Month 1

I still can’t quite believe it. I look at the numbers and my heart flutters. A smile grows big on my face. I feel proud.

During my first month of Weight Watchers, my first-ever successful month where I lost consistently, I lost 6 pounds. Considering it took me 3 months in Summer 2007 to lose 15 pounds, this is a major accomplishment. I can’t believe I’m just 4 pounds away from losing 10 pounds – a milestone in any weight-loss journey.

I can’t say I feel any different. My clothes don’t feel looser and I don’t have any more energy than before. But I do feel more in control. I know I wrote about it before but I can’t stress it enough! After my success in 2007 and later setback, I tried Weight Watchers again and again, always quitting after a few weeks. I found it so hard to stay committed to the program. I never tracked, cheated as often as I could, and barely ever hit the gym.

It’s funny how busy I am now, but I find it easier to stay on the program. I’m still finding time, five days a week, to exercise. I’m tracking every morsel of food I put in my mouth. I’m measuring out everything I eat. And as rollercoaster as my emotions have been over the past week, I haven’t looked at food as a way to help me with my emotions. (Although my mom did offer to take me out to ice cream after I had a meltdown on Friday. ENABLER!)

I’m really pleased with my success. I know it’s not always going to be this easy. In fact, there is a lady in my meeting who has been stuck at 20 lbs since MAY. In the past month, she’s lost 5 lbs. I couldn’t imagine being on a plateau for that long and still sticking with it. That, my friends, is dedication.

Although I never really sat down and wrote out goals for my first month, I knew there were 3 things I wanted to get accomplished: tracking, exercise, and water. I just wanted to ease into this month and lose some weight. I wanted to track what I ate, exercise at least 3 times a week, and drink more water. And I did all that. And now I want to set some new goals for my second month so I can keep losing and keep this weight loss thing interesting.

This month, one of my big goals is to start strength-training. I always tell myself I don’t have enough time but I’m really going to try to make time twice a week to do this. Strength-training is one of my favorite ways to exercise and I already have loads and loads of different moves from my Shape magazines. I just need to implement some type of program and find a time of day to do these. Plus, it’s really going to help with my weight loss!

Another goal of mine this month is to stop counting my exercise points as extra points. With Weight Watchers, we are allowed to do this but we also get 35 extra points a week to do with what we please. My mom hasn’t counted her exercise points for a long time, even though she gets a lot of them! I’m really hoping this will amp up my weight loss. Plus, sometimes I tend to cheat on exercise points. (What?! Two points for 30 minutes on the elliptical? No way…it has to at least be 3!) So I want to stop exercising so much for points as for my health. (Although I’m still not in love with it, but I don’t despise it as much as I used to.)

Lastly, I really need to drink more water. I’m just not a big fan of this tasteless beverage. (And I’ve tried flavored water, which just doesn’t taste right.) I want to drink at least 3 bottles a day, which gives me about 51 ounces a day. And, for me, that is a LOT of water. This will also help cut down my soda habit, something I’m hoping to really get rid of. I hate this addiction I have towards soda. I’m going to start instituting “No Coke Days” once a week, probably on Saturdays. I wanted to start last Saturday but dang it, I have an addiction! It’s so hard to not drink the stuff. I would quit cold turkey but I’ve tried that before and it really messes with my body. (Yes. I’m like an alcoholic. Only with soda. A sodaholic? Do they have support groups for people like me?) And I drink the good stuff, not that diet crap. My screwed-up thinking is that regular soda has a points value (3 points for a 12-ounce can), diet soda does not. The points value keeps me somewhat in check. If I was drinking diet soda, I could have as much as I want for 0 points.

So those are my three goals for next month. I also have a 5K planned for April 10th. I’m nowhere near ready to run the whole thing. I’m shooting to be able to run a mile, walk a mile, and run my last mile. Fingers crossed!