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------------------------------------------------ 1. When did you join Weight Watchers? I joined Weight Watchers Online on January 3, 2005 at a hefty 233 pounds. ------------------------------------------------ I am 25 years old. ------------------------------------------------ I'm a tall 5'2". ------------------------------------------------ 4. How did you lose so much so fast? I can only tell you what I did. I can't tell you why my body reacted to what I did the way it did. I am 25 years old, so my youth was on my side. I also made a decision from day 1 to do what I could to lose this weight. I faithfully drink my water; I stick to my points; and I regularly exercise. Do not gauge your success or failure by my progress. This journey is different for everyone. Do what you can to lose, and you will!! ------------------------------------------------ 5. Are you on the core or flex points program? I am on the flex program. Counting points keeps me accountable. I'd probably overeat if I was told to eat until I was full! ------------------------------------------------ 6. Do I have to eat all my points? You have to eat all of your daily target points. Do not undereat these points as you need a certain amount of calories to keep your metabolism going. If you do not eat enough, you will actually stop losing because your body thinks it's starving therefore it holds on to the fat. You do not have to eat all of your flex points or AP's. Some people lose more when they eat more of their extra points, and some people don't. Experiment to see what works best for you. ------------------------------------------------ 7. What do you do for exercise? When I started, I walked on the treadmill for 30-40 minutes four times a week. I now do a combination of interval training on the treadmill and The Firm workout DVD's. For more information on my fitness routine, visit my FITNESS page. ------------------------------------------------- 8. Do you eat your AP's? Should you eat your AP's? Yes, I always eat my AP's. I usually don't eat more than 4 a day just because I don't want to overestimate my points. I read on another site that when you work out, you need the extra food for fuel. I eat (and enjoy) the AP's I earn. Should you eat your AP's? Do what's best for you! I would say yes, but to each their own. Try and see what works best for you! -------------------------------------------------- 9. Won't weight training make me gain weight? It is very possible that beginning a strength training program with weights will make you gain at the scale. This is not necessarily so with everyone. It was for me though. The gain is due to your muscles retaining water during the healing process. Your muscles will get used to the new routine soon, and the scale will go down again. A gain is actually a good sign that your new routine is working! Evaluate your diet, make sure to get in your water, and if you're sure you followed the program, you know it's your muscles. Don't let this keep you from training with weights! Building muscle is very important in the weightloss process. It's especially helpful during maintenance because the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn even at rest! Contrary to popular belief, muscle does not weigh more then fat. A pound of muscle is a pound of fat, period! Muscle is more dense (takes up less space) then fat, therefore a person who weight trains can be a heavier weight while wearing a smaller size than a person who does not weight train and is the same weight and height. ---------------------------------------------------- I usually save my flex points for special occasions. On a typical week, I eat anywhere from 0-5 flex points. I eat my AP's though, so I eat plenty of extra points. As I stated earlier, some people don't lose if they don't eat their extra points. Some people have to eat all or most of their flex points for maximum losses, while others can't. See what works best for you. ---------------------------------------------------- My motivation is my son, Elisha. I want to him to grow up with a healthy, fit mom, and take on my health habits. My losses each week also motivates me. Everytime I see that number drop or that dress size go down, it makes me work even harder. Actually, when I see a gain or a maintain, I work even harder also! I'm just determined to lose this weight. I'm sick of being unhealthy, overweight, and unhappy. ----------------------------------------------------- 12. I don't have time for exercise! How do you find the time? I make the time! If you really want this, you will find the time to exercise. You have to make it a priority, part of your daily routine like brushing your teeth. I get up at 5 AM if I have to. ------------------------------------------------------ 13. I'm craving Taco Bell. How do you handle cravings? When I crave Taco Bell, I eat Taco Bell!! Deprivation will only lead you to failure. Why do so many diets fail? Because they are denied certain foods to which they return after they've lost the weight. I don't mind using a few flex points to satisfy my cravings. It's all about portion control. I can have that taco, just not 5 tacos! And always remember to stay within your points! ------------------------------------------------------- 14. What are your favorite foods and recipes? Check out my FOOD PAGE for an extensive list of my favorite foods and recipes!! -------------------------------------------------------- 15. I went way over my points last weekend. What should I do? If you go over your points, shake off the dust and move on. Don't worry about yesterday, just make today count. You can't change the past and dwelling on it will only bring you down and may make you quit. Get back up! The only way to fail is to quit!! --------------------------------------------------------- 16. How much water do you drink a day? I drink 96+ ounces a day. I drink 16 oz. more on the days I exercise. That's a lot of water!! ---------------------------------------------------------- 17. What do you do for a living? I have the best job in the whole world!! I'm a stay-at-home mom!! It's the best job, but probably also the hardest. It's tiring, but so incredibly rewarding. Before I got pregnant, I worked for the state of Georgia at a men's maximum security prison. Crazy, I know, but it was a wonderful job. I learned a lot about people and a lot about myself. ---------------------------------------------------------- 18. I'm not hungry, but I want to eat! What do I do?? There are sometimes that I still want to eat for comfort or boredom. If I find the urge to eat when I'm not hungry, and I have the points, I usually eat something small. Sometimes though, it's late, and I'm out of points for the day. What to do then? I usually chew a piece of gum or brush my teeth. The mint flavor makes me not want to eat. It works for