Finally Back at Goal!

Whew. A little while ago (er, two months ago), I wrote about the fact that I’m a Lifetime Weight Watchers Member but I had gone more than 2 pounds over my goal weight. I “re-committed” myself to the program at that time and vainly suggested that I’d be back to being “free” (i.e. back at my goal weight) at Weight Watchers within two weeks.

Well, eight-plus weeks later, I’m finally free again. It sure does take a lot longer to take off a few pounds than it does to put them on, eh? Well, if I’m honest about it, those pounds crept on over the course of about two months, as well.

Anyway, even though it took me two months instead of two weeks, I’m glad I got back on the Weight Watchers wagon. Sometimes that’s the hardest part — going in when you know you’ve gained weight and getting back to work. The last time I did that, I didn’t make it back in for a couple of years, and then it took a lot longer than two months to take the weight off. It’s always better to head back in when you’ve only got six pounds to lose instead of 15 or 20.

Winner of the 2nd Weight Watchers Membership Giveaway

Congratulations to Jill, the winner of my 2nd Weight Watchers Membership Giveaway.

If you entered my contest and didn’t win, I hope you’ll consider joining Weight Watchers and the Momentum Walk-It Challenge just the same. It’s a great program, and once you reach and maintain your goal weight for six weeks, you achieve lifetime status, which means you never have to pay again as long as you remain within two pounds of your goal weight.

Another Weight Watchers Membership Giveaway

First of all, congratulations to Tori, winner of my first Weight Watchers Membership Giveaway. Tori was comment #88 and I just KNOW she will love Weight Watchers as much as I do.

Now it’s time to enter my second contest, which ends at 11:59 p.m. May 15. Here are the details:

Weight Watchers just launched the Momentum Walk-It Challenge, and to celebrate, they’ve given me two 3-month memberships to give away on my blog!

These memberships can be used for Weight Watchers in-person meetings or for Weight Watchers online. Meeting attendance costs $12 per week, plus the one-time registration fee unless you join during a free registration period. And the online membership costs about $65 for three months. So, these 3-month memberships are pretty valuable. Plus, you can get healthier and thinner and learn new/better eating habits, etc. etc. So, they’re actually priceless.

You can read more about the Walk-It Challenge and my confidence in the Weight Watchers program here.

Now, onto the contest:  To enter my second Weight Watchers Membership contest, all you have to do is post a comment below about why you want to win the membership and you’ll be entered into the drawing. Be sure to include your email address in the post so that I can contact you if you’re the winner. Again, the contest deadline is 11:59 p.m. May 15. The winner will have three days to respond to my email or the prize will go to someone else.

For additional entries:

• Subscribe to this blog in a reader or via email (see the buttons in the upper right sidebar). Be sure to post an additional comment that you did this.
• Tweet about this contest, and again, post an additional comment with the link to your tweet.
• Blog about this contest, and post an additional comment with the link to your blog post.

Good luck.

Weight Watchers Challenge

As promised (to myself), I made it back to my Weight Watchers meeting this week. I lost a pound (and I just resisted the temptation to type “only lost a pound”). Isn’t it amazing how we all want to lose weight quickly, but don’t mind if it takes months to put it on? Anyway, I’m glad I’m back to the accountability of weekly meetings. I’m still motivated to be “free” again , but it may take three weeks instead of two weeks at this rate.

I’m also still looking for a 5K event that my husband and I can do together, since he’s decided to join Weight Watchers and do the Walk-It Challenge, as well. I’m thinking about one sponsored by our YMCA in July. We both plan to run the 5K, and I’d like to see if I can run it in less than 25 minutes since I just achieved my first “speed” goal in the St. Louis Half Marathon.

If you’re interested in trying Weight Watchers, don’t forget to enter my giveaway. The first one ends tonight at midnight, and the second one starts tomorrow.

Win a 3-month Membership to Weight Watchers and Lose Weight!

Weight Watchers just launched the Momentum Walk-It Challenge, and to celebrate, they’ve given me two 3-month memberships to give away on my blog!

These memberships can be used for Weight Watchers in-person meetings or for Weight Watchers online. Meeting attendance costs $12 per week, plus the one-time registration fee unless you join during a free registration period. And the online membership costs about $65 for three months. So, these 3-month memberships are pretty valuable. Plus, you can get healthier and thinner and learn new/better eating habits, etc. etc. So, they’re actually priceless.

I’m a huge believer in the Weight Watchers program and I’ve written about that here and here and here. I lost all my baby weight on the Weight Watchers program and trained for my first marathon while also attending  meetings and learning to eat better. I’m  a lifetime Weight Watchers member, which means I attend meetings for free as long as I stay within 2 pounds of my goal weight. Unfortunately, I waned in my commitment over the last few months and I’m no longer within that range.  But that’s okay. I went back to my meeting today and re-committed myself to the program and to meeting attendance. I plan to be “free” again within two weeks. (There, it’s in writing).

