The holidays were brutal!  Didn't track my Weight Watchers points, ate whatever I wanted... almost got back to 180, but now I'm back to where I started again.  I'm realizing I don't like WW that much.  All this time, I've been counting calories, and I just think it works better for me than points.  I'm more comfortable with counting calories, and WW didn't really motivate me the way I thought it would.  I'm still going to go to meetings and weigh in until my 9 weeks are up, but I've been using Lose It and I actually like it a lot than the WW e-tools.  So, I guess I have to do whatever works for me :)

Even though I didn't eat healthy over the holidays, I consistently worked out.  I've been doing a lot of lifting, and have been noticing small changes in my appearance, even though there hasn't been a change in the scale.  So, I'm taking that as a sign that I'm building more muscle and I'm pretty happy about that. I even managed to squeeze into size 10 work pants yesterday that I couldn't wear before Christmas!

I'm starting to seriously look at wedding dresses next weekend... I'm nervous because most sample sizes are 10s and last time I tried on I barely fit into a 12.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

P.S.  Does anyone else have a Lose It account?

Hello!  I joined Weight Watchers at work yesterday, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to check in!  I've lost a few pounds over the past few months, but not nearly as much as I would have liked.  I was hoping to be at my goal by now, but sometimes life gets in the way.  With less than a year until the wedding, I needed an extra push-- which is why I joined Weight Watchers.  Has anyone ever tried it??

I'm a little nervous that I won't see the losses everyone else sees in the first few weeks, especially since I've already lost so much weight.  I guess it's unusual to start Weight Watchers after losing 60 pounds!  Plus, I've been counting calories-- so counting points will be similar.  Either way, I'm hoping it will motivate me and keep me on track- especially during the holidays.  I'm just trying not to expect too much.  After calculating the points of the things I ususally eat, it turns out I can actually eat more than I have been!  It makes me a little nervous... but I'll try for a week and adjust if necessary. 

Anyone have any advice/tips on Weight Watchers?  Has it worked for you?

Hope you're all doing well :)

Good morning!  Hope everyone is doing well.  Had a nice rest of the day yesterday... ended up going to lunch with a friend/co-worker rather than eating the lunch I brought from home (chicken/brown rice/spinach).  I had a salad and went super light on the dressing, so I didn't feel too bad about it.  I stayed on track for the rest of the day, went to the gym, had dinner... etc.  I was a little dissapointed because a few months ago I had my fiance take progress pics of me, and I was feeling pretty good so I asked him to take another one (I know, I should be taking them first thing in the morning rather than at night!).  So he took them, then I compared them to the last one I took in April.  I knew I weighed roughly the same (maybe a few pounds lighter now), but I had gotten so much stronger, so I figured I have been building some muscle in addition to my fat loss.  However, I was SO dissapointed when I saw the pictures.  My fiance thinks I'm crazy, but I feel like I look exactly the same.  Actually, I will admit had a little more definition around my stomach, but I swear my legs look bigger (not muscular, like blubber bigger).   So he claims it's all in my head, that I'm crazy for not seeing a difference, but whatever.  As soon as I start feeling good about myself, something always brings me down.  Maybe it was a good reality check, because sometimes I start to feel a little too good about myself and start getting cocky... those times I need to realize I'm not at my goal yet and I still need to keep going and trying hard everyday. 

I don't have much going on today.  It'll be a busy day at work because I've been slacking off all week.  (Oops!).  Tomorrow, I'm actually going to try and avoid any plans with friends because I know I will be better off eating/drinking if I just stay in with my fiance, rather than meet friends for drinks.  The last thing I need is drinking too much and ordering an appetizer at the bar... or making a late night stop at McD's!  (Which I did two weeks ago.  Ugh.  Such a fat kid at heart!  Will it ever stop!?).  Saturday my fiance and his family are going crabbing, so Saturday night his aunt is going to make gravy with the crabs-- so it'll be a pasta/crab feast... which is why I need to stay perfect on Friday and Sunday!  Maybe I'll throw in an extra workout to makeup for it.  We shall see :) 

Have a great day!

