mrsbarker - Member

mrsbarker

Joined May 2008

Posts

112

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Weight History

Start Weight

245.0 lb

Lost so far: 14.6 lb

Current Weight

230.4 lb
Performance: losing 4.2 lb a week

Goal Weight

165.0 lb

Still to go: 65.4 lb

I am married to a wonderful man who chose the Navy as a career before we got married and although this comes as a challenge to most people I deal with it rather well. My major problem is that I am able to stick to the healthy eating lifestyle while he is gone, but cannot seem to get it right when he is home. Finding things that we both like to eat that are low in points is a huge challenge. I recently started over on the program (joined with another friend and military spouse) and am not looking to the past. I have learned from it and that is exactly what it was...a learning experience. I am now back on track and even though he is home, we have successfully managed to "figure it out". I hope that this trend continues and I love the support I get from and am able to give to others who are going through the same thing.

I have figured out this is not about doing this for anyone other than yourself. It is about getting healthy and feeling good about yourself. Having others count on you and keep up with your progress is a great motivator, but in the end, you are the one that needs to feel good about the progress you have made. Track your points, set small goals for yourself and achieve them. If you don't achieve them the first time, don't let that discourage you, try again. Everyone learns from their mistakes and nobody is perfect. Good days and bad days come and go, but there is always a new day to start fresh...so go out there and make the best of it!

Weightloss Milestones to Accomplish

5% Target (12 lbs lost): 2/24/10
10% Target (24 lbs lost):
Weigh in Under 210 lbs:
Weigh in Under 200 lbs:
Weigh in Under 190 lbs:
Weigh in Under 185 lbs:
Weigh in Under 180 lbs:
Weigh in Under 175 lbs:
Weigh in Under 170 lbs:
Hit Goal @ 165 lbs:

mrsbarker's Weight History

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mrsbarker's Latest Member Challenges

Operation: Saturation

status:	Completed
ended:	15 Dec 08
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mrsbarker's Latest Posts

Breakfast Ideas
If you have a scale, you can weigh out some cereal (I personally LOVE Cinnamon Life). Depending on how much you alot yourself for breakfast 64g of Life with 8 oz of milk is about 6 points. It stays with me for quite a while in the morning. If there is still a little edge there for hunger, you could add a banana for 2 pts or some strawberries (if you can find any that are worth getting). Strawberries are a great filler. I usually have them for dessert with a tbsp of sugar. If you have it just right it's only a point. Smile

Breakfast is hard for me...I don't have very much time in the mornings so I have to find quick easy meals. Another thing you could do (sticking with the strawberries) is heat up a couple of eggo waffles (4pts for two) and cut up some strawberries to put on top of them. I always feel like I am splurging when I have that. It's sooooo tasty!

posted 28 Jan 2010, 12:18

The Weight Watchers Plan...Guidelines to follow
Thanks for the info on calculating points...I didn't have my week one book with me to retrieve it!!! I am happy to see that people are finding the info useful!!! And one more thing to remember is to WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN!!!!! It may seem inconvenient at times but it is the best way to be honest and accountable with yourself!

posted 06 Feb 2009, 01:06

The Weight Watchers Plan...Guidelines to follow
Due to seeing quite a few people on here struggling with the plan...I find myself wondering if most of these people have actually gone to a Weight Watchers meeting and stayed for the "Orientation" of the meeting or just come across the site and decided to try to "pick up" what they can about it from reading journals and so forth...so I have decided to write down the rules that they tell you about at the orientation just in case to maybe help a few people out:

(I am not a spokes person for Weight Watchers nor do I work for Weight Watchers, I am not a health professional or anything of the like...all information below is what I have learned and you should consult a health professional before starting any diet plan.)

"POINTS"

1: You have a certain amount of points to follow per day...mine personally is 30. Everything you eat has a points value. For example: a normal piece of bread is 2 points, a packet of Quaker Oats Maple & Brown Sugar is 3 points. Water is 