Fresh Start

October 23rd 2011 / 1 minute to read

I rejoined WeightWatchers today.

Any blogs, tips, suggestions, what have you… would be wonderful.

I’m going to become BFF 4 LYFE with my treadmill at this point.

Anyone else struggling with or working on losing weight or becoming healthier overall?

This post is over a year old which means the content may be outdated or no longer accurate.

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Sheena

Good for you! I struggle with routines of any kind so while I want to start exercising, the thought overwhelms me at times. I’m also trying to eat healthier, but the MSG loaded chips keep calling my name. It super sucks!

Reply to Sheena

Thank you! I also struggle with any kind of routine for ANYTHING! I generally eat healthy just too much of it and always with a lot of cheese heh.

Sheena

I wanted to try eating vegan, but cheese OMG, I can’t let it go!

Reply to Sheena

I KNOW!!!! Cheese is my downfall.

Gypsie

Best of luck to you!! I know you’re going to do awesome :)
I use Sparkpeople.com mostly because it’s free. But there’s so many awesome features that it’s an added bonus. I know that WW now has an on-line feature, i don’t know if that’s something you’d use, but it’s there ;)

Just remember “baby steps” One meal, one workout at a time. ;)

Reply to Gypsie

Thank you! I used SparkPeople for awhile but the website/phone app is not the best designed and I found that a lot of entries in their food database are incorrect (since the majority are user entered) which drove me crazy lol.

I do the WW online. My biggest issues are eating during the day and not eating so much cheese LOL!

Samantha

I am using My Fitness Pal, which is just a really good way to calorie count. You tell it how much you weigh, how tall and how old you are, how much you’ll work out and how much you want to lose, then it gives you a caloric daily goal depending on whether you want to lose 1 or 2lbs per week. I have lost 6lbs so far. I am also doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD which is kicking my butt, but I feel excellent about myself just for doing it and being accountable. It get me up off of my butt. AND the more I work out the more calories I’m allowed to eat in a day so it’s good incentive to get up and get sweating. It’s such a slow process to lose weight in a healthy way so it can be discouraging, but I know I’m getting healthier. I was worried about being hungry all the time but after 3 days my stomach “shrank” and I was full eating much less than I usually would have. Good luck!!

Reply to Samantha

Work it, mama!

I will becoming a bff with my treadmill, too. Just as soon as my knee surgery is scheduled.

Good times, eh? :) Good luck with WW! You will do well if you are committed to it.

Alita

Thank you! What is the knee surgery for?

I used MFP for awhile (I even blogged about it!) however I ended up GAINING weight because of all the misinformation in their user food database.

Oh I love Jillian… I love me some Bob Harper too. LOVE ME SOME BOB!

Samantha

I only trust their calories on pre-packaged foods that I can verify myself from the box. Otherwise I look on the internet for a more accurate approximation of the calories and list my own entries based on that. Fortunately I’m not really prone to eating junk foods like take-out or muffins and cookies and such. When I do eat at a restaurant like Wendy’s or McDonald’s they usually have the calories on their website so I can enter them in correctly. It’s hard to count calories to a T if you don’t eat pre-packaged foods (which I don’t very often) but I’m being approximate and making sure I get at least an hour of work-out time each day even if it’s just working up a sweat cleaning my home. I’m only just starting week 3 and I am seeing results.

The only reason I haven’t done WW is because of a post you made about saving up your points to eat things with a lot of points so I was worried I’d do that too.

Wishing you lots of luck and positivity!

PS I hate Jillian… I hate her so much. hahaha

Reply to Samantha

I also rarely use pre-packaged food… so it was a struggle for me to see how a bell pepper could range from 10 calories to 100 calories on MFP lol.

I still get a LOT of hits to that old WW post! I also did the same thing with calories though… “saved” them up for a “fancy” dinner or dessert every night.

I have to sort of force myself to eat in the morning, afternoon, snack, and dinner instead of just dinner. My husband called me every few hours today asking me if I was eating lol.

