Hello to the 20’s!

Previous weight: 233.9
Current weight: 229.9

Loss: 4 lbs
Total loss: 53.1

Heck yea! I have no idea how I lost 4 pounds but I’ll take it! I started a second job last week and I didn’t work out once. I think my highest step count was 4K, but on the bright side I was too busy to think about food so it kept me from snacking. Next week I don’t think it will be that bad. Just starting out in the first few days it required a lot of time to get organized.

On note of my new job this is just how great God is. I went into my daughter’s school two weeks ago to order her uniforms. While I was there I wanted to get my payment schedule and come to find out is was more way more than I thought. For kindergarten? I can’t afford $650 a month for kindergarten so I prayed about it. Yes, I prayed about it. I used to be the person who worried and stressed about everything. One day I just started giving it to God and since then I worry over nothing and I trust that it will work out as it is meant to be. Well that night, THAT NIGHT!!!! Like 4 hours later after leaving her school and trying to figure out what the heck I was going to do I got a phone call. I didn’t recognize the number so I let it go to voicemail and when I listen to it I hear, “Crystal…. this is (a previous co-worker)… I was given your number by (another previous co-worker) and I have a stay at home position for you if you want it.” Are you kidding me? So of course I called him back because with my living situation I require an at home position. I can find care for my kids but I have no one to stay with my grandmother so that I can leave to go to work. And the best part is that the pay is equivalent to my work! The harder I work and the better I do my job the more I get paid. I am so stoked and SO BLESSED.

Next week I am not going to set any goals. I feel as soon as I write them here they are out the door. Instead this week I am just going to take it day by day. I am so excited that with my weigh in today I met my second goal with Weight Watchers, which was 231. My new goal is 183, which will put me at my 100 pound mark.

46 more pounds to a 100 pound loss. This is something I didn’t accomplish last time prior to getting pregnant.

19 more pounds to meet my pre-pregnancy weight.

29 more pounds to Onederland.

I am very happy with my progress. When I started Weight Watchers the initial goal I had in mind was 225. I am 4.9 pounds from that, which just shows that time will catch up and the weight with it.

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Re-Dedication to the Cause

Tags

eating healthy, exercise, fitbit, fitness, food, health, healthier living, lose weight, weight loss goals, weight watchers

After a few cheat months (yes months, not meals or days), I am back with my Operation Skinny & Fit plan. I had my baby in January. I gained back quite a bit of weight during my pregnancy. I think after “dieting” for so long I looked at my pregnancy as a break… a total regret by the way. Regardless, my son is here and healthy and I am now recommitting myself to Operation Skinny & Fit.

I rejoined Weight Watchers a few weeks ago. I lost 50 pounds with WW before I started calorie counting. That switch is my biggest regret. I got bored with the points and needed something new. Had I continued with WW instead of My Fitness Pal and calories I know I wouldn’t have gained what I did and could even be at goal right now. I’m not going to worry about that now though. I’m back with the WW program and I am in complete control of my foods.

My problem since my re-commitment to this weight loss journey has been my activity level. Before I got pregnant I was working out at least 5 days a week. I knew getting back into this that I couldn’t go into it with the expectation that I was going to immediately start at that many days  and my previous level. I’d get burnt out. And naturally with a newborn baby I was wore out and exercise was the last thing on my mind anyway. I found a solution for this…

I bought a FitBit on Sunday. If anyone finds themselves needing to move more I totally recommend the FitBit. It’s a wireless pedometer that tracks your steps, mileage, active minutes, and calories burned. You can also track your water and calories with it but I use WW for that. I find myself motivated by the number. It recommends you get at least 10K steps in a day. I took my daughter to the zoo yesterday and we walked around the the bike path at the park today to get in extra steps. So now I’m not only making sure I’m moving more, but this change is going to benefit my daughter as well. The Fitbit clips onto my bra or you can clip it to your pants and it syncs with the FitBit app on my phone or with their website. I forget it’s there, but today when we walked at the park I let my daughter play on the playground. I was short of my step goal so instead of sitting down or standing there I walked in place beside my stroller until I hit my mark. Never would I have done that if I didn’t have my FitBit!

Today is my weigh in day with WW. I lost 3.3 pounds last week. Now that I have my FitBit and I’m moving more I can’t wait for my weigh in next Wednesday!

Instead of chasing myself to get back where I was I am starting over on a clean slate. I sat down and made a new list of why I want this and what my goals are. They are:

1) My overall goal is the same as it was before. I want to weigh 175 pounds. That is my main goal. Once I get there if I need to lose more I will re-evaluate but that is a 100 pound marker for me. This time around it’s actually a 108 pound marker, but regardless that is my goal weight.

