#weightwatchers

For all the obvious reasons of 2020 just being over finally and having a (hopefully) more sane president in office.

But also for personal reasons because on the 4th I begin not only a new job, but an entirely new career in an entirely new industry for me and I am beyondexcited about it!  It will also be by far the highest paying job I’ve had and the most “grown up” job I’ve ever had with insurance and real benefits and all that.

I’m also in the healthiest, happiest, and nicest living situation I have ever been in.  It’s just me, my sister, and our dog in this nice house with the yards and the garage and a full kitchen AND NO OTHER ROOMMATES OR RELATIVES LIVING WITH US so we can do whatever we want and live how we want to live. 

In 2020, I completely lost track of my weight loss (as I feel most of us have) because I was trying to focus more on my mental health and just getting through the year, but with the new year and this new job and stability in my life, I’m excited to get back on my weight loss journey–even though it will be much more of a health journey rather than one that is weight loss-centered.

I have been almost completely MIA on this blog all year, but I’m looking forward to being more active again and will be sharing more mental/emotional health posts in addition to health/diet/weight loss ones.

Eating no sugar is rough at times but I am sticking with it! (even when my boyfriend was eating a DQ blizzard beside me last night >_<)

Yep, it’s a thing. It’s happening. Currently on day three with my boyfriend, and of course that time of the month is like hey, hi, how are you, fancy seeing you here BLEEDY BLEEDY.

I have had a problem being consistent. There is always an excuse, you know? I am stressed today, eat eat, week of eating healthy, something bad happens, stress eat, etc. Life has been hard for a lot of us this year. I don’t feel that it is an excuse for poor eating, but just to express all that has been going on:

April: Was on mandated quarantine from employer due to being exposed to someone with Covid. We live with Phillips’ parents (technically grandparents), and long story short, after getting threats from family Phillip wasn’t comfortable with us staying there. So, we lived in my parents’ detached garage for a week and a half…let me paint a picture for you, in case you don’t live in Pennsylvania.

It snowed. It was COLD (at least 80% of the time). Even my friggin’ blood of the dragon Targaryen of a boyfriend who is a heater himself was cold most of the time. The garage has a heater in it, however even at full blast the highest temperature we could achieve was 60 degrees. We slept in a van that was parked in the garage, and had to keep our very rambunctious cat in the van with us (we were afraid of him getting loose in the garage and eating something he shouldn’t or hurting himself on any tools like saw blades etc). My spring allergies were in full bloom, and it was a daily struggle with what I can only assume was asthma. Difficulty breathing, worsened by the cold and by our cat (yes, I am allergic to cats). Constantly drinking tea to feel warmth and to open my airways but not getting much relief. Anyway, I am rambling with too many details but April was rough!

May: Back to living in a warm house and thankfully haven’t received any more threats. Our main goal of 2020 was to get a house to finally call our own, and with realtors closed that was impossible. In May, they opened! We looked at a few houses, picked a house we lovedddd, life was looking up…

Someone outbid us on the house. And a few days later, Phillip lost his job.

You know that feeling of having the wind completely knocked out of you? That has been 2020 in a nutshell. Also when you pick yourself up so many times yet get continually knocked down.

We are trying. That’s all we can do. I try to stay positive, and accept what I cannot change. I believe that everything happens for a reason. Phillip doesn’t. Every time we get pushed into the mud even further, it gets harder and harder to not listen to him. I keep waiting for the perfect opportunity to start back to eating healthy, and not looking to food as an outlet in these difficult times.

There is never going to be a perfect time, a moment where something bad isn’t going to happen and throw us off our horse. But I am going to control what I can control, and that is what food I put into my mouth, and how I treat myself. I need to be strong for myself and for Phillip, who is in a darker place than I am right now.

That got really serious! Sorry…but anyway, doing no sugar for a month to kick start things. Also doing Weight Watchers. Join me on my journey if you want. I need to get in the habit of posting more personal updates more frequently. ^^; I hope that wherever you are in life, that you aren’t letting life get you down either. Don’t give up on yourself. I won’t.

Had a terrific block club planning meeting today! It was great to see so many concerned neighbors turn up on a sunny Saturday morning to figure out ways to make our neighborhood safer & more peaceful. It’s a great place to live…we agree that you can’t let problems get a foothold.