Just a side note in addition to my post from this morning... I was reading other people's success stories and went back and read my first post.  Looking back, I know I was motivated to lose, but there was always this little part of my that doubted myself.  I'm also starting to realize that this is the home-stretch of my weight loss journey (for my first goal anyway, will re-evaluate if I want to lose more once I get there!).  Looking back, I'm finally proud of myself for starting this.  It was so scary back then, thinking about losing 80 pounds. Now, after losing 60, I wish I could just go back and tell myself that I can (and will) do it, and that it is so worth it.  So many times I just wanted to give up because I thought "that's so much weight to lose, i'll never do it, it's not even worth trying".  I'm so happy I did. 

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Good morning!

Feeling pretty great today.  Only one pound away from being the weight I was before my summer weight gain.  I really have come to realize that the biggest trick for me is to stay on track over the weekends.  What usually happens is that I'm good all day Thursday-- then go to happy hour and end up eating/drinking things that I shouldn't.  Friday I try to be good again but after a long week at work, I end up drinking a bit too much wine and snacking... then I justify Saturday as being my cheat day, and Sundays I'm so-so.  Coming from an Italian family, it's hard to sit there and eat salad while your whole family is eating a Sunday dinner of spaghetti and meatballs-- but I've been making it work.  However, this past weekend, I stayed on course on Thursday and Friday, had my "cheat day" on Saturday, and was back on track on Sunday... and lost 2 pounds this week!  I haven't lost 2 pounds in a week since I first started!  Usually, I'm stuck at .5-1lbs a week.  It was the THE BEST FEELING EVER!

However, it also helps that I haven't gone to happy hour and haven't really been doing much of anything.  No plans= healthy eating for me!  haha I lose all control when I'm out....But, this Saturday I have a family party so I will try not to go too overboard with the eating.  Plus, I haven't seen my best friend in weeks and we have plans tonight, which means I'm skipping the gym.  I HATE skipping the gym lately since I've been doing a different workout.  Rather than just going and doing whatever my fiance does, I've been following the workout in the women's version of the "New Rules of Lifting".  It keeps me so much more accountable to have a set workout... but I'm skipping a day :(  It's the first time I'm skipping in a few weeks, so I guess it could be worse.  I've been religiously going every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday... even planning my wedding vendor appointments around it.  Hopefully it pays off.  I've been doing a lot of strength training, and have gotten stronger.  Hoping my slow weight loss is a result of building a little bit of muscle/losing fat, rather than just not doing anything at all!

Wow, sorry for the novel :)  Have a great day, everyone!

Hello everyone!  It's been a while, but as usual, once I start feeling extra motivating I'm back on here!  Haven't really lost much weight this past summer, I actually got down to around 173 before I left for vacation (and before I took my engagement pictures!), then hovered close to 180 for the rest of the summer.  Now, I'm back down to 175. I'm hoping to get down to around 160 by the end of the year so I can start trying on wedding dresses... now that summer is over, I'm super motivated to firm up my diet and exercise and get to where I need to be.  I'm the smallest I have been since my early high school years, but I'm not even close to happy with how I look.  The wedding is what is keeping me going with this.  I can't believe it's been almost two years since I started this journey!  I can't wait to get to where I want to be, but I'm not sure I'll ever be happy with how I look. 

ANYWAY-- how is everyone doing?  I need to catch up and see what's been going on with everyone :)

175 as of this morning!  Took a while to shake the plateau, ended up losing about 2 pounds in 3 weeks.  Not bad.  Feeling pretty good-- liking the fasting/lifting combination better than before.  For some reason, I'm noticing my forearms and calves seem really small.  Is it normal to lose weight in extremities first?  Never noticed that before.  What really made a difference is that instead of going off the "diet" this weekend, Friday night after work I ate decently, cheated on Saturday (guilty,) and just ate chicken and veggies (but didn't count the calories) on Sunday.  Usually, Friday night after work I'm ravenous and in weekend mode so I'll havea  few drinks and eat something I shouldnt, Saturdays are usually a wash, and Sundays I end up not eating great, too.  Hopefully, I can do teh same this weekend.  It's so hard, I feel like I have BBQs parties every weekend, but I'll try. Seeing the scale drop is definitely worth it.