2) Short term goal – I need to incorporate more activity into my schedule. I will use my FitBit as encouragement for this. I want 10K steps a day and if it means I have to walk around my block, up and down my hallway, or go to the grocery store then I’ll do what I have to.

3) Continue with healthy eating for myself and for my kids.

4) Run a mile again without stopping

Small steps. I have the Dirty Girl Mud Run coming up again on the 17^th and I’m going to Kings Island mid June. I’m using both as incentive. I don’t want to worry about fitting on the rides when I get to Kings Island.

Cleanse Day #4

Tags

Body cleanse, detox, eating healthy, exercise, food, health, healthier living, healthy-living, lose weight, Losing Weight, motivation, weight loss goals, weight watchers, weight watchers points, weight-loss, YOR Health

I am sick to death of this cleanse. I added meat back to my diet. I wanted to go until Friday, but I lack discipline apparently. I don’t think I mentally prepared myself for this cleanse as I did last time. I rushed into it and it was a very last minute decision (I decided the night before I started). I will not do that next time.

At any rate, last night I ate boiled chicken. Today I will be sticking to fish. I really wish I liked salmon because it’s great for you. I don’t so I will be eating tilapia today and continuing with fruits, veggies, and my Yor Health program.

Yesterday I did a blog for Weight Watchers. I decided to go back with that program. The majority of the weight I lost was due to Weight Watchers. I met my 50 pound goal and then I sort of deadened out. I hit a major wall and started counting calories instead using My Fitness Pal. I’ve since only lost 16 or so pounds through that so I’m going back to Weight Watchers and I’m excited about it. I love, love, love, love, L O V E Weight Watchers. I believe the majority of my success is due to their program. The rest is my resolve.

I was telling my sister and I will share it here too, that I’ve been slipping on the veggies. With the Weight Watchers program you can eat all fruits and veggies you want and it is 0 points. That was a huge reason I was successful with their program. I pushed the fruits and veggies because it was like free food. I think going back to Weight Watchers will get me back on track with that.

Also I feel like when I cheat with a food that gives me a free for all for the rest of the day. Like I eat a poptart and suddenly the entire day is a cheat day. With Weight Watchers they give you bonus points for the week. That number can be separated throughout the week or it can be used all at once. I think the bonus points will help me keep from entire cheat days. I read before to eat right through the week and when the weekend comes to give yourself a fun “cheat” meal. I’m going to use my bonus points for that.

My last problem lately is the gym. I’ve gotten out of my routine and I’ve gotten lazy. I think a big part of that is that I go to the gym in the evening when I get off work and my boyfriend gets home to stay with our daughter. Now when I get off work it’s dark out and I just want to go to bed. So I need to either start working out early in the morning or just suck it up and go. I’m determined to go today. Yesterday I added the following quote to my Facebook page: “The greatest thing you have is the 24 hours in front of you. The past is gone; the future is distant. Today you CAN succeed. Set a goal you can achieve in the next 24 hours.”

My goal is to get my butt to the gym tonight no matter what. Once I go few times consistently I’ll get my resolve back to working out 3-4 times a week. So that is my plan. I consider going back to Weight Watchers a fresh start. My goal weight right now is 175. It’s taking forever to get there, but I thought the same when I was trying to get to 250 and again 225. So I know will eventually get there.

 

Find me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OperationSkinnyandFit

 

Weight Watchers on your own for FREE

Tags

Calories, eating healthy, food, health, healthier living, healthy-living, itrackbites, Jennifer Hudson, Jessica Simpson, Losing Weight, motivation, Points, positivity, weight loss goals, weight watchers, weight watchers points, weight-loss, wwdiary

When I started this weight loss journey I began with Weight Watchers. It is an incredible program. We’ve all seen the Jennifer Hudson ads, right? Now Jessica Simpson ads are coming out and she looks incredible too. Back before I started losing weight I was skeptical. I’m sure Jennifer Hudson has a chef and a personal trainer to get those results. Did Weight Watchers come with one too? Negative yes, but it’s what I thought at the time.

I was introduced to the program by my aunt. She borrowed Weight Watcher books from a friend and she loaned them to me. It took a week for it to all click. I was still too busy making excuses to put off starting. We were sitting at my grandma’s and she pulls out a huge lunchbox of food. Chicken, water, carrots, fruits. She was prepared and I remember thinking, “I can do that.” And I did. I lost 50 pounds on the Weight Watcher program. I put a lot of the success I have had to Weight Watchers. Without their program I think this would have been another diet fad.

