Week Two Weigh-In Success

My second weigh-in since beginning my Weight Watchers Online journey went just as well as my first.  I lost another three pounds and I cannot express the joy I feel with each little success.

Here's one of the things I find amazing; I haven't been able to exercise since I started.  I have been sick for going on three weeks now.  I have had head/chest congestion, headache, no sleep and a terrible cough and I have been completely exhausted.  I look forward to seeing what kind of progress I can achieve once I can get to moving.

This week I plan to make the Weight Watchers 0 point Cabbage Soup.  Once I have made it and taste tested it, I will post the recipe on my cooking blog: www.whatscookingwithmandigirl.blogspot.com along with a review.  I have tried this soup before, but it has been a long time and I will be using a new recipe.

I look forward to seeing how this week's weigh-in goes.  Hopefully, it will show continued success.  I will also try to start posting some of my favorite snack and recipes as I go along.

I welcome your feedback.  If you have any tips, recipes or snack ideas, please share them in the comments.

Until next time, God bless!!

First Week on Weight Watchers

My first week on Weight Watchers Online went really well.  I lost 4 1/2 pounds.

I don't know why it works so well, but I'm so happy that it does.  I haven't found it difficult to stay within my points and I have not felt hungry all the time either.  I even ate out a few times and was able to stay on track.  I am making healthy choices and that feels good.  Each time I make the healthier choice I feel stronger.

One of my favorite snacks at the moment is a package of Honey Butter Pringles Stix along with a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese.  This combination is so yummy and only has 3 points.

This week I had to go to the doctor for a check up and as usual I was told I need to lose weight.  It was really nice to be able to tell the doctor that I had joined Weight Watchers a week ago and that was working on it.  The best part of that is that I wasn't fibbing when I said it...lol :).

My blood pressure was a little high and I'm very aware that I can't play at this weight lose thing anymore.  I need to do this for my health.

I'm looking forward to my next weigh-in.

Weight Watchers

Well the holidays are over and I am happy to report I only gained three pounds.  I hate that I gained, but it could have been so much worse.

Today I signed up for Weight Watchers online.  I'm eager to get back on track and I've had success with Weight Watchers in the past.  I don't know why, but it always seemed easier to count points instead of calories.  I also love the tools Weight Watchers provides.

I'm optimistic about the new year.  I look forward to continuing this journey to a healthier life.  I hope I can be an encouragement to others who are traveling this same road.  I'm not perfect and I have continual ups and downs, but I keep getting back up.

Happy New Year everyone!  Here's to a healthy year!!

Just Holding On

Sorry for the delay in updates.  The holidays have me hopping and I am just trying to survive this season without letting my diet completely go down the tubes.

I hate to say it, but I have gained three pounds in the past two weeks.  I have been somewhat out of control since my birthday.  I am getting back on track though and will hopefully have a happy report this week at my weigh-in.

I guess the ups and downs are just a part of the ride, especially with all the holidays.  I'm definitely not giving up.  I just have to take it one day at a time and lately I've been losing more than I've been winning the battle.

I continue to get up everyday with a fresh start and do my best.  I refuse to throw in the towel this time.  I may take some steps back, but I'm determined to keep pushing forward.

I hope that the holiday and Christmas season finds you all doing well.  I know that if you are like me you are staying very busy.  With that being said, I probably will not post another blog entry until after the first of the year.  I will however try to post updates on my Facebook page.

Until next year....

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Going Low-Carb

I have been concentrating on a low calorie diet for almost three months now.  I have lost 14 pounds and gained two.  I'm very proud of the success I have achieved so far.  With that being said, I have decided to try something different.  I'm going to try a low-carb diet for a while and see how things go.  

I was doing some research about low-carb diets today.  This is just a little bit of what I found at www.authoritynutrition.com:

• Studies show that low-carb diets reduce your appetite and make you eat less calories and lose weight pretty much effortlessly, as long as you manage to keep the carbs down.
• In studies where low-carb and low-fat diets are compared, the researchers need to actively restrict calories in the low-fat groups to make the results comparable, but the low-carb groups still usually win.
• Low-carb diets have health benefits that go beyond just weight loss. They lower blood sugar, blood pressure and triglycerides. They raise HDL (the good) and improve the pattern of LDL (the bad) cholesterol.
• Low-carb diets cause more weight loss and improve health much more than the calorie restricted, low-fat diet still recommended by the mainstream. This is pretty much a scientific fact at this point.

Bottom Line: There are many studies showing that low-carb diets are more effective and healthier than the low-fat diet that is still recommended all around the world.

Hunger has been a difficult issue for me since starting this journey.  It is my hope that the low-carb diet might be more filling and satisfying.  I'm also hoping I will have more energy.  I have fasted bread, pastas, and sugar in the past and I always seem to feel more energetic. 

I know it won't be easy, I love my sweets.  But, I am hopeful that this is a step in the right direction.  

I will also be looking for some tasty low-carb recipes.  When I find something good, I'll be sure to share it either here or on my cooking blog.  If you have any low-carb diet tips or recipes you would like to share, please leave a comment.  I can't wait to let you all know how it goes.  

Till next time, God bless!! :)

Difficult Week But Still Moving Forward

This past week was a very difficult one.  I have had the worst kind of cravings.  For the most part I was able to exercise self control.  I did, however, have a temporary set-back on Friday.  I broke down and had onion rings from Sonic.  Now I'm not talking about just a few onion rings.  I went all out and ordered a large.  Do you know how many calories are in a large order of onion rings?  There are over 600 calories in a large order of onion rings and I ate every last one of them!

The worst part of this lapse in judgement was the feeling afterward.  I felt awful and extremely disappointed in myself.  

Not all was lost though, because although I struggled; my weigh-in was not disappointing.  The scales showed I was down another 1/2 pound this week; bringing me to a total of 12 1/2 pounds lost. I certainly can't and won't complain about that.

In a way it's getting easier to make the right choices.  Today we had lunch at Cracker Barrel and I automatically went to the healthy portion of the menu.  I think that the fact that I had a recent set-back was helpful in my decision making process.

While I was looking at the menu I didn't just see the healthy menu.  I, of course, saw all the tempting offerings that were definitely the wrong choices.  But, I also remembered how I felt after making a poor choice on Friday.  I'm proud to say I made the right choice today.





Note:  I saw this picture online the other day and I thought it might be a neat visual reminder to help stay motivated.  I'm going to use some colorful marbles in mine.  

Plateau Broken - Finally

I finally broke through my two-week plateau.  This morning's weigh-in revealed a 1 1/2 pound loss.  I can't tell you how happy I am.  I was feeling so frustrated and dangerously close to a full-on binge.

My husband recently joined a weight loss challenge at work and it has helped me tremendously.  In fact, if he hadn't been so supportive over the weekend, when I was feeling my weakest, I probably would have given up.

I am a little annoyed with him though.  In his first week he lost as much weight as it has taken me a month to lose.  All annoyance and kidding aside; I'm so proud of him and myself for making the decision to get healthy.

Tonight we had spaghetti squash with meat sauce for dinner.  I use it in place of regular spaghetti noodles.  It's very good and we don't miss the pasta at all.  I love that you get the added vegetables without really noticing.  This is especially helpful where my son is concerned.

It gets easier to make better/healthier decision with each passing day.  I feel stronger in my resolve than I have in a really long time and
positive about my progress.  And even though I have a really long road ahead of me, I finally feel like I have a little momentum behind me.