me!! ----------------------------------------------------------- 19. Have you ever gone off-program? Yes. Twice, actually. I went nearly my entire first year without EVER going off program, that is, where I went over my points (dalies and flexies). Thanksgiving 2005 was Day 1. I actually started the day thinking I was going to remain OP, but with two familes to visit, and two awesome homemade meals, I just decided to relax and take the day off of WW. Of course, I felt extremely guilty the next day, so I scoured the web for encouragement that I hadn't completely ruined my training. (Which of course I hadn't, but I think we all fight that guilty feeling.) Ironically, I actually lost over a pound that week. That was all I needed to realize that a break every once and awhile was fine. It actually helped me get over a mini-plateau that I was in. The extra calories boosted my metabolism which explains the loss at my next WI. The second time I went off program wasn't as good of an experience. I had just lost 100 pounds, and I decided to take a "no-counting" day and just eat whatever I wanted. I did pretty good throughout the day, but we went over to my husband's grandparent's house that night, and I gorged myself with hamburgers, hot dogs, and french fries. Not only did I feel horribly guilty afterwards, I felt terribly sick. In fact, it took a full three days to overcome the sick feeling I had because of that one day of overindulgence. And at my next WI, I was up 2 pounds and feeling worse than ever. I knew that I hadn't gained fat, but the fact that one day of pleasure was setting me back in my weightloss journey, really bothered me. The following WI I had lost .2, but it wasn't until the third WI after D-Day that I finally recovered. I learned a lot though that day. I learned that one day of pleasure is not worth the guilt, the physical pain, and the setback in my journey. I have actually found that when I now plan on going over my points, I just can't because I remember that day so well. I now have structered high-points days (versus all-out no counting days) where I eat about 10-15 flexies, instead of eating everything in sight and not even bothering to count (because I'm sure it's about 50 points OVER my flex). (I want to explain that I believe the dramatic difference in the two days' results was due to the fact that on the second day, I ate ALL DAY versus the first day where I ate just a lot a couple of times a day. Does that make sense? I ended up eating a lot more the second day because I ate all day versus two sit-down meals where I didn't snack. The difference was also in the types of foods I ate. Alot of what I ate on Thanksgiving were recipes made from relatively healthy foods (even some WW recipes that I had made). On the second day, I ate a ton of very high-fat burgers and other foods that were in no way easily digestible or nutritious for the body. I just wanted to point that out as some of you may be wondering why one day I gained so much while the other I lost.) So all in all, those two days obviously didn't ruin my progress, but they helped me see that I don't need to overeat to enjoy life. WW really has changed the way I think. The food is just not worth it to me anymore. So while I plan on sticking to the program most of the time, I also understand the value of just taking a break every now and then. The great thing is now I can do that with control instead of a lack-therof. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 20. Did you really lose 100 pounds in a year? And if so, how?!?! Yes!! I really did lose all this weight in ONE YEAR!!!!! First, let me tell you that when I decided to lose weight, I made the DECISION. That means, I had decided to WHATEVER I could to lose this weights as fast as I could. I wrote down a list of specific goals that I wanted to accomplish, and losing 100 pounds in a year was one of them. I kept an internal dialogue with myself that said, "I WILL do this. I CAN do this." And you know what? I did!! As I've said before, I started exercising since Day 1 on the program, and now, I love to exercise and can't imagine my life without it. In fact, I often think about how easy it'll be to maintain my weight because the exercise I'll need won't be nearly as much as now. As I've also said, I only went over my points two days in an entire year. Again internal dialogue comes into play here. I go more into depth about this in the next question, #21. Staying OP and positive self-talk are the most important things to continued success. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 21. I always find that I succumb to cravings and go on an all-out binge. How do you keep yourself from binges? (This was a question I got on the WW message boards, so I copied and pasted my response.) Honestly, it's all in the mental aspect of it that keeps me from binging. I actually picture myself after I've eaten those 4 slices of pizza. I know I'll feel guilty, fat, bloated, and just plain gross. That pretty much keeps me from overdoing it. You know what else? I workout a lot, and I hate the thought that all that hard work could be for nothing because I couldn't control my appetite. I just remember all the hours I put in working my booty off, and I couldn't stand it if all that was for nothing just for a moment of pleasure! I also know that it's not like it's the last opportunity I'm going to have to eat that hamburger. I used to eat like there was no tomorrow, but now I know that I have forever to enjoy the foods I love, not just today. I also think about how I'll feel at WI, and I guess that ties into what I mentioned above too. All my hard work for nothing? No way!! I want to know that when I step on that scale, even if it does show a gain, that it wasn't because I wasn't on program. I hate the thought that I worked so hard all week, just to have my WI blown because I couldn't control myself. I think it really is all mental. I just talk myself out of it. So that's what keeps me. 5 minutes is NOT WORTH the tremendous guilt that's inevitable. I mean, we all say "Well just don't feel guilty; forget about it," but we always do. There's always that sense of guilt especially when you're still in losing mode. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 22. Should I workout when I'm sick? That depends solely on how you feel. I tend to have a rule. If it's below the head, stay in bed. I almost always workout with a head cold. It usually makes me feel better. If it's anything other than that, a fever, a stomach bug, or anything else, I would not recommend working out. You need to allow time to rest so you can recover before you jump back into your routine. This is what I do, and still believe that it is based solely on how you feel. If you feel you're up to a workout, try it, but if you start to feel bad, stop!!! Your body will let you know when it's had enough. |
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