunting task.  I knew better than to set a New Year's resolution to lose the weight because I'd just break it, like I had done almost every year prior.  

I'd been telling myself for so long that I was going to lose the weight.  "I'll do it when I get my own place." I said (in 2006). I made some better choices, but not for long and my weight crept up.  "I'll lose it when I finish grad school" (in 2010 and another 30lbs later).  I graduated and moved - still didn't do anything about my weight.  We were living with family at the time and I said that I'd lose it once we got our own house - It'd be easier to cook.  I've always had some excuse.  There is always some reason that I just can't start dieting and losing the weight.

Then, mid-January of last year, the girls at my work were all trying to stick to their New Year's resolutions of eating healthy and losing weight.  I hadn't made that resolution because I knew I wasn't ready yet.  Well, they decided they were going to have a Biggest Loser competition amongst the girls in the office (about 7 of us) and I MUST participate.  After a lot of peer pressure, I reluctantly agreed.  We agreed on a February 1st start date.  That gave me time to prepare.  I still wasn't sure I was ready.  I hadn't bought my house yet and that was supposed to be the next milestone at which I would "try" to lose weight.  One of the girls had been doing weight watchers for a while and offered to give me her materials.  I looked over it and made my plan.

I started Weight Watchers on February 1, 2011 and haven't looked back!  The Biggest Loser challenge only lasted 3 months.  I didn't end up winning, but it was the push I needed.  It allowed me to see that my schedule wasn't too busy, I could do it while living with others who were not eating the same healthy food...I COULD DO IT!

My first (painful) weigh-in was 334.6lbs.  I knew it was up there.  It'd been over a year since the Wii Fit had told me I was too fat to play because the balance board couldn't support my weight (it has a limit of 330lbs).

I'm coming up on a year now and have almost reached my goal of losing 100lbs.  That's almost 1/3 of my starting weight!  It's over half-way to my goal of weighing 160lbs.