I also signed up for the Momentum Walk-It Challenge (I’m a runner, so I’ll be “running” it) and I created a Walk-It Challenge team. That’s because my DH is joining Weight Watchers, too, and will be doing the challenge with me. We’re going to train for a 5K together sometime in the next eight weeks. I haven’t chosen our 5K event yet, but when I do, I’ll be writing about that, as well as my progress and my DH’s progress in the Walk-It Challenge training, here.

The Momentum Walk-It Challenge encourages all Weight Watchers meetings members and Weight Watchers Online subscribers to get active this spring. Between April 12 and June 6, set an activity goal for yourself — like walking 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) — and Weight Watchers will give you access to the tools you need to get there. Join or create a walking team, or sign up for a 5K event and you can get a FREE 8-week online training program to help reach your goal. (I downloaded my free 8-week online training program and it is very cool and fun to use). So, if you win one of my free memberships, you’ll want to consider signing up for this challenge.

Now, onto the contest:  I’m giving away one 3-month Weight Watchers membership between now and May 8 and one between May 9 and May 15. To enter the first contest, all you have to do is post a comment below about why you want to win the membership and you’ll be entered into the drawing. Be sure to include your email address in the post so that I can contact you if you’re the winner. The contest deadline is 11:59 p.m. May 8. The winner will have three days to respond to my email or the prize will go to someone else.

For additional entries:

• Subscribe to this blog in a reader or via email (see the buttons in the upper right sidebar). Be sure to post an additional comment that you did this.
• Tweet about this contest, and again, post an additional comment with the link to your tweet.
• Blog about this contest, and post an additional comment with the link to your blog post.

Good luck.

Don’t Eat the Mangoes

I did my grocery shopping yesterday and I was particularly organized this week because I’m really trying to get back on track with commitment the Weight Watchers way of eating. I gathered recipes I wanted to make on Wednesday, made my list on Thursday and went shopping on Friday. I have a list taped inside my cabinet of the recipes I plan to make, and one is a Weight Watchers Momentum recipe that includes mangoes. My older children LOVE mangoes, so I had to resort to this tactic to make sure my recipe ingredients didn’t disappear:

My 14-year-old thought this was hilarious. If you’re interested in the recipe, it’s from Book 6 of the Weight Watcher Momentum Plan and here it is:

Black Bean, Mango and Tomato Salad/serves 8 (I plan to triple this recipe, thus, three mangoes in my picture)

• 1 large mango, diced and divided
• 3 TBS fresh lime juice
• 3 TBS water
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 15 oz canned black beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 C diced tomatoes
• 1/2 C diced sweet onion
• 1/4 C fresh mint or cilantro, cut into thin slivers
• 1 TBS minced canned or fresh jalapeno peppers

In a large bowl, mash 1/4 cup of diced mango with a fork; whisk in lime juice, water, oil, cumin and salt. Add remaining diced mango, beans, tomato, onion, mint and jalapeno to bowl; toss to mix and coat. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate up to 1 day. Yields about 1/2 C per serving.

Best Snack for Weight-conscious Chocolate Lovers

Chocolate is a food group. I really believe this. But when I began really sticking to my Weight Watchers program a little over a year ago, I had to make some adjustments to my chocolate intake. I’m now a lifetime Weight Watchers member (which means I hit my goal weight and have maintained it), and I owe part of my success to these:

Weight Watchers Whitman's candies pecan crowns

1,067 Miles

One thousand sixty-seven miles is the approximate distance from my home in St. Louis, MO to Sarasota, Florida. It’s a little further from my home to New York City and it’s just under the distance from my home to Ontario, Canada. It’s also exactly the number of miles I ran/jogged in 2008.

I run/jog for exercise and I do it almost every day. In fact, I ran/jogged all but 72 days in 2008.  (I say run/jog because sometimes I’m running and sometimes I’m jogging – it just depends on the day). As you can probably tell, I kept a rather detailed exercise log in 2008. And I love running/jogging. It’s easily my favorite form of exercise. If I’m not training for a distance event, I run between three miles and six miles each day. You get that feeling of “cardio accomplishment” faster with running or jogging than you do with most other forms of exercise, and I feel like I get more bang for my buck, so to speak. I can run for 30 minutes and really feel like I’ve done something, but I have to do other things, like aerobics or walking, a lot longer to get the same feeling. I’m not what you would call a patient person.

