Weight Watchers

I have officially started Weight Watchers.  It's something I've been thinking about for a few months now, and decided it would be a perfect birthday gift from my Granny.  I signed up for a 3 month membership last night, so today is my first day on the program.  

First, I should explain why I joined.  I've always had body image issues, even when I wasn't overweight, and I've always felt the need to be thinner.  I used to exercise a lot in high school, partly because I wanted to lose weight and also because I had the time and resources to do it.  In my senior year of high school, I danced three days a week for at least an hour and a half every day, plus worked out at the YMCA 3-4 days a week.  I went through a very unhealthy period in my life that same year, where I tried to eat less than 1,000 calories a day and maintain that exercise routine every week.  I eventually got burned out and went back to my old eating habits.  


When I moved to Lynchburg for college, I was still at a healthy, acceptable weight for my age and height.  I maintained that until Billy and I got married, and then I slowly started to gain weight.  With being a full time student, and not working, it was hard for me to eat normal meals at normal times of the day.  In the first semester after we got married, I would go all day at school from 7:30 am - 4:00 pm without eating, then come home and eat a ton because I was starving.  I gained about fifteen pounds in the 2 and a half years of marriage before getting pregnant.

I gained 35 pounds while pregnant with Ellie, and lost 25 in the first few months after her birth, but can't get rid of this last 10 to go back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  I'm not strong or dedicated enough to do it on my own, so I decided to enlist the help of Weight Watchers to get me where I need to be.  I know several people who have done Weight Watchers successfully, so I know it's a safe, healthy program and it's something that will work for me.  I really NEED the accountability in order to reach my goals...doing it on my own isn't enough.  I love that I have to track what I eat every day and that it keeps track of how many points I've used.  It's a huge motivation for me...it's kinda like being in school again, and wanting to get an A on my work, so I'm motivated to do my best and not mess things up. =)


So this will probably be a new addition to my blog...talking about Weight Watchers.  I know not many people read this, but it's the perfect outlet for me to talk about what's going on in my life, and it makes me feel better after I get something off my chest.


My short term weight loss goal is 8 pounds.  My starting weight is 159, and so my first goal is to get to 151.  That will put me 1 pound over my pre-pregnancy weight.  Obviously, I don't want to stop there.  Ideally, I would like to eventually get to 135.  That's what I weighed when Billy and I got married, and I think it's a realistic goal for me.


It's been an interesting first day of my lifestyle change.  I totaled up what I ate yesterday, before I started Weight Watchers, just to see what my normal day of food consumption would add up to.  I consumed 70 points yesterday!  To give you an idea of how outrageous that is, my daily food allotment on the program is 29 points.  So today, I had to cut down by more than half.  It blows my mind to think that 70 points was the norm for me.  I felt fine this morning, but this afternoon I have been starving!  I was so paranoid to go over my points for today that I tried to make sure I left enough for dinner, and now I have 6 points that I haven't even used (plus 3 points I earned for walking today!).  I also tried a Weight Watchers recipe for dinner tonight: Orange Chipotle BBQ Pork Chops with Grilled Onions (minus the chipotle...I just used what we had on hand).  It was very yummy, and only 5 points (one slice of homemade pizza, by comparison, is 9 points).   I know it's going to take some getting used to...it's a drastic change from what I was eating.  But I know this is the best thing for me, and it's going to be a huge motivational tool for me to get where I need to be.


In other news, I turned 23 this week.  I had a great birthday and enjoyed spending time with family and friends.  I got lots of gift cards, which I'm trying to save until I actually NEED clothes (crossing my fingers that I can buy smaller sizes!).  Billy's gift to me is a trip to Busch Gardens on Saturday, which I'm really looking forward to.  Last time I went was two years ago, so I think it's been long enough so that I can enjoy the roller coasters again.  I find that if I go too often, it's not as fun.  Granny and Poppaw are going to babysit Ellie for us (thank you!!!).  It will be so weird for me...a whole day without Ellie!  The longest I've left her is for a few hours at a time.  I know she'll be fine and probably have a blast being spoiled, so I'm not worried about her...I'm worried about me!  In June, we're going to leave her for a whole weekend to celebrate our anniversary...knowing me, I'll probably cry.

So I guess that's it from me today...I need to get to bed so that I can have some energy for the babies tomorrow!  By the way, I took BOTH of them to Kroger today, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected.  Both Ellie and Emma were perfect angels.  The hardest part was trying to fit the groceries in the cart, because Emma's car seat was at the front of the cart (where a kid would sit) and Ellie was in the basket of the cart.  I had to stack the groceries around them (I even put a bag of noodles in Ellie's lap and gave Emma my wallet and sunglasses!).  =)

~Kristen