Sarah, I’m doing Weight Watchers too! I just wrote a post about it last week – I’ve lost 20 pounds in 16 weeks (including 2 weeks of vacation where I actually gained a few pounds back). Here’s the link, I included lots of my favorite foods: http://bebehblog.com/20-pounds-down/

I really found that the diet is good but that exercise makes the biggest difference.

I’ve done WW in the past with moderate success, my struggle usually ends up after a few months of doing it of thinking I can do it on my own without any structure and sadly that’s not the case. I also didn’t work out previous times either.

Now I’m better about working out but was still eating VERY poorly so getting back on track with WW to help me structure my food so I’m not eating a bar of cheese for lunch lol.

Sarah, I’m with you! I’ve struggled with my weight since giving birth to my youngest two years ago. In the last couple of months I’ve gotten really serious about taking it off. I’m not doing anything crazy and have no plans to go on any fad diets. I need something doable, something that I can live with for the rest of my life. For me that means that I track my calories, fat intake, etc. I use MyFitnessPal on my iPhone. (I think Joni uses it too!) It makes tracking what I eat a cinch and records my workouts too. I’ve been doing as many push-ups and crunches as I can do throughout the day, alternating between push-ups one day, crunches the next. I’ve also been spending a minimum of 30 minutes on the treadmill each day, but often find that I can do 45-50 minutes no problem. It was rough at first, but I’m beginning to see results and just feel better in general. My time on the treadmill is totally mine. No one can bother me or ask me for something. The hubby takes over during that time frame. It’s my time to just run or walk and rock out to music, think about whatever’s been troubling me or even text and tweet. (I totally don’t recommend the latter. lol) Anyway, what I’m trying to say in so many words is that you deserve it and you’ll feel better. Also? I’d be happy to be your partner. We could just check in with each other periodically to see how the other is doing, provide encouragement, etc. I could use a supportive partner. I have no one. Just the scale and if you ask me, she can be a real bitch sometimes! ;)

I was always a bit overweight once I hit middle school and especially high school (I worked at Baskin Robbins and Taco Bell at the same time heh) but it wasn’t until I had my oldest than I gained a LOTTTT of weight.

Dropped around 80lbs of it in 2003 after his bio-father and I split up the first time and KEPT it off for about a year, then took his bio-father back and gained the weight back in about 3 months. Yeahhhhh.

I used MFP but ended up GAINING weight because of their user submitted database has a lot of inaccurate info which drove me nuts!

I need new shoes for the treadmill, the pair I had purchased was fine for 20 minutes or so but one day I ended up doing almost an HOUR and got a blister. Just can’t afford it right now and after not doing much for the past two months, I’m about to die after 20 minutes lol.

Kimm

Good Luck! Since the birth of my kidlet a few years ago I have gained more weight then I’ve wanted to and as an athlete it sucks.

I do suggest to take it slow on the treadmill at first and slowly work it up to that hour. Your legs and shoes will thank you..

Reply to Kimm

HAHAHA hour… so funny! I can barely do 20 minutes without wanting to die! And that is just power walking!

Linda Ursin

I’m trying to loose the excess fat I’m carrying around. I’m using SparkPeople.com to keep track, but I’ve been slacking lately. Since the summer before last, I’ve lost 30 lbs, and I’ve got 22 more to go.

Reply to Linda Ursin

I used SP before (a couple times actually) and I just get irritated WAY too quickly with their poor webdesign, phone app, and user submitted food database heh. Same with MyFitnessPal and most of the “free” calorie counting sites since they rely on users to submit the calorie counts. That’s really why I go back to WeightWatchers, it’s all THEM entering in their information so I know it’s accurate.

Linda Ursin

WeightWatchers would be good for me as well, if they weren’t so far away and so expensive.

Reply to Linda Ursin

I just do the online version.

Linda Ursin

Ok, I’ll have to check that out

Reply to Linda Ursin
Lady Rose

Weight Watchers is a great program and friend of mine has been on it for years.

For me thought it was waaaaay to much food. but I finally found what worked for me and lost 172 lbs (hit my goal weight of 135 lbs Jan 2011) – chosing fresh foods, dealing with emotional issues, and learning qi gong for healing all helped me reached my goal

Good luck in your journey for health!

