Hello and happy Friday to you! It is bright and sunny out today and I am loving it! I went to a cycling class this morning and the instructor kicked my butt! It is so much harder being a participant than an instructor! Now, back to my story. Here’s part 1, part 2, and part 3 if you need them!
So, I was busy planning a wedding. I was also busy gaining a little weight. I gained about 10lbs during my year of engagement. It really seemed like no big deal. I was still within my goal weight so I continued to work as a Weight Watcher Leader. I recently found some journals I had written at that time. I acknowledged the fact that I had gained weight and I was OBESSED with losing it. These journals were ridiculous! I wrote about every single piece of food I put in my mouth and how many points it was and how I tried to not eat very much. I ate a lot of frozen dinners, baked potatoes, sandwiches made with light bread and light lunch meat, fat free yogurt, and diet pop. Now that I look back I was probably eating too little for what I was burning. It must have really messed with my metabolism because the weight would not come off.
I moved back home and gave dieting a break. I still exercised, I have always loved to be active but I didn’t obsess and I didn’t weigh myself. My wedding dress fit great. I felt happy with myself that I wasn’t one of those girls who diets to look good for their wedding and then gains it all back. I didn’t have a job lined up yet so I decided, on whim once again, to get certified to teach group cycling classes. I figured I would have something to fall back on.
The rest of that summer was kind of a whirlwind. I ended up getting a full time job (my current job), and finishing everything up for our wedding. By fall I could tell my pants were getting a little tight, so I did what I always did and joined Weight Watchers….again.
To be honest this was the first time I was not successful. I weighed in at 164lbs. Not my highest by a long shot but definitely not my lowest. I went to meetings and tried desperately to follow the program like I did before but I didn’t lose any weight. In fact at times I gained some. I would always lose and gain the same 5-10lbs. I didn’t know what was different this time. I still exercised a lot. I started teaching cycling, Zumba, and Group Strength classes. I could run 5 miles at a time no problem. I had a really hard time staying on the WW program and it was even more frustrating that when I did follow it and I didn’t lose weight. I did this for 3 years. One of the reasons I stuck with WW was my mother-in-law had joined too and I know she really liked it.
In the spring of 2009 I started to come across some healthy living blogs (I plan to create a page of my favorites soon!). They all talked a lot about clean and wholesome eating. Eating natural foods and listening to your hunger signals. I tried to start incorporating some of these ideas into my eating like drinking Green Smoothies. I often felt trapped by the WW program because I wanted to eat these whole foods but would think in my head that they had too many “points” even though I knew the health benefits of eating them. I was really getting sick of counting calories, getting weighed weekly, and having processed foods be promoted at our weekly meetings. I even asked once if WW recommended different eating strategies for people who exercised a lot. I mean, I felt like a freak when I said exercising for 2 hours was no big deal for me (which it’s not!). They didn’t have an answer for me. I was tired of being made to feel like I was not healthy because I didn’t weigh a certain number.
In November it was announced that the meeting that my mother-in-law and I attended would be shut down due to lack of attendance. This was my out! I could just say none of the other meetings fit my schedule (which they really didn’t). Surprisingly enough my mother-in-law wanted to quit too. And so, we did! And it felt so liberating!
That was about 3 months ago. Stay tuned to hear about where I am today on this weight loss roller coaster!
Have a great weekend everyone. I have class tonight and tomorrow, I think I’ll reread what I wrote last month about social eating situations. Have a good one!
I was waiting to see if I had to work and I guess I waited too long! That got me nervous about signing up for the Tri in June since it closes out too so…..I did it! I signed up for the 