So here’s the problem: although I was very committed to my exercise routine in 2008, and although I lost all my “baby” weight (via Weight Watchers) and am back into all my clothes, I’m probably flabbier than I’ve ever been except when pregnant. I’m at least less toned than I’ve ever been. Running/jogging is just not a toning type of exercise. It takes and helps keep the weight off, but it doesn’t keep the back-fat away, nor does it tone the arms or abs.  And as I get older, I find myself limping to the bathroom in the morning and becoming less and less flexible. Thus, my New Year’s resolutions:

• Incorporate strength training into my exercise routine 2-3 times per week
• Incorporate yoga and/or pilates into my exercise routine once per week
• Continue running and train for the 2009 Chicago marathon
• Keep my new (used, but new to me) Honda Odyssey clean by vacuuming and wiping down the inside every Friday and washing the outside every other time I fill up. (I know - this has nothing to do with exercise, but it is a resolution of mine).

I wanted to write this post and have it up by New Year’s Day, but I’m actually glad I didn’t because my friend, former co-worker and fellow blogger Marijean of STLWorkingMom.com wrote a great post about making SMART goals versus resolutions. Smart is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Reasonable and Time-bound. After reading her post on SMART goals, I tried to write my resolutions like SMART goals. I think I did so.

There. Now it’s all in writing and it’s way more public than any of my resolutions have been in previous years. So far, I’ve kept to all four of them (the yoga class starts this Thursday). But, it’s only Jan. 3. 

On another note: I’m secretly, selfishly hoping most of the “newbies” at my YMCA start falling off their resolution wagons soon because the crowds at MY Y are a pain and I expect they will be even worse this week. And I KNOW that’s a bad thing for me to wish for, because the increased numbers are good for the Y, and exercise is good for everyone, but I can’t help it.

Weight Watchers Lose for Good

I mentioned in a previous post that I’m a big believer in the Weight Watchers program.  I’ve struggled with my weight for most of my life (like since puberty).  Weight Watchers it the ONLY program that has ever worked for me.  I’m a lifetime member and a regular meeting attender.  It works ladies (and guys).  Really.

As if losing weight and keeping it off wasn’t motivation enough, now Weight Watchers is doing something REALLY COOL.  The company is kicking off a Lose for Good campaign through which it will donate one pound of food for every pound Weight Watchers members lose.  The donations will go to Share Our Strength, the leading organization working to make sure no kid in America grows up hungry, and Action Against Hunger, which helps feed people in trouble parts of the world. The campaign lasts through Oct. 18. 

This campaign hit home with me. A few months back, I was sitting in church watching this video of children in some other part of the world who were starving.  I remember saying to my husband, “Gosh. I wonder how those kids would feel if they knew there were people here who pay money for drugs that make them less hungry so they can lose weight, or who pay money to surgeons to put bands around their stomachs so they won’t eat so much.  It would be incomprehensible to them to know that some people have so much food that they need help keeping weight off, while they have so little food that they can’t keep enough weight on to stay healthy.”  Then, I opened my September/October issue of Weight Watchers magazine (which is a great magazine, full of motivational stories, ideas and awesome recipes), and there was announcement of the Lose for Good campaign.  The campaign dialogue,   which I will paraphrase here, is awesome.  “Why is that some of us have enough and some of us don’t? When did balance lose its balance?  What if you and me and he she started taking a little better care of we?  What if we could help each other by helping ourselves — by taking what we didn’t need and giving it to people who needed it –   not everything, just what we could stand to lose?  The more we all lost, the more they’d gain. Then one day, hungry might just become happy.”

Doesn’t that just make sense?  So if you are among the masses who wants or needs to lose weight, and if you’d love to be down on the scale before you have to start worrying about those extra pounds that are the unwanted “present” of the holidays, then now is the perfect time to join Weight Watchers.  Your loss will be someone else’s gain — for real.

Weight Watchers & A Great Leader

I may not have shared this before, but I’m a Weight Watchers member.  I joined in 2005 because I had gained some weight and wasn’t having any success taking it off.  I achieved Lifetime status in late 2005 (for you non-Weight Watchers types, that means you’re free for life as long as you stay within two pounds of your goal weight).  But, I became pregnant in 2007, which meant the goal weight thing went out the window for many months.

I returned to WW when DB was about six weeks old, and to my delight, I found a meeting I LOVED attending. I’m a big believer that meeting attendance is key to the success of the program, but sometimes I just didn’t feel like going.  That is, until this time around.  I found Alice’s meeting on Tuesday mornings at a Chesterfield Weight Watchers location, and I almost never miss a meeting now.  She’s the leader at this meeting. She is so motivational, so “real,” so “normal” and quite an inspiration since she lost 50-plus pounds on the program.  With Alice’s help, along with several other women with whom I became friends at that meeting, I lost 30ish pounds and returned to goal weight in April, about six months after DB was born. I’ve maintained my weight since.  Unfortunately, today we had to say good-bye to Alice.  She’s returning to full-time employment in the education field.  We are going to really miss her and her motivation, fun stories and leadership at our meeting.  But, in her honor, I pledge to keep attending meetings.  So, now I’ve got to visit a few others to see which leader I like second best.