The best part about Weight Watchers, and it is ultimately one of the reasons I am so motivated now to help others, is because it was so EASY. Yes it’s frustrating on the days when progress is slow, but when I say it was easy, I say so because I ate all the time. I didn’t starve myself. You think “diet” and you automatically think you have to go into starvation mode. With Weight Watchers that is definitely not the case.

I do my program on my own from information I have gathered through people who do pay for Weight Watchers and from information I have found online. Weight Watchers is a LIFE change. I am not on a diet. For anyone on a diet, one day you will stop and then what? You go back to what you were doing before your diet and you will gain the weight back and have to diet all over again. The changes I am making today are LIFE changes for both myself and my family… namely my daughter, so that she will never have to do this when she is 30 years old and so I will never gain this weight back.

SO… with that introduction to how I began with Weight Watchers and why it worked, I am going to share how you can start Weight Watchers TODAY for free.

First, you have to know how many points you are allowed. For anyone not familiar with Weight Watchers the program does not involve counting calories. Instead you count points, and each food is alloted a number of points that you track every day.

To determine how many points you are allowed in 1 day you have 1 of 2 options.

Option 1:

Check out this website,   This website will provide the number of points you are allowed by entering in your age, weight, height, and activity level. It will also give you the change in points as you lose weight so you know when to lower your point allowance. (In case the link didn’t open, try http://www.healthyweightforum.org/eng/calculators/ww-points-allowed/.”

Option 2:

If you prefer to tally the information yourself then add up the following:

1) 2 points if you are female, 8 points if you are male, 12 points if you are nursing a baby

2) Add the number depending on your age,… 4 points if you are between 17 to 26 years old, 3 points if you are 27 to 37 years old, 2 points if you are 38 to 47 years old, and one point if you are 48 to 58 years old, or 0 if you are older than 58.

3) Enter the first 2 digits of your weight in pounds. For example, if you weigh 150 lbs, enter 15 points. If you weigh 300 pounds, enter 30 points.

4) Enter 0 if you are under 5 feet 1 inch tall. Enter 1 if you are 5 feet 1 inch to 5 feet 10 inches. Enter 2 if you are 5 feet 10 inches or taller.

5) Enter 0 if your daily activity involves mainly sitting. Enter one if you spend most of your day standing up. Enter four if you walk most of the day. Enter 6 if you spend most of the day doing physically demanding work.

The number you end up with is considered your daily point allowance. You are also given 49 points a week for BONUS points. So you can use 49 points in one day, or divide the points among the week to add 7 more points to your daily allowance.

Now you know how many points you are allowed, so what can you eat?

Answer: You can eat anything you want, as long as you know the points per serving. What I absolutely LOVE about Weight Watchers is I am not limiting what I can eat. I can still eat sweets if I want, and pasta, carbs, and everything else people usually cut out of their diets. But again, Weight Watchers is not a diet. It is not realistic to completely cut out the foods you love because most will go right back to them and gain the weight back. What I do pay attention to is the points and the serving size.

I blogged about this topic once before. If you are interested in starting Weight Watchers and you would like more information on what to eat, read here.

There are also apps on your phone that are available to you to help track your food. For Weight Watchers in particular, the app is called “WWDiary” if you have an Android and “iTrackBites” is the one I used with my iphone but there are several available. Both apps are similar and in a previous blog I explained how they work. Read here for more information.

You can download the actual Weight Watchers app, but you will have to be a member to view their information. They do give free daily recipes though for anyone who is interested.

Both apps allow you to track your food and manually enter your points allowance. Calculators are available to tell you your activity points and points for food (as long as you know the carb, fiber, protein, and fat). There is a “Favorites” menu so that once you find the point for a food you can enter is as a favorite and never have to look it up again. There is also a menu of food that will provide the point for you. For example, potatoes, fish, nuts, etc.

I’m not sure if I mention this or not in my other blog about what to eat so I want to mention it here. Check out Hungry Girl’s website. This is a great website for food ideas. It  has a recipe for everything and the point allowance is already provided for you.   There are also Hungry Girl recipe books!

If anybody reads this and wants to try Weight Watchers but I left any information out that you need let me know. I’m available to answer any questions I can.

New motto for my life: no sense in putting off for tomorrow changes you can start right now!

Slow but steady

I am becoming a firm believer that the longer it takes to lose weight the less likely it will ever come back. Possibly because we are making steady life changes instead of quick drastic ones? I like to think so. I read on Weight Watchers recently a quote that was very motivational. I went back to find that quote, but now I can’t find it to share here. So instead I will go with memory. It went something like this:

“It may take a while for you to lose weight. Even if it takes a year, that time has to pass anyway.”

