Last year around this time, I saw a number of people and Facebook pages share information around the 52-week money challenge.
It sounded interesting and I suggested that Matt and I give it a try.
Category Archives: Weight Watcher’s
This post originally wasn’t going to be part of my Mommy Musing series, but I think it fits.
I’ve had past success with Weight Watchers (WW), both with losing weight and keeping it off, and at the end of April I signed up for WW again to help motivate and encourage me to get my baby weight off.
I’ll confess that during my pregnancy I gained close to 60 lbs! I’m not ashamed of the weight gain. While I did enjoy onion rings and Diary Queen ice cream some days, I did eat fairly healthy for nine months. Heck, I ate so much avocado that I figured Missy Moo would be green when she was born! I also had a lot of swelling and water retention during the latter months of pregnancy (which hung on for a few months post-baby!).
When I signed up for WW again, I managed to already have around 20 of my 60 lbs gone on my own and I had it in my mind that I wanted to lose around 40 lbs while following WW.
I like the Weight Watchers program. It fits my eating preferences and habits and it’s a plan I can work into my regular life without feeling like I have to avoid everything I like. Continue reading
It’s been a few weeks since my last update. My only excuse is that life got in the way and I found myself too busy to blog; my bad. I even have a few posts in draft mode and a few more jotted down in my little black Moleskine… they’ll become a virtual reality eventually. ;)
At first, this update was going to start with details on the many things that have been happening over the past few weeks. Soon enough I realized that there was plenty of details to make it a separate blog update. I’ve since created another draft and will post again later this week.
The main purpose of today’s update is that I missed noting an important anniversary. On October 20th, I celebrated my one year anniversary of being a Weight Watchers Lifetime Member! It was back on April 21st, 2009 that I attended my first Weight Watchers meeting in Toronto. The meeting Leader, Lindsay, was a perfect leader for me – she was positive, full of energy, and wanted everyone at the meeting to feel good about themselves. One of her main focuses each weeks ensuring we knew it was important to her that we all reach our personal goals (no matter how big or small they were). If that meant talking about breakfast alternatives, or discussing what alcoholic drinks to avoid (not stop drinking all together, but helping us avoid the high calorie stuff). She struggled for a number of years with weight loss and was so happy being at goal and living a healthier life.
It wasn’t easy, but by tracking what I was eating (and staying on top of my points count), becoming more active (and discovering I love to run), and attending the meetings are the main reasons I was able to reach my goal. Of course having a supportive husband was also handy since it meant we had to change a lot of our eating habits, but it was a win-win for us both in the end. Weight Watchers also help me to understand my body’s food preferences. It also allowed me realize that some foods are just going to “stick” with me longer than others, so it’s better to make a healthy choice and not feel like I’m starving later than to always go for the greasy short-term food. I’ve also discovered that there are so many great recipes out there that are pretty healthy, but you’d never know it by how tasty the end result is on your plate (and in your stomach).
Over the past year, I’ve remained at goal and only have a few extra pounds creep up when I wasn’t paying attention. There were some stressful months this past spring, but as my weight went up a little, it was an internal alarm bell that I wasn’t properly taking care of myself. I had to refocus my priorities and start putting myself first (because if you don’t do that for yourself, who will?)
The holidays aren’t an easy time of year and I’m preparing for that now. Matt and I start beginner yoga classes on Saturday and I’m hoping to join a 5k clinic at the Running Room soon. I’ve dusted off our Wii Fit and will be using it more regularly as it’s an easy way to get some exercise in without having to go far (literally walking across the upstairs hall). And it’s about time I cleared some space around the treadmill so that it gets some love as well…
So before the New Year is upon us, is there anything you’re doing to feel healthier? Have you taken up a new exercise program? Even simple things like walking more or taking the stairs instead of the elevator can make such a difference. And don’t tell yourself that you have to suffer and can’t eat your special treats ever again. You can still have that KitKat or your medium fries… just don’t have them everyday. ;)
For anyone who has been on Weight Watcher’s or another weight management program, no doubt you’ve often heard, “Oh it must be horrible that you can’t eat anything good!”
I joined Weight Watcher’s last year at the end of April because I was fed up with some weight I had that just wouldn’t go away. 
I only wanted to lose around 20 lbs, and because I had semi-followed the program when I friend was doing it a few years back, it was already compatible with my lifestyle.
Since October 21, 2009 I have been a Life Time Member of Weight Watcher’s. Having successfully reached my goal and as I continue to maintained it, I’m really proud of the accomplishment. Granted, there are people who have lots MUCH more than myself and have overcome greater milestones and struggles, but it’s still a personal goal that I set and made happen.
Sometime last year I bought a couple of the Weight Watcher recipe books and one specifically was Hit the Spot.
You’ll see four different tasty treats in the photos and they include:
- Coconut Green Beans,
- Garlicky Bean Dip and Sesame Wonton Crips,
- Creamy Chocolately Walnut Fudge,
- Honey and Cornmeal Butter Cookies.
ALL of these came from that book and all of them are very, very tasty!
In fact, they’re so good that I’m sharing them with family and friends. Well… not the green beans because I’ve already eaten most of them, but I did take some to work and a coworker was able to see how awesome they were! The bean dip and wontons are going to a friend’s 
birthday / house warming and the two sets of cookies are being shared amongst my in-laws, my grandparents who are visiting from Newfoundland & Labrador, my cousin and his wife (who my grandparents are staying with) and my great aunt who we’re visiting today in Newmarket. I’ll let you know what their reactions are.