Week 8 and FINAL Recap on Weight Watchers

This past week was my last week on Weight Watchers. As I discussed in my recap last week, I think I am okay to finish the rest of my weight loss on my own, without the program. I have a good idea of what foods I should be eating, how many calories I should be consuming, and how much food I can consume while still maintaining at least a 2lb weight loss per week.

With that being said, ironically, this week was not a good week for me. It all started on Thursday. My employer was nice enough to treat us to lunch. The lunch seemed healthy enough, not too terribly bad: ham sandwich w/ cheese, lettuce & tomato, potato chips, an apple, two cookies. It was my intention to eat the lunch I brought that day but I decided to eat the box lunch because I was tired of eating the same things (my fault, not WW).

Then after I ate the lunch I started adding up the caloric intake of this lunch. Sandwich w/ cheese and mayo....potato chips and they were not even baked lays...two huge cookies (see cookies by the apple)....yikes!! So immediately guilt set in. I'm taking this weight loss thing seriously so guilt is a natural part of that I think. I hate feeling guilty when eating because we all have to eat to live. Some people can eat everything under the sun and moon and remain as slim as a pencil but I sit here feeling guilty over a ham sandwich boxed lunch. Don't know what else to say about that.

I have this perfectionist attitude that really messes me up from time to time. It is an all or nothing type of personality. If I cannot do it perfectly, then I won't even try to do it partially. If it cannot be 100%, I won't feel motivated at all about doing 90%. That is how I felt after consuming what weightwatchers.com considered 23 points out of my daily 26 points allowance in one meal! So that kind of set the tone for the rest of the week and weekend...I'd already messed up so I did not feel motivated to be so strict on myself the rest of the week.

So Saturday, I went to a birthday party and this was my menu over the course of a few hours: cheeseburger and sour cream/onion chips, cupcake, candy, slice of pizza, slice of cake, another slice of pizza and cups of kool-aid here and there. Not cool! Not cool if you are supposed to be on WeightWatchers and watching your weight, lol.

So Sunday, I had that same mentality that I had messed up and I was not going to lose any weight this week so I decided to eat two ice cream sandwiches back to back to satisfy a sweet tooth. More damage :(

Despite all that, I managed to lose a small bit of weight for which I am grateful. Here are my results:

Results
Week 1, Monday 7/30 – My starting weight was 172.2 lbs.
Week 2, Monday 8/6 -- I weighed in at 170.8 lbs.
Week 3, Monday 8/13 -- I weighed in at 167.8 lbs
Week 4, Monday 8/20 -- I weighed in at 170.6 lbs
Week 5, Monday 8/27 -- I weighed in at 167.8 lbs
Week 6, Monday 9/3 – I weighed in at 163.0 lbs
Week 7, Monday 9/10 – I weighed in at 159.8 lbs

Week 8, Monday 9/17 – I weighed in at 157.2 lbs
Final weigh-in on WW, Monday 9/24 - I weighed in at 155.4 lbs.

Total weight lost for 8 weeks on Weight Watchers: 16.8 lbs

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On another note, I stepped on the scale sometime mid-week last week and heard a crack. The digital scale still worked and populated a weight, but after that crack I could not trust that it was the "correct" weight. I went to Wal-Mart and bought a new scale and also something that I have been wanting but did not have, a measurement tape. As for the scale, I bought the same one I had already, and sure enough, there was a difference in my weight when I stepped on the old scale compared to the new scale....not a lot though, like 8/10 of a pound.

 

 

I will be using the measurement tape here soon to take my measurements. Even though I am more than half way through the initial 50lbs I wanted to lose, I think taking measurements at this point will be good because I can determine where my body is headed with my toning efforts. Am I losing inches on my stomach? Am I gaining any inches on my hips/butt? Those are the type of questions I hope to answer. Talk to you all again soon. If you have not noticed, I am on a roll updating this blog this month :)



Typical Meals for a Day on Weight Watchers

Points Allowance for the day = 26 points

Additional Points gained from working out = 3 points

 Breakfast

Quaker Instant Peach Oatmeal (2 Packets) = 7 points

Banana = 0 points

   Water = 0 points 

 

 

Lunch

Healthy Choice Chicken Margarita Frozen Meal = 8 points

Cashews (1 oz) = 5 points

Apple or Strawberries = 0 points

Water = 0 points

 

 

 

 

Snack

One Nutrigrain Bar = 3 points

 

Dinner

Baked Chicken Leg = 5 points

Salad of Romaine Lettuce, Tomatoes, Cucumbers = 0 points

Fat Free Italian Salad Dressing = 1 points

Water = 0 points

 

Total Points Allowance for the day = 29 points

Points used = 29 points
 

Sometimes I will eat two snacks during the day because I get 49 additional Weekly PointsPlus Allowance which are basically just points that I can spread out over the days of the week or use all in one day for a splurge. I always drink water because I cannot bear using points that could be used for food on something like juice or soda (I don’t even drink soda). What I like about WW is that some fruits and vegetables have a points value of 0 so you can fill up on those items and not use up your points.

I just wanted to quickly give you an idea of how much food I normally eat each day while on WW. If you are considering WW, the good thing about this plan is that it does not limit what types of foods you eat. You can eat carbs, sweets, even a cheeseburger or pizza if you want to, you just have to stay within your points for the day/week. Because of this, I think it is easier to stick to the plan. You don’t feel deprived of certain foods you love. The only negative to WW online would be remembering to go in and track what you ate. If you are busy, you may forget, although going to the website and tracking what you ate for the whole day takes only 3-4 minutes.

Week 4 Recap on Weight Watchers

So week four recap is going to be very brief. I did not follow the plan exactly and I went out of town again this past weekend so I was at the mercy of eating whatever was available at friends’ houses, the continental breakfast at the hotel and the restaurants we stopped at. I ate in moderation and did not go overboard.