Making Healthy Food Choices

Tags

food, grocery store, health, healthier living, nutrition, weight watchers, weight-loss

If you have been reading my blog you know by now how to figure out how many Weight Watchers points you are allowed in a day. You know Tupperware is a good tool when portioning your food and preplanning meals. Are you wondering yet what you can eat?

I have debated with myself how to introduce food because ultimately with Weight Watchers you can eat anything. If I try to list different foods I will be sitting here typing up food and points all night. Instead, I decided to do a few food highlights.

First, do not think that just because you are “dieting” that you need to run to the store and completely restock your kitchen. So many people have told me they will start their diet tomorrow after they go to the store because they have nothing healthy to eat. That is not necessary and it may be unrealistic for the budgets of some people.

This brings me back to my new outlook on life. Why put off for tomorrow changes you can start right now! What changes to your food can you make right now that will not cost you anything and get you started?

Explore your kitchen

You may be surprised at what you find. Cookies and chips may have had your attention, but what other food do you have that you forgot about buying? Canned vegetables? Eggs? Chicken in the freezer? Tuna? Granola bars? I know personally I have about 50 boxes of oatmeal. Why does the box look so good in the store and then once I buy it the box just sits in my cabinet? You may not believe you have healthy food, but go look. You may have food you have forgotten about that you can use as a substitute until you do go to the store.

Continue with your regular meals but practice your portion control

What meal were you planning on making tonight for your family? Just because you are trying to eat healthier does not mean you have to eat celery and watch the rest of your family chow down on spaghetti. Remember that Weight Watchers is all about portion control. Measure your food and know your points per serving.

Include a vegetable with every meal

With every meal, load your plate with a vegetable. With Weight Watchers, vegetables are ZERO points so you can eat as much of vegetables as you want. If you know you are about to eat a high point meal, eat a bowl (or plate) of your vegetable of choice first to help fill you up before you go for the points. Also we are visual eaters. A 6 ounce steak is 8 points. That’s not very big… put that on a plate by itself and I already know that won’t fill me up. Surround the steak with carrots, green beans, broccoli, or your vegetable of choice, and suddenly you are looking a full plate of food that is still 8 points.

Keep extra food away from the dinner table

If you eat at the dinner table with your family, plate your food and go sit down. Leave the leftover food on the counter, stove, or anywhere that is away from the dinner table. Out of habit and to keep food within easy reach, it is common to place the extra food with us at the table. If you eat at a table with food right in front of you, very likely you will reach for seconds without even thinking about whether you are hungry. We just eat it because it is there, looking and smelling delicious. This goes for any side dishes as well, such as bread. Another benefit to this is getting you moving. Even if you go for seconds, at least keeping the food away from where you are eating will make you get up to get it.

Eat slowly

Give your stomach time to tell your brain that it is full. Someone advised through a comment on a previous entry to put your fork down after every bite. Try it! You can also make an effort to chew your food better. Take drinks of water throughout your meal to slow you down. And then there is that old thing called conversation that can fill the time. If you do go for seconds because you feel hungry, wait 15 minutes first. You may find that you are not hungry anymore. If you find you are still hungry, consider seconds of your vegetable or fruit as a dessert. Both will be ZERO points.

 

 

Now when you do make a trip to the grocery store, your options are limitless.

Explore the points!

Same with your kitchen, check out the food in the grocery store. As you are learning new food, use the calculator on your Weight Watchers phone app to check the points. For any food, all you need is the carb, fiber, protein, and fat and by using your phone app you can determine the points per food.

If you do not have a phone app, research food before you go to the store. Google food online by typing in an internet search engine, “Weight Watchers points for…” and you will be amazed at how readily available information will be to you. I do this a lot if I eat out. For example, “Weight Watchers points for Applebee’s.” An easy way to know what to research is to look into foods you currently eat that are not healthy and find a substitute. For example, do you love white potatoes? Try sweet potatoes. Love ice cream? Try sherbet or yogurt.

I believe the trick to losing weight and keeping it off is to find your favorite foods and look hard at the nutrition guides to find your best option for that food. For instance, I love ice cream, but do people typically consider that healthy? Of course not, but you have dozens of ice cream to choose from. Pay attention to the nutrition guide and find the right one.

You do not have to eliminate your favorite food! Weight Watchers is about CHOICES and taking steps making better choices. You just have to find out what your options are.