Back down to 177... I've been doing CLOSE to perfect for the past few weeks (of course, weekends not so much) but I've seemed to hit a plateau.  I've been at 177 for the past few weeks and nothing is changing.  I've mixed up my food, my exercise, etc.  Nothing is working for me.  It's so frustrating, I feel like I've come so far only to come to a complete halt right before summer.  I'm taking engagement pics at the beginning of August!  Something needs to change...

Also, just need to vent... I'm so sick of everytime I complain about my weight or plateau, everyone says, "But you look good!".  It infuriates me because yes, I lost over 50 pounds, OBVIOUSLY I look good compared to the 230 pound me... but I don't look good in general.  I want to look good compared to the general population, not a tremendous version of me!  And I say that, and no one gets it, and I just want to scream!

Did pretty well at the wedding this weekend.  I usually eat a TON at cocktail hour but I just had a few tastes of things I really wanted to try so I could enjoy my dinner later on, which I did.  I'm sure the pasta/bread wasn't the best, but I had my serving and that was it.  Had a few bites of wedding cakes, shared some ice cream with my sister, and that was that.  I had a few glasses of wine/champagne, but overall I was pretty proud of myself for not going overboard on the cheat day... we did snack when we got home, had some (sugary) cereal and some chips.  But still could have been worse.  Plus, had a great time at the wedding and danced all night so hopefully that burned some of the food off!

Yesterday my fiance cooked me dinner for our 6 year anniversary... we tried out whole wheat gnocchi.  It was just OK.  I feel like I ate a ton, but I counted the calories and I was well within my limits so I was pretty happy about that!

Back at work today.  Although I hate being here, it does keep my eating under control...

Hope everyone has a great day!

So this fasting is not too bad.  Basically I'm eating in an 8-hour window... and the only difference from my normal eating pattern is that I dont' eat breakfast and don't snack all day.  Hardest part-- eating all my calories in 8 hours.  I'm more of a "yogurt and piece of fruit for lunch" person, so having meat and veggies durng the day is the toughest part because I get really full really fast and then fight the urge to crawl under my desk and nap.  But I guess there are worse things to complain about than being full.  The fasting is really not bad, and I'm feeling pretty great about it.  I just need to get a good routine going with the workouts and we'll see how it goes!  

I'm so determined to make this work... today was the "May Birthday Celebration" at work (my birthday was a few weeks ago) and at every month's celebration I never eat the cake and ice cream and promise myself that I'll have it for my birthday.  I wasn't even tempted to have any, and I'm pretty proud of myself for resisting.  This Saturday will be tough because I'll be at a wedding... and anyone here who knows me knows I like to have a drinks and have a good time!  But I'm going to try to keep it at a minimum and not go too crazy with the eating. 

I had a total breakdown yesterday.  I am SO dissapointed in myself because I haven't lost a pound in a few months.  I've been hovering around 180.  I'm really regretting not being stricter with myself.  I can make all the excuses in the world about the parties, birthdays, happy hours, etc. but in the end I could have stuck with it and I didn't.

After a weekend of BBQ and beer, I am back on track.  My fiance has been going this intermittent fasting that has been really working for him, so I figured I'd give it a try. I cooked my lunches for the entire week and I'm SO really to see some more weight loss.  I miss that feeling of losing a pound or two a week... it was so much easier in the beginning!  As long as I stayed on all week and treated myself a little during the weekends, I'd lose weight.  I do the same thing now, work out twice as hard, and I hardly lose anything.  Hopefully this new "diet" will mix it up and I'll start seeing results.