Weigh-In Tuesday
Now I sort of wish my weigh-in day was Wednesday just for the shear alliteration of this title? Maybe Truth Tuesday? I dunno. All I know is I weighed in today for the first time in 2 weeks and was 0.6 lbs lighter. I wanted more. I had worked for more. But I am happy with a loss. I know that last week I was baaaaad on the road so at least this week of being on point canceled that out.
This brings my grand total loss to <<drum roll>> 43.8 lbs! 
Can’t be mad at that. I have 9.6 lbs to go to my original goal weight and about 18.6 ‘til the one the doctor made for me when I had my back surgery. 
I love Weight Watchers. I think everyone that knows me knows how true this is. I talk about the program and how much it has helped me alllllll the time. I just absolutely love how you can have normal food (in moderation). You aren’t feeling like a prisoner who can only choose between Breakfast A or B, etc. You can go out and live your life. I can have a glass (or two) of wine and that is A-ok! It is a program for real people, who want to make a real change in their lifestyle.
With the help of healthy checks, I have improved my eating habits 10 fold. I have waaay more fruits and veggies. I now know what healthy oils are (definitely had to look that one up)!
In addition to the support, accountability and healthy food goals, Weight Watchers can come to your work. THIS will make my summer totally different than last year. Last year, I missed almost every meeting from February to May because of work (ended up gaining back about 7-8 lbs during that time). After talking to a couple friends, I found out that if you have at least 15 people Weight Watchers will bring the meeting to you. AMAZING! With absolutely no personal drive to this at all: I asked if we could do this … and we are. It has already proved to help dividends. The meeting is now during the day and a mere 2 minute walk from my office.
Another awesome note, I have known our leader for awhile. She was one of the ladies that weighed me in at my normal Tuesday night meeting. Bonus! She also brings product to the meeting so when I need more WW Chocolate Pretzel Blast Bars, she is there for me.
Besides being a big help to me, how convenient , it is also paying off for my coworkers. It also expands my support system and gives me more people to cheer on! J
Did anyone else weigh-in today? I wanna pass on some cyber Bravos!
Temptations…
Temptations SUCK!
Last week I was traveling and had a horrible WW week. I didn’t track. Drank what I wanted. Ate what I wanted. (But I did work out every day for at least 30 minutes) but I came home feeling awful. My body missed my daily fruits and veggies. It didn’t know how to process daily doses of peanut M&Ms, pita chips or pizza.
So when I got home I didn’t weigh-in and decided I would take this week back! I decided I would take part in the #7daychip challenge. I decided for on week I would not touch a single weekly or activity Weight Watchers point AND I would complete all 6 healthy checks everyday (min 6 8 oz glasses of water, 2 tsp of healthy oils, 5 servings of fruits/veggies, a vitamin, 2 servings of milk/milk product and 30 min activity).
I wanted to do this for 2 reasons: 1) prove to myself I could and 2) help my body recover from the previous week.
Well, I can say I made it to Day 7 (today)! But it hasn’t been easy. This week has been particularly stressful at work: long hours and not a lot of sleep. And to top it all off, there has been free pizza the last two days. It was just sitting there looking all delicious and fattening.
I just thought to myself this is NOT fair. Why can’t I be skinny and not have to worry about what I eat? It’s not fair. Then I thought, what if I didn’t care what I weighed/how I looked? Then I could eat all the pizza I wanted.
BUT, I didn’t cave! I was sooooo proud of myself. I just sat there and put it in perspective. I didn’t need that pizza. My salad was better for me AND more filling. My yogurt and apple were a healthier option. I kept my eye on the prize: good weigh-in tomorrow, hitting my goal weight this year and looking hot on my honeymoon in Hawaii in November. That, and some friends words of wisdom, got me through it.
This whole experience made me realize that this is, and always will be, a continuous journey. There will always be temptations (unless I become a hermit), but I just need to take them one at a time. Sometimes I will cave, but I will always get back on track!!
