Weight Watchers and Milestones!

I've started Weight Watchers this week and I've already seen results! I've been having a terrible time counting calories, trying different diets and I finally got sick of it and decided to take a friend's advice and give WW a shot. I know several people who have had huge success on it and it seems far more realistic than anything else. I tried it once before (when I was stick thin) and it was too hard to calculate the calories and points. That was probably 8 years ago and smart phones are awesome. I simply downloaded an app for mine, figured out my daily points (29, adding in 6 for the days I work out and 49 weekly cheat points) and I enter the fat, carbs, fiber and protein from everything I eat and it does it for me! So far, I have had all of my points each day and been full, satisfied and still had tons of energy for my workout (Jillian Michaels is still kicking my ass). I'm saving my 49 points for beer and pizza tomorrow. :)

The best part...I've lost 2 lbs this week!! That puts me at 155, which was my original "healthy" goal. Of course I still would like to get to about 145 but I'm really happy that I finally got to this point. Even when I was thin, I can honestly say this is the healthiest I have ever felt in my life.


I also found that I had progress pictures exactly one year apart! Check it out:

Over the Plateau!

Finally! After being stuck at roughly the same weight and size for several months, I'm over it! The Jillian Michaels workout is awesome, but the diet was really hard to stick to. I'm still following the basic guidelines but I've modified it to suit my schedule and tastes a bit more. I cut out alcohol for the past two weeks and have been watching EVERYTHING that I eat. I guess going this hardcore was what my body needed because it's working!

I am having an issue with exhaustion, however. I don't believe it's the fault of the diet or the workout. Both are incredibly healthy and I was doing fine up until the last few days. It's over 100 degrees here in Dallas constantly and the water starts to taste like dirt when it's so hot. Which sucks because all I drink is water. I've been using a lot of Crystal Light to mask the taste (and bottled water is just wasteful in my opinion). At home it's fine because I have a Brita filter. My problem comes in at work, where I have to pay for bottles of water and tap water is free. I generally drink 10+ glasses of water a day but now it's probably more like 5 (with some Crystal Light). Crystal Light uses aspartame, which is a known diuretic. I think my problems are mainly due to that and the fact that it's 100 FREAKING DEGREES OUTSIDE ALL THE TIME. I'm going to try powering through the taste of worms and dirt to fix this so I can get back to giving my workouts my all!

I also went shopping for some new pants the other day and fit into a size 9 in juniors! I was shocked! That means I'm officially smaller than I was in high school (but not as small as I was in college).

30 Days!

Well, I just got back from vacation in Chicago for two weeks and I feel like an addict that relapsed. There's so much good food up there! I had Portillo's hot dogs, Algonquin Sub Shop subs (the best in the world), Lou Malnati's. Ugh it was all so good! I feel like I've gained 60 lbs. back. In reality, it was maybe half a pound. I managed to exercise a few days while I was there but it rained too much for me to really get a lot in. I walked 9 miles on two different days. It was pretty relaxing, I put on my audio book and took a 9 mile stroll through the woods on a nature trail.

I tried on my wedding dress while I was up there and it fit better than last time I wore it. However, it's not good enough! I want it to be a size smaller so I can feel good and do a size exchange. Sooo the only thing to do is to lose more weight!

I'm going to start the Jillian Michaels "Making the Cut" diet and exercise plan for 30 days. It's designed to help lose the last 10-20 lbs, which is about all I have left. I hope. Of course, I'll reevaluate once I get to my goal (145lbs.) and see how I feel. I'm excited but I think it's really going to suck. No alcohol and no sugar for 30 days. I like alcohol. And sugar. I'll post updates as I go through it and see if I recommend it once I'm done. For now...wish me luck!