Pay attention to the nutrition labels

Check the calories PER SERVING. You have to pay attention to the serving size. If you look at box of crackers and it says 30 calories, how many crackers can you eat for 30 calories? Also avoid foods that have more than five ingredients and artificial ingredients as it is more processed.

Shop the perimeter

Before getting into the isles, shop the perimeter first. There you will find fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy, meat, fish, and even frozen foods when you get to the other side of the store. Center isles hold all the junk food. When you do go into the middle isles, use your phone app to find the best choice.

Make a grocery list

As I said before, plan ahead for success. Fill your grocery list with fruit, vegetables, whole grains, dairy, lean meat, fish, beans, nuts, poultry. Give yourself a variety. Sticking with your list will help prevent you from grabbing the Oreos just because they look really good. If you feel tempted to grab them anyway, ask yourself “Do I really need that?” No you do not. When that doesn’t work and you put it in the cart anyway, look at the nutrition labels and make the best choice.

Do not go to the grocery store hungry

I have not read this anywhere, but personally this works for me. When you are hungry, you want a quick fix. If you go to the grocery store hungry, not only will you spend more money, but EVERYTHING looks good because you’re starving! Eat before you go and make healthier choices.

It appears my theme of the day is CHOICES. Know your points. Pay attention to what you eat. Be aware of your options. Educate yourself so you make  healthy choices. Even if you are going for a box of cookies, knowingly picking a box that has less calories or less fat is making a healthier choice. Set yourself up for success by knowing your options. Finding better options for your favorite foods will help you keep the weight off because you are giving yourself options for LIFE… not temporary options that will eventually end when your diet does and result in you straying back to your old food and gaining the weight back.

How you can stay motivated to lose weight!

Tags

health, healthy-living, motivation, weight-loss

The response I have had to this blog is pretty incredible. Thank you all for that! Some of your texts said this blog is motivation. In response to that, I decided to do an entry about just motivation and ways to stay motivated.

When I started Weight Watchers, I had a really big number before me that I wanted to lose. It seems impossible right? I know I felt that way, but I didn’t have anything to lose (except an excessive amount of pounds). The goal number alone is discouraging because you know it will not change drastically overnight and it is going to take time.

What I learned is that I did not gain all of that weight in one day. Just as it took time to gain, it is going to take time and work to lose. So I take one day at a time, not a week or a month… one day… one meal even. And the number is not impossible! I am half way to my goal and it feels pretty amazing. Focus on today only and before you know it your goal number will be within reach.

Ways to stay motivated

1)      Take a picture of yourself today. Use that picture to compare to new pictures you take as you lose. On my “fat days,” days when I just feel fat no matter what I do, or when it has been a week or more and I haven’t seen a change in the number on the scale, I will pull up a picture of myself from 6 months ago and know that is not me anymore. So even if I feel like what I’m doing that day isn’t working, I know that it is and my efforts are worth it.

2)      Keep track of your weight loss. When it has been a week or more and I have not seen the scale change, instead of wanting to quit and go buy a cake, I go back to the app on my phone where I log my weight. ThenI can see that old number and know that I do not weigh that any more. I also measure my waist so I can see a number for what I’m losing in inches as well as the scale. Seeing the numbers decrease is a huge motivation. When it’s not changing, go back and look at how far you have come.

3)      I mention “fat days.” There are days when I think everyone just feels… blah. On those days I go to the gym or go for a walk outside. It is an immediate change in attitude and exercise will make you feel better about yourself. Even if you still feel fat or “blah” afterwards, you know you did something about it, but you probably won’t feel that way.

4)      Music! Music is a huge motivator for me. I have a playlist on my phone that is nothing but my favorite songs that make me want to bust a move wherever I am! I use this before I go to the gym, especially on days when I don’t want to go. Listen to upbeat music that makes you want to move, and it may get you up out of that chair for any activity… walking around the neighborhood, the gym, jumping jacks or dancing in your kitchen! Anything to get moving.

5)      I read online to think “WELLNESS” not weight loss. I loved this because I may not be at my goal weight yet, but I am healthier, feel better. I am making better food choices that I know will keep the weight off that I have lost. That in itself is motivation. Even if I don’t lose another pound, I am better off than where I was.

6)      Set reasonable goals. If you want to lose 100 pounds, set small goals for 15, or 25. 100 pounds can be your overall goal, but if you use that number for a first goal you are going to be discouraged because it is such a big number and it will take time. Set small, short term goals and then when you reach each goal celebrate your victory in your own way! Buy a new outfit, get your nails done, or do something (that does NOT involve food) that makes you feel good. Each small goal met gets you closer to that overall goal and it will keep you on track.

