My Success Story

The weekly Weight Watcher meeting topic this week is “Your Success Story.”

My success story has taken on many twists and turns. Despite the highs and lows, success is what you chose to make of it.

My success story began in December of 2006. After a trip to Las Vegas, where I almost could not getting the seatbelt to buckle on the plane and I was completely exhausted from all the walking/sight seeing, I decided to join Weight Watchers. I walked into my first meeting in January of 2007 weighing in at 304 pounds.

This photo was taken taken at my birthday in October of 2006, a few months before my first WW meeting.

For two years I counted points, weighed and measured my food, exercised, and attended my WW meetings. I developed many friends and met many wonderful people along my weight loss journey. I struggled, celebrated each five pounds lost, cried many tears, and smiled a lot. After 110 weeks I met the goal weight I set with my doctor of 175 pounds. 

Six weeks after that I officially became a Lifetime Member and earned my first LT key in May of 2009.

My new journey of maintenance began and so did a lifetime journey of learning how to keep my weight off. Once again I struggled, celebrated other WW members five pound losses, cried many tears, and smiled a lot. I continued to attend my WW meetings and found I had to change meetings to find a different type of support than the support I received during my weight loss journey. Since I didn't magically lose 130 pounds, getting to my goal weight didn't mean I would magically stay there. I still had to count my points and weigh and measure my food. I had to reach out for help when I was struggling and in doing so I built a great network of online WW friends. My weight dropped below 175 pounds, it came back up to 175 pounds, and it went above 175 pounds. For five years I was able to maintain my weight loss pretty close to my goal weight and it all felt pretty carefree.

In August of 2013, life changes brought on new challenges and my weight started to steadily increase. I really struggled (and still do) to bring it back down. I won't make excuses for why I have gained back 30 pounds. I tend to focus too much on my re-gain and I let it over shadow the close-to-100-pounds I have continued to keep off. 

Weight loss experts consider successful weight loss as losing 10% of your weight and keeping that weight off for at least one year. I've been keeping more than 10% of my weight loss off for over seven years.

This is me today.

Success can come in many forms. Sometimes we can struggle to see something as successful because we chose to focus on the negatives instead of the positives. Sometimes we can struggle to see something as successful because we let another person make us feel as though we have somehow failed.

Don't let that happen. Celebrate your successes and cheer on those that are struggling. Don't lose sight of what success really is. Know that there will be setbacks and hard times. But there will also be so many wonderful times. Life is what you make of it. If you wake up everyday thinking “today is going to be a horrible day” then you have already set yourself up to fail. If you wake up everyday thinking “today is going to be a great day and if it isn't, that is okay” then you have already succeeded. Sometimes we just need an attitude adjustment. Keep fighting the good fight and never give up. Success might look differently from time to time but it is still success.

Thank you to everybody who has always given me support. I appreciate it so much.

I Love Fall

I love fall. It is my most favorite time of year. I love the drop in temps, the crisp morning, leaves changing colors and falling to the ground, Halloween, jeans and sweaters, and of course, my birthday. Fall is a wonderful time of year.

I always get out my favorite Scentsy warmer on Septebmer 1^st so I can enjoy it all the way to December 1^st.

I am also super excited that Starbucks has Pumpkin Spice back.

I never joined the PSL craze but last year decided to try two pumps of pumpkin spice in my usual Americano and really loved the taste. I actually had my first taste Saturday on my way to work. It was just as delicious as I remember it being last year. I see my coffee consumption/$$$ going up in the near future.

This year my love for fall has a bit of a dark cloud over it. I have been stressing/worrying about my jeans not fitting. I went through this same stress during the summer months when I didn't have any shorts that fit. After losing my weight I always prided myself on not having to worry if my clothes would fit from season to season. In my current state of re-gain I'm struggling in the clothes department. I hit up a few stores and found some jeans in a bigger size that help to camouflage my muffin top. I have found that when I am not squeezed into my tight clothes I feel better about myself and that confidence radiates outward. Our temps dropped over the weekend so I pulled out my new jeans and dressed up a bit.

I felt really sexy and confident in my new jeans. Yes, they are a bigger size than they have been in a while. However, the size of the jeans isn't what matters. What matters to me is how I feel. I want to be confident and I want that confidence to show. Life is to short to always be picking yourself apart or putting yourself down. Even those my new jeans were a bit more expensive then I usually spend on jeans, I've order a couple more pairs online. I felt really good in my new jeans.

I can now enjoy fall again!!! I am actually waiting for Old Navy to bring their performance fleece back into the stores as I also need a larger size top. My old fleece jackets that I wear all the time don't zip anymore. I've stopped blaming the jacket and come to terms that I am the reason they don't sip anymore!

Sunday Check-In

Good Morning. I am sorry I have not been the best blogger this week. I changed trainer and the days I have my short days and my long days. I've also been exercising with my trainer/coworkers and often having lunch with my trainer. So, I've not had much downtime. I'm not complaining! It has been nice having company during workouts and lunches.

This was a good week of training and I even answered one 911 call. It ended up being somebody that called 911 by accident. Needless to say, it was a good “first call” and hopefully will give me some confidence for answering future 911 calls. I'm still about 3 weeks until actually answering 911 calls but my trainer asked me during our workout break if I wanted to answer a few 911 calls yesterday just to feel it out. I like that she is confident with my training progressing. It is all very scary to think about answering 911 calls.

I've been quite social this week and also eating out more than planned this week. I am trying not to feel guilty for my meal/sweet splurges as I have been enjoying the social encounters. Last night I met Cathy, her daughter Cailah, and Cailah's friend Amanda for dinner at Smash Burger. I was all set to build my own burger (the WW way) and then I spotted this burger called “Windy City” that was available for a limited time. It was a burger on a pretzel bun with cheddar cheese, spicy mustard, lettuce, tomatoes, and thin onion straws. SOLD! It looked delicious, and it really was. Cathy and I shared some Smash fries as well. I don't often eat so much fried/greasy foods and I surely enjoyed every bite.

After dinner I was hoping to meet up with some friends for a drink. I was feeling festive and wanted to enjoy some social time. Cathy invited me over to her house for a white Russian, her daughter's speciality drink, and to visit more. It was a really enjoyable evening.

I met Kenyon for breakfast this morning at Cracker Barrel. I know I need to put a squash to all this eating out but I am just having an enjoyable time.