After the meeting, I got in a 2 mile powerwalk! Felt GREAT to do! Back on track today & feeling in control of my Weight Watchers healthy lifestyle & love earning those WW Activity Points, too! :-)

Random thoughts - We went & saw the new Xmen movie earlier this week (we liked it!) & then we went to dinner at the Old Country Buffet nearby. Being on Weight Watchers, I haven’t been to an all you can eat style buffet place in a very long time. I’m happy to say that I made some pretty healthy choices & avoided 98% of the non-healthy temptations. Actually, most of the stuff I would have been tempted by prior to my decision to lose weight in a healthy way didn’t even tempt me at all! That’s a good NSV (non-scale victory) I think. My thinking about food has improved & I don’t want the bad stuff like I used to. :-)

While we were eating, I silently looked around at the other folks in the restaurant & noticed that sadly, the majority of them were very overweight & going back for multiple plates with food heaped high on them…mountains of mashed potatoes, fried foods & desserts. Please know that I’m not “fat shaming” here…I’m still very overweight myself & have been all my life. I know how hard being overweight is. I’m just sharing a simple true observation & there’s no personal judgement. Those relatively cheap all you can eat buffets are a very dangerous place for people struggling with overeating issues. I never even noticed the other people in there before, but it was pretty eye-opening. I don’t think I want to go back there for a very long time. 

Also, we went out to dinner to celebrate our 22nd Anniversary last night at a really nice restaurant but after, I felt too full & had some regret for eating too much. Ugh! It was a wonderful evening but definitely a treat.

WW weigh-in early in the morning tomorrow. Hope that eating dinner out (& being mega bloated from monthly stuff) doesn’t have a bad impact on the scale! 

I just got home from another terrific Weight Watchers meeting! 
I was very excited to have a loss of 2.4 lbs last week! YES!!! :-)

The theme for this week is: “The Power of Produce”. 
Our always fun & inspiring leader Judy got us talking about the ways we already are incorporating fruits & veggies into our meals, and challenged us all to do our best to have fruits & veggies in every meal. She also challenged us to try one NEW fruit or veggie this week! That sounds fun!

I always enjoy when the nice folks in my WW meeting share their food & recipe tips, and today there was lots of talk about how easy & fun it can be to make homemade dressings…and how they can be a healthier alternative to lots of the bottled stuff. 

Today’s a busy day here…so It’s time for a bite of breakfast then lots to do. Wishing you all a happy, healthy week! :-)

I’m on week 13 of Weight Watchers’ “Stay and Succeed” promo, and after last Saturday morning’s meeting, I used up the “attend 12 weeks & choose any $4.95 WW bar or snack” promo and I chose the Chili Lime Multigrain Crisps. They’re crispy & great! I really like the zesty seasoning on them & they're only 2 points per bag. (6 bags per box).

Hi! Sorry this post is a few days late! We were really busy all weekend with 4th of July things & I needed all day yesterday to get house & errand stuff done. 

I went to my Saturday 7am WW meeting & it was great! I was happy to see that I had a loss…It was a small loss of only 0.6 lb, but I’ll happily take it, because I’ve been stressed & out of sorts due to the car accident I was in ever since June 23.

Today, I’m feeling emotionally all back to normal, but won’t rest easy till the old lady who hit me’s insurance company finally finishes the darn claim so we can get the car fixed. Stress is very hard on me & my willpower was weaker than usual & I made some poor food choices. :-(

Our Weight Watchers meeting theme was all about “BOUNCING BACK” and how to deal with those times when you slip off of your healthy eating plan…PERFECT TIMING for me, no? As usual, I left the meeting re-inspired & learned a few new helpful things. :-)

Wishing you a happy, healthy week! :-)

ashleysgettingfit:

I have this very odd desire to obtain one of those pounds of fat you see to use as motivation. You know, those rubbery ones that say “still upset you only lost 1 pound?” Where would one obtain such a thing?

EDIT: I found it on amazon for 57$. I’m not sure I want it that bad lol. I was thinking it would be like 15$

I was just thinking about this interesting post from ashleysgettingfit. I’ve always wondered if the fat used in that famous motivational photo of a hand holding a pound of fat to illustrate what a difference 1 pound of fat is was real, or a rubbery example. Anyways, It got me to thinking…It would be awesome to create my own personalized version of that photo to give me extra motivation for my healthy weight loss process!

I’ll do it by getting a pound of fat from the meat dept. at my grocery store. They’ll probably just give it to me when I explain what I’m doing. I’ll take it home & have my hubby take some photos of me with it. I’ll recreate the close-up hand holding it pose & also more of me smiling & holding it. It will be my way of celebrating the impact of how much a difference losing each pound is for my body! While I’m at it, I’ll also cut it in half & do the same poses for losing ½ pound too. Visual aids like this will be very helpful to me, I think.

I think it’s a fun idea & after I do it, I’ll share my finished photos here & with my Weight Watchers group! :-)

Just remembered to share that in yesterday’s Weight Watchers meeting, someone said that she loves ice cream but wanted a WW-friendly version. She said she freezes bananas & chops them up and put them in her blender with a small amount of skim chocolate milk & cinnamon and blends it. Then she returns the mixture to the freezer & later enjoys it like ice cream…but it’s a healthier alternative.

Sounds worth trying! I just put some bananas in my freezer. When I make it in a day or 2, I’ll take photos & let you know what I think. Has anybody else tried this?