7)      Focus on what you are doing right instead of what you did wrong. Eat a bad meal? Didn’t exercise? And of course you feel bad about it or guilty afterwards. Don’t beat yourself up on the things you feel like you are doing wrong and focus on the things you have done right. Making yourself feel guilty for one slip, or several, will not get you any closer to your goal. Instead, start over! That was 5 minutes ago, this is now. Focus on the meals you did good and the times you did go to the gym. If you cheat, just get right back on it afterwards.

8)      Educate yourself. Lately when I find myself in a rut or needing change I go to my family for advice. I’m very lucky to have a cousin and aunt who are both fitness and nutrition experts. I also buy books to educate myself and I do research online. I am NOT a professional nutritionist or fitness expert! The knowledge I have is from others that are experts and the great news is there are thousands of them! Start reading!

9)      Look up before and after weight loss pictures on the internet. Seeing someone else’s success can motivate you to continue because you know it is not impossible. They did it. Why not you?

   

10)   Challenge yourself. If you are starting to get bored, try something new. Have you been working out at the gym? Take your fitness outside. Been outside? Focus on weights in the gym. Want to run a mile or a marathon? Set fitness goals that will keep you challenged.

11)   Buy new clothes! No need to expand on this as shopping is awesome… especially as your clothes AND YOU get smaller! 🙂

12)   Weigh yourself daily. I suppose everyone’s preferences for this are different, but personally I weigh myself daily. We can handle the truth, right!? I think weighing weekly is great too, especially since the number will likely be higher for weight loss over a week. Getting on the scale daily for me keeps me motivated to stay on track. If I ate a big meal the night before and gained a pound, it keeps me on the track today so the next morning the number will be lower. Don’t weigh at night! Always weigh first thing in the morning before you eat. And seriously people, weigh yourself. There is no reason to be afraid of the number on the scale because you are trying to change that number. If you don’t know how much you weigh, you can’t set goals. If you don’t continue to weigh yourself, you don’t know when you reach a goal. And if you don’t weigh yourself, how do you know what you’re doing is working? You may feel it is, but get on the scale. See the number lower. If you’re doing it right the number will go down and you won’t get discouraged. If the number isn’t getting lower then you know you need to fix or change some things.

13)   Don’t be afraid to try new things! Don’t fall into a rut of boredom. Experiment with new food and try new exercises.

To stay motivated, do what works for you. What keeps you motivated? Think about it and plan ahead. Just as with your food, any preparations you take will open a path for success.

Set yourself up for Success!

Tags

food, health, healthier living, healthy-living, tupperware, weight watchers, weight-loss

When people ask me how I’ve lost weight, besides Weight Watchers, I tell them Tupperware. Say what?

My beginnings with Weight Watchers began when I was introduced to it by my aunt. She was loaned some Weight Watchers books from one of her clients and then she lent the books to me so I could look them over. As with a lot of other weight advice she gave me, I listened but it just didn’t really click. In truth, it clicked but unless she was sucking my fat out with a vacuum and it did not involve changing my food and exercise I wasn’t going to hear it. As I said before, we have to want help and I didn’t want it yet. All in God’s timing right?

Well we were sitting at my grandma’s one day and she pulls out a huge lunchbox full of food. She had a pantry of food in that lunchbox. Fruits, veggies, water, crackers, and chicken. She tells me a great way to lose weight is to use Tupperware to prepare, and something for me just clicked.

We all have our FAT excuse. Why are you fat? I don’t have time to exercise. I can’t get motivated. I don’t like “diet” food. I can’t afford to eat healthy. Healthy food is so expensive, and on and on with excuses.

My excuse was that I don’t have time to cook. I have a full time job, a house to maintain, a kid (enough said), and a boyfriend who wouldn’t eat “diet” food if he was starving.  I don’t have time to prepare their food and diet food for me. Boloney. Anybody else have Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River” stuck in their head now? I don’t speak for everyone when I say this, but I was comfortable being fat and I was too lazy to change. And you know, I was really ignoring just how big I was.

Tupperware (PREPARATION) was my answer.

Use Tupperware to separate a go-to meal for the rest of the week.

Because I was so busy I cooked 1 or 2 big meals on Sunday in my free time. I would split these meals up into Tupperware and my meals were prepared for all week. So my meals were a TV dinner, but cheap and healthy because I prepared it. The meals were ready to go and all I had to do was pop it in the microwave. Having the food ready to go prevented me from going for the easy, quick and unhealthy foods when I was busy, starving, or just not wanting to cook. And having the meals prepared saved me from committing the all major NO-NO of skipping meals. (Don’t do that!)

Use Tupperware to store your fruit and/or veggies and make it ready to grab.

Having fruit and veggies already cut up and waiting in the fridge made food readily available when I wanted a snack. I used to waste so much food, fruit especially, because I was too tired or hungry to take the time to cut fruit up and I would go for a bad snack instead. Then fruit went bad and into the trash uneaten. As fruits and veggies are ZERO points, you can eat as much of them as you want so make sure these foods are readily available.

Use Tupperware to help you with portion control.

Because Weight Watchers does not count calories, but points, options of what you can eat are limitless, but portion control is the key. Want a slice of cake? Ok but don’t eat the whole cake. Common sense, but it needs to be said. And when I say portion control, I don’t mean the portion you want. Check the serving size for anything you eat. If the cereal you want has 1 cup for a serving size, pour 1 cup of cereal into a measuring cup before you put it in your bowl. Adding fruit? Put the fruit in the bowl first and then add the cereal.

I recommend buying a food scale. You can buy a food scale at Walmart for around $15-20. These measuring scales are awesome because you can put the bowl on the scale, zero it out so the bowl’s weight does not factor, and then add cereal. No measuring cup needed. This measuring scale can be used for any foods, even liquids since you can zero out the cup or bowl holding it. See Walmart for an example.

It is important to learn portion control. If you do not pay attention to the serving sizes then you still are not paying attention to what you are eating. You are also eating extra calories or points that you are not keeping track of.

Use Tupperware (or baggies) to prepare your snacks.

Do not grab a bag or box of anything and just start eating from it. Whatever you are eating, count out the serving size amount, put it in a bowl then eat it. Do not take the entire box and eat it on the couch while watching TV because you are not paying attention to your food and before long you eat the entire box. Not paying attention to what we eat got us here in the first place!

Solution: Grab your snack food, crackers, chips, pretzels, whatever, and count out your snack. 24 Kellogg wheat crackers are 3 points. Put 24 crackers in baggies or Tupperware and set it aside for when you are hungry. By using this method of portioning your food, you will be SEEING your food. If you are a visual person, put your snack in a small bowl or a small baggy if it makes you feel like you are eating more.

You will lose weight by doing this because when you pay attention to your food you are also paying attention to when you are full!

When you notice you are full you will stop eating instead of noticing only when there is no food left to grab when you put your hand in the bag and you realize you ate it all!

So that is my advice for Tupperware. I say Tupperware, but it is actually preparation. You are setting yourself up for success if you plan your food. It makes it easier to stick with a plan when you have your food ready to grab like all the other not so healthy stuff in your kitchen.

Months into Weight Watchers, I still occasionally use Tupperware for my meals. I always do it for my fruit. Using Tupperware was a great help to me when I started because it got me into a routine. I became aware of my food and portion sizes. It gave me time to lose weight so I could see it was working, thus motivating me more.  It also allowed me time to find healthier recipes for the same foods I’ve always eaten (spaghetti, meatloaf, chicken noodles, etc.). In doing so I was making healthier meals for my family. I stray back to using Tupperware when I find myself eating out too much and it gets me back on the wagon.

If you find yourself in a rut, straying back to bad foods, or if you are busy and eat fast food a lot, try using Tupperware. For those of you out of the house a lot, pack a lunch box and use Tupperware. Even if you do not have access to a microwave, you can pack fruit, granola bars, water, and sandwiches.

By preparing, you are giving yourself healthier choices and reducing the temptation to eat whatever you can grab first.

In the words of fellow addicts, my name is Crystal and I am an overeater!

Tags

health, healthy-living, weight-loss

Like millions of Americans, I am overweight. I decided to write this blog because I have done a lot of research, tried a lot of options, have a good idea of what works and I am excited to share it! I find myself giving this information to anyone who asks what I am doing, and hopefully this blog will serve as an easier way to do that. However, I realize that not everyone wants to read it (so for my Facebook friends – you’re welcome!), and I realize people have to want help. So I will channel any information I have found to work in this blog along with anything new I try or find. That will prevent me from becoming one of those annoying people who force their beliefs, practices, or whatever else onto people who do not want the information. Been there, listened to that…

So! If you want to lose weight and try something with me, by all means keep reading. If not, what are you still doing here? 🙂

So to start, for those of you who know me and for those of you who happened across this by accident… My name is Crystal. I am (or was at the time of this picture) 29 years old. This was me in April of 2011.

It’s funny that I found this photo on my Facebook page. Apparently it passed approval because you know no one will put a picture on their profile if they did not believe they looked good. Talk about being in denial.