Anyone have any other devices they use when facing temptations besides visualizing and rationalizing?
*I will be sure to let you all know how the weigh-in goes tomorrow morning…
Accountability and Support
I have been trying to lose weight since high school … maybe even before then. But I really hunkered down sophomore year in college when I copied my friend’s mom’s weight watchers books. But I cheated. There were plenty of times to do it. Who was really keeping tabs on me? No one, but me. Kind of easy to rationalize a chocolate chip cookie here or there when no one is checking in on how many points you have left for the day.
Even if I did have someone ask how well it was going, it was easy to say: Awesome! I am right on plan for the day … or not!
It is easy to lie to myself and others when you don’t let anyone in … so this go around on Weight Watchers I got vocal. I let everyone and their dog know I was joining and trying to lose weight.
The first change I made was attending meetings. What is more accountable than having to get on a scale every Monday night? You can’t lie to the scale. Tell it to say a lower number than it really says. It is the most honest thing you can turn to.
In addition to the weighing in at meetings, I became friends with a couple girls there. It was great. Every week we would check in on each other. If someone wasn’t there, we would call or text to make sure they were okay. THAT was accountability and support wrapped up in a one hour block every Monday night. THAT I realized was what I needed. Even my leader gave me her email address and allowed me to bother her during the week with any questions I had.
Some people don’t like to tell people they are on Weight Watchers, I realized I needed to be the complete opposite. The more people that knew meant the more people I didn’t want to let down and the more people I could turn to in a time of need/weakness/success.
I also started texting about a dozen people (from my parents to my wife to my friends) every week after my weigh-in to let them know how it went. If I gained, I felt bad, but I knew these people had my back. This weight loss journey is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight. You have a bad week and you get back on the horse the next week. All that came through my friends and I needed it.
I made sure to tell everyone at work as well. Many times I eat in the cafeteria there and I wanted to make sure they would always have the food I needed around. Thankfully we have one of the best salad bars in the game! But the more I talked about it, the more the chef wanted to help and for the past year and a half, he has always had plenty of healthy food on hand for me. Even secretly keeping some in the back for me 
In addition to physical support, twitter has become a second family. I have befriended online hundreds of people going through the same exact situation I am. They know what I am thinking and always lend a word of encouragement. OR if I cannot find the correct point value for a pint of Guiness, there is someone in Ireland ready will the anser (6, if you were wondering).
Since joining in Nov. ’09, I have had about 15 or so friends join Weight Watchers, including my wife. It has been great fun sharing what I have learned with them. But it also gave me a new drive and focus. Having my wife join was one of the best things. We can now keep the food brought into the apartment in check, try new WW recipes and make sure we are hitting our goals.
I love being able to pass on the encouragement that people have given me to my new WW folk. I started a WW excel file, where I keep people’s main stats (weight loss to date, weigh-in day and lbs til goal) so I can be sure I am checking in on people when they need it. *Let me know if you want in*
I thought in addition to all of this that starting a blog would hold me the most accountable. I am enjoying posting my food logs and sharing the trials and tribulations. If one post helps someone else, then I think I have done my job.
So if you are looking for help, there are plenty of avenues to go. Find a buddy, attend or meeting or just sign up for twitter and support awaits!
I thank my friends, family, WW leaders and wife the continued support and I thank my meetings for truly holding me accountable…
Happy Four Months
Today is a big day … It marks four months since I had back surgery!
*For background: I herniated a disc in my L4-L5 in mid-December 2010 – unfortunately I still don’t know how it happened. From that point on I was banned from all activity. I tried PT, but it didn’t improve. So on January 28, 2011, I had a microdiscectomy. It was tough, but the pain subsided immediately.
Being banned from working out may have been one of the toughest things I have overcome. Being told not to do something is never what you want to hear.
I never realized how much I took being active for granted. Just wanting to hit the gym for a quick 30 min elliptical. Nope. Hit the pavement for a nice 5k run. Nope. Bust a move at Zumba. Definitely not.
