I struggled with my weight for a lot of my life. In 2002, at my high school graduation, I was tipping the scales at 250+ pounds. There was a reason: I ate excessively, and I was inactive. I sat around watching TV and eating. I could tell tales of my eating that would disgust the normal person, but I won't. After starting college, I lost a little weight, mainly from walking to classes and occasionally going to the gym. I never really consciously put any effort into it though. I tried the South Beach diet once, but I remember exactly how it ended: sitting on the floor with my roommate, a birthday cake, and forks...I never went back to the Beach.
The turning point for me came after a spring break trip to Ft. Myers Beach, Florida. I went down with a group of 5 friends and we had a great time. I thought I looked so cute in my fun summer clothes. Then I got the pictures back. Next to my thin, trim friends, I looked quite the opposite of cute. I looked fat, and I looked old. It was after seeing those pictures that I decided something needed to change. Some women in my family had been having some success with Weight Watchers so I decided to give it a try. I had been to a meeting before, but I hadn't been ready to commit the weekly fee, and the leader hadn't been very kind when I was unsure. This time though, the leader was a girl my age who was also a college student. She was great and it was really encouraging to see someone at my stage of life who had succeeded with the program. So I handed over the cash and made the committment.
After reading the materials, I looked at my life. Why was I fat? It was easy: too much food, too little movement. I was eating more calories than I was burning...plain and simple. That's why most people are fat. But while it's easy to know why, it's not always easy to fix it. I was eating a lot of fast food and pizza, because that's what my friends were eating. It was a social thing to go out and get food. And when I wasn't eating out with friends, I was eating the cheap convenient food that college students live on - mac and cheese, ramen noodles, Hamburger Helper. Quick easy stuff that could be made in a microwave. Stuff that didn't offer much nutritionally, other than calories, fat, and sodium. And I am a snacker. I love chips, crackers, anything salty with crunch. And I always ate more than a serving size. So I knew what I needed to do. I got rid of all the crap. I gave it away to friends, I threw it out. Basically, I got it out of the apartment. I also started exercising. It was baby steps at first. But it was steps. And it worked.
The weight came off quickly. 10 pounds the first week, and pretty consistently after. I think this success in the beginning was key to my sticking with the program. If I hadn't seen results in those first few weeks, I don't know that I would have stuck with the program. But I did, and it continued to work. That's not to say I always lost. I remember my first big gain - 6 pounds. I almost started crying right there at the meeting. I even skipped the meeting the next week (bad idea, by the way). But I lost the weight I gained, and I lost more. And I gained again, and I lost. You can't lose every week. It's hard to accept, and I am still working on it, even a year later. Usually, when I saw a gain, I could pinpoint the reason. The reason was not sticking with the plan. And there have been days I have gone off plan. There have been weekends I have gone off plan. Weeks off plan, and even months. You can't expect to lose if you don't stick with the plan.
That's not to say you have to be good 100 percent of the time. But there are mistakes I have made that I need to watch out for. I had a habit of giving myself too many "free meals" and "free days." Once I started dating my wonderful boyfriend Andy, I didn't focus on the points at certain times. But they are there for a reason. I also had a habit of not using flex points during the week and then just not counting on weekends at all, hoping that the flex points would cover it. I only got to see Andy on weekends, so I treated them as a vacation. But I live with Andy now, and life isn't a vacation. Another huge problem I had was drinking. I was a college student. It's what we do. But partying doesn't go hand in hand with weight loss. After consuming hundreds of calories of beer, the best thing in the world is greasy fast food or pizza, and then a greasy diner breakfast. And try turning down Taco Bell when you're three sheets to the wind. I had a habit of not counting alcohol points, including the food I ate while drinking. Believe me, those points really add up. Another thing that can add up are the little bites, licks, and tastes that seem to sneak up on you throughout the day. Who is going to track that french fry you swiped off your boyfriend's plate at dinner. Or the bite of his burger. Or the couple of chips out of the basket at the bar. Or the handful of M & M's out of the bowl at work. But if you put them all together, that's a lot of calories. So I know why I wasn't successful some weeks.
There was a point when the weight was coming off VERY slowly. It was late summer and early fall of 2006. I wasn't focused. So I decided to give the core plan a try. I really like the core plan. I lost most of my weight with flex, but I credit core with really teaching me about eating for health, not for weight loss. Check my core page for my thoughts on the program. I got to goal on core.
I continued to lose weight after getting to goal. I got down pretty low. Some people told me I was too skinny. I was pretty obsessed with food and exercise and being "skinny." I wasn't enjoying myself. So I started to slack a little...then a little more...then there were more days when I was off plan than on. These last six months of gaining have messed with my brain a lot. Sometimes I think I am pretty self destructive. I eat things I know I shouldn't when I am not hungry, and I don't know why. So here I am. I am restarting my efforts. January I am doing it all over again. I will be tracking points like I just started the program. I can't afford the meetings though, so I will be using this site to keep me accountable and will be checking in with some family back home who are also trying to get back on track. Wish me luck!