This is me now, May 2012. I am 30 years old and 52 pounds less. My goal is to lose another 50 pounds, but I  am taking it one day at a time.

For anyone who has always struggled with their weight, I want to provide an answer because that was me too. I have always looked for an answer to lose weight, and like everyone I want a  magic pill that will make it all go away in one day. That day will never come and I realized that by waiting and waiting for change to happen without me working at it, I was just getting closer to a grave because I was eating myself to death and did not even realize it. I have tried diets, exercise, drinks, and nothing has worked. If it did work the weight would come right back and often more.

My answer,… Weight Watchers. Only I do not have the money to spend on meetings and their plan. I do my program from information I have gathered through people who do pay for Weight Watchers and from information I have found online. Weight Watchers is a LIFE change. I am not on a diet. For anyone on a diet, one day you will stop and then what? You go back to what you were doing before your diet and you will gain the weight back and have to diet all over again. The changes I am making today are LIFE changes for both myself and my family… namely my daughter, so that she will never have to do this when she is 30 years old and so I will never gain this weight back.

In an effort to not boggle down with information in one day and to save myself information to share for tomorrow, I am going to share how you can start Weight Watchers TODAY for free.

First, you have to know how many points you are allowed. For anyone not familiar with Weight Watchers the program does not involve counting calories. Instead you count points, and each food is alloted a number of points that you track every day.

To determine how many points you are allowed in 1 day you have 1 of 2 options.

Option 1:

Check out this website,  http://www.healthyweightforum.org/eng/calculators/ww-points-allowed/. This website will provide the number of points you are allowed by entering in your age, weight, height, and activity level. It will also give you the change in points as you lose weight so you know when to lower your point allowance.

Option 2:

If you prefer to tally the information yourself, then add up the following:

1) 2 points if you are female, 8 points if you are male, 12 points if you are nursing a baby

2) Add the number depending on your age,… 4 points if you are between 17 to 26 years old, 3 points if you are 27 to 37 years old, 2 points if you are 38 to 47 years old, and one point if you are 48 to 58 years old, or 0 if you are older than 58.

3) Enter the first 2 digits of your weight in pounds. For example, if you weigh 150 lbs, enter 15 points. If you weigh 300 pounds, enter 30 points.

4) Enter 0 if you are under 5 feet 1 inch tall. Enter 1 if you are 5 feet 1 inch to 5 feet 10 inches. Enter 2 if you are 5 feet 10 inches or taller.

5) Enter 0 if your daily activity involves mainly sitting. Enter one if you spend most of your day standing up. Enter four if you walk most of the day. Enter 6 if you spend most of the day doing physically demanding work.

The number you end up with is considered your daily point allowance. You are also given 49 points a week for BONUS points. So you can use 49 points in one day, or divide the points among the week to add 7 more points to your daily allowance.

Now you know how many points you are allowed, so what can you eat?

Answer: You can eat anything you want, as long as you know the points per serving. What I absolutely LOVE about Weight Watchers is I am not limiting what I can eat. I can still eat sweets if I want, and pasta, carbs, and everything else people usually cut out of their diets. But again, Weight Watchers is not a diet. It is not realistic to completely cut out the foods you love because most will go right back to them and gain the weight back. What I do pay attention to is the points and the serving size.

I will get more into food later, but for today I will end with information on apps that you can use to track your food. If you do not have access to these apps, write the food you eat down! Seeing it on paper, or listed on your phone, is eye opening to what you are eating daily and just how much food you are consuming.

If you have an Android phone, the Weight Watchers app is “WWDiary” and it is free.

If you have an iphone, there are several apps available but the one I use is “iTrackBites” and it costs $1.99.

You can download the actual Weight Watchers app, but you will have to be a member to view their information. They do give free daily recipes though for anyone who is interested.

Both apps allow you to track your food and manually enter your points allowance. Calculators are available to tell you your activity points and points for food (as long as you know the carb, fiber, protein, and fat). There is a “Favorites” menu so that once you find the point for a food you can enter is as a favorite and never have to look it up again. There is also a menu of food that will provide the point for you. For example, potatoes, fish, nuts, etc.

Also, with Weight Watchers Plus, you can eat vegetables and fruit for FREE. Zero points!

I think I will end it there for today so this does not turn into a book. I will get into more about food tomorrow! In the meantime, if you want to check into better food choices check out www.hungrygirl.com. This is a great website for food ideas. This website has a recipe for everything and the point allowance is already provided for you. 🙂 There are also Hungry Girl recipe books!

New motto for my life: no sense in putting off for tomorrow changes you can start right now!