The endorphins from working out kept me level. Without them, my emotions ran amuck. I took the whole ordeal hard. Depression completely set in – especially with it all happening in the heart of a tough Chicago winter. (There was even a blizzard the week after surgery) Hello depression plus Seasonal Affective Disorder.
It wasn’t even about not losing weight either. I was so regimented on points that I managed to lose 10 lbs while being laid up.
I was allowed to start really working out about a month ago and my mood immediately improved. Being able to hit the gym actually break a sweat felt like heaven. I could feel the depression lifting.
From that point on, I vowed to never take being active again. I have pushed myself each day, but always make sure to listen to my back to avoid suffering a setback … that’s definitely what I am working to avoid.
On May 17, I ran 3.1 miles for the first time since November. I felt amazing. The amazing feeling that I had after I ran my first marathon.
So happy four months to me! I am off to do some Wii Fit!!
What’s In A Name
One of the first things I mulled over before starting this blog was the name. I follow so many and they have catchy names that I love that I didn’t want to disappoint! It is probably pretty obvious how this one came about, but I figured I would elaborate any way.
I knew I wanted to use this as a space for me to discuss my ongoing weight loss, but I knew I had to be open to it evolving into something more. I am hoping to use this as a safe space to really let go of things that are on my mind. I don’t want to keep things bottled up any longer. It isn’t a fun way to live. I want to get back to really living and not dwell on things for longer than needed. I don’t like carrying the emotional load on my shoulders anymore. This is a place for me to air it … and move on.
So I shall use this blog to get both physical and emotional weight off of my shoulders!
Welcome to Weight Off My Shoulders
I have written all my life. Grammar School. High School. College. Grad School. Newspaper. My Current Job. I like writing. I think I am decent at it.
The Problem: I don’t like sharing/writing about myself.
I don’t know how many people grew up in the kind of environment where you didn’t really talk about your feelings. If so, you feel me. You just keep them inside and bury them deep down until the basically disappear … or so you think they disappear.
When I was younger, hiding the feelings was easy. I have always been known as a happy/smiling person. But in high school, I think the routine wore on me and finally I felt the emotions.
I found it easy to hide the pain/feelings by working out. Those crazy little endorphins can do a lot to ones attitude and outlook on life.
Recently I went through a pretty bad back issue resulting in surgery; this led me down one emotional spiral – mainly because I was limited from any activity for a good four months. My wife was trying to help me get out of the funk, suggesting I write it down, it would help. But c’mon that’s not how we Irish East Coasters roll. I just let it fester.
It wasn’t until I was medically cleared to be active again that the doom and gloom subsided and I have started to feel like my old self again.
So recently, I have thought. How about I start writing and focusing my energy on something positive? Maybe I can avoid ever getting back to the point I was at for so long.
But then when you start to really think about the idea of sharing your thoughts. You wanna know: What do I write about? Will anyone read bother reading it? Do I just sound like a whiny emo teenager?
So for the past couple weeks that is what I have been mulling over. After seeing so many positive messages coming out of #fitbloggin, I decided to get on the bandwagon. I know late the party, joining the crowd, but I am okay with that.
With that lengthy background story, I welcome you to “Weight Off My Shoulders”:
I will be using this space to document my continued weight loss journey through Weight Watchers, my recovery from back surgery (herniated disc), my training for a half marathon, as well as, my ever need to motivate others.
Recently, I have had quite a few people tell me I inspired them to joint Weight Watchers and that really touched me. I never thought of myself as that kind of person. But you know what, it made me feel good. It made me want to help and share more.
I currently keep an excel spreadsheet of all my friends who are currently on Weight Watchers. I document total weight loss, weigh-in day and lbs ‘til goal weight. It is a reminder of me to check in with people, offer encouragement or advice. If this is something you would like to join, please let me know. *At no point do you have to tell me your actual weight.*
So please, join me on my journey if you wish …