Results
Week 1, Monday 7/30 – My starting weight was 172.2 lbs.

Week 2, Monday 8/6 -- I weighed in at 170.8 lbs.
Week 3, Monday 8/13 -- I weighed in at 167.8 lbs

Week 4, Monday 8/20 --  I weighed in at 170.6 lbs

Week 5, Monday 8/27 -- I weighed in at 167.8 lbs

Total weight lost so far: 4.4 lbs

So I lost all the weight I gained back last week exactly. If you can see, today I weighed in at exactly what I weighed at the beginning of Week 3. I will work hard to have another successful week. I am shooting for 3 pounds. I am going back to tracking points and sticking to my allotted daily points value. I’m excited about the weeks to come.

Week 3 Recap on Weight Watchers

So I went to Kansas City, Missouri this weekend with my fiancé and youngest daughter. We had a blast. We were visiting some of my fiancé’s old friends and they were really nice and funny people. We drove out on Friday night and took all day Monday driving back. It was a 13-hour trip each way. There was beautiful scenery throughout Oklahoma and Kansas so although the drive was long, it was not unbearable.

So taking a trip out of town is not the best way to end a week on Weight Watchers. Monday thru Friday was great. I worked out on each of those days, stuck with my daily points allowance and was on track to lose 2-3 pounds this week. Then I travelled Friday night and all that changed. We drove from 11pm Friday night until noon on Saturday. So around 12:30am I was sooo hungry, normally at this time I would be sleeping and hunger would not bother me too much but since I was in the car, I could not sleep very well, and my hunger really started to bother me. Knowing that I would probably not be able to stick to the WW plan on the trip, I asked my fiancé to stop and McDonald’s and I ate a fish sandwich meal. Not good.

Then we get to Missouri and our friends were very hospitable so they cooked on Saturday twice for us, lunch and dinner. The wife made our plates and placed them on the table for us. The food was delicious…wonderful Ghanaian cuisine but the portion sizes were huge. I am not exaggerating in saying that the amount I eat all day, all three meals combined, was probably the amount of food that was on my plate for one meal. I struggled to finish it all. I did not want to be rude by wasting the food, nor did I want it to seem as if I did not like the food, it was just a lot food. I ate it all. Sunday, I ate breakfast at the hotel, went to a Chinese buffet for lunch and ate another large cooked meal for dinner. Monday was spend on the road driving all day long so we made stops at fast food restaurants to eat.

This weekend did major damage to my weight loss progress. I know it cannot be actual weight gain, or maybe it is…

Results
Week 1, Monday 7/30 -- I weighed in at 172.2 lbs.
Week 2, Monday 8/6 -- I weighed in at 170.8 lbs.
Week 3, Monday 8/13 -- I weighed in at 167.8 lbs

Week 4, Monday 8/20 --  I weighed in at 170.6 lbs

Total weight lost so far: 1.6 lbs

So this is currently Week 4. I will keep going, I won’t let this setback halt my efforts to get down to my goal weight. It is definitely discouraging but it is not totally unexpected, I knew what I was getting myself into this weekend. This week on WW has already started out wrong. I already told you how yesterday (Monday) went and today is no better. I have not tracked any points for yesterday or today. I did not get a chance to workout yesterday, can’t workout today or tomorrow, so if I lose any weight this week, it will be a blessing because it definitely will not be because of my efforts.

Week 2 Recap on Weight Watchers

Week 2 went a lot better than week 1. I was able to stick to eating the allotted amount of points all week. During the weekend, I was able to eat what everyone else was eating, but in moderation so that I did not undo the progress that I made Monday-Friday.

I exercised four days this week -- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday. Work obligations caused me to miss going to the gym on Thursday. I have been doing the same exercise routine which is 45 minutes on the elliptical machine. I would like to switch it up because I know your body can because accustomed to doing the same workout and the workout can become less effective over time. I like the elliptical machine though, so I am having a hard time trying something else like the treadmill or cardio bike.

On Saturday, I felt the urge to eat one of my most favorite foods in the whole wide world, lol. Paht Thai! So, I went and got some.

The good thing about Weight Watchers is that you can eat whatever you want to eat. You are just eating it in moderation or smaller portion sizes...whatever it takes to not exceed your daily points allowance.

I am excited with my results for week 2.

Results
Week 1, Monday 7/30 -- I weighed in at 172.2 lbs.
Week 2, Monday 8/6 -- I weighed in at 170.8 lbs.
Today, Monday 8/13 -- I weighed in at 167.8 lbs

Total weight lost so far: 4.4 lbs

Today starts Week 3 and hopefully another successful week!

Weight Watchers

So this week, today, started my first day on Weight Watchers. I used Weight Watchers in the past to lose about 40lbs after my son was born. I was able to maintain my size relatively well until I became pregnant with my youngest daughter. Ofcourse, I naturally gained weight during the pregnancy and some of the weight came off immediately after I gave birth, but a few months later I ballooned back to the weight I was when I gave birth. Crazy, I know. Gaining weight is a funny thing because you don't really feel it as you are gaining it, but all of a sudden one day your clothes don't fit, or you take a picture and see it just to realize you are a lot bigger than you thought you were.

Well, Day 1 went well. I am motivated and ready to lose the weight so I was not tempted to stray outside of the set amount of points that I was allotted for the day. I did do my normal workout at work for 45 minutes and will continue to do that everyday I am at work (5 days most weeks). I hope to see a minimum of a 3lb lost for week 1. Three pounds would break the plateau that I have been on for the past month and put me in the 160s.

I really hope this goes well. Wish me luck.