Reply to Lady Rose

How was it too much food?

Congrats on the loss! Any hints/tips to pass along? I have close to that amount of weight to lose.

Lady Rose

Weight Watchers allows too many calories for me – only way I could lose was to keep my calorie intake to no more then 800 calories a day – this is NOT something anyone else should be doing, but I worked with my doctor, take supplements, and eat nutrient rich foods (no junk). For maintenance I can get away with 1000 to 1200 a day, but I still have to watch my limit carefully.

Best tips I can offer – eat fresh, live food as much as possible; limit sugar and unhealthy fats. Set up rules or guidelines that work best for you (my rule is 3 small meals a day – and nothing else – but this works for me and is not workable for many). Keeping a journal was essential for my success so I could track what I ate. I also had to address and resolve emotional reasons for eating – I followed my motto: Don’t be a fool, eat for fuel (eating for nourishment, not as a means to cope with anger, depression, etc.).

Determine if you are really “hungry” or if your hunger is something else. Also eat nutrious food and drink lots of water – often “hunger” is the body craving nutrients because so much of our food now days is empty of vitamins and essential minerals so you eat but the body is still in need of fuel, also thrist is often ignores and suppressed so the body has learned to send out the hunger signal instead because that gets answered more often.

Be gentle with yourself – it takes time. Don’t give up – just take one day at time – plateaus happen, don’t give up, falling off the wagon happens, don’t give up.

It took me several years to reach my goal – with many ups and downs – it wasn’t until this last time starting over in Mar 2009 (I decided to get gastric bypass surgery and started process, surgery was Aug. 2009. Jan 1, 2011 I reached my goal.

Hang in there – I am happy to offer tips and support and encouragement any time! :)

Reply to Lady Rose
Jodi Hall

I am.. after i get through the holidays lol

ill cheer you on until then! :P

Reply to Jodi Hall

LOL thank you!!

Marie-Anne

I haven’t struggled for two years, but I’ve developed an anxiety-related food phobia as of late, and it ain’t pretty.
It’s the other way round for me now… I have to find a way to eat enough to get through the day.
Good luck in your weight loss! :)

Reply to Marie-Anne

Ugh I’m so sorry you’re having food problems!

Caity

Great job! Good for you! I’ve lost almost 60 pounds now and the most important thing for me has been finding the thing that works for you. For me, it has been counting calories but that doesn’t work for some people. For you, it might be WW and if so, then that’s awesome and go for it! Never let anyone convince you that what you’re doing isn’t the “right” thing if it feels right to you. Also, I found that for me, I needed a support group and for me, I found that at myfitnesspal.com – but maybe for you you’ll find it at the WW forums or even at the meetings. I don’t know how you do it. If you want, you can try MFP if you want. I know some people log food on there and are doing WW – there are some forums on there that have support groups for WW but I never looked at them much because I wasn’t doing WW. Good luck to you!

Reply to Caity
Caity

Also, find an exercise that you love. For me, that was spin. I loved spin. I joined a gym and did different classes until I found a class that I loved and couldn’t wait to sign up for and go to. But for you it might just be finding a machine or a fitness video that works for you. I also tried the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred and that worked pretty well too. It kicked my butt but I loved that I got results. I also loved the elliptical way more than the treadmill on days I couldn’t do spin.

Reply to Caity

We own a super fancy treadmill and I do like doing workout videos, especially those that have Bob Harper in them LOL.

Caity

Rock on, then! :D

Reply to Caity

I’ve done it all. The problem I found with MFP (I ended up GAINING weight) was that it’s a user submitted food database and I didn’t have the time to enter EVERY SINGLE ITEM nutritional value into a new entry to ensure it was correct. Drove me crazy.

I think when I first started MFP I blogged about it actually lol!

Caity

Oh yeah that can be a problem actually. I have found that in a couple cases but I corrected the items. Like I said, find what works for you and stick with it! I have another friend who is doing WW and loves it. I did WW years ago and I know they have changed the program since I’ve done it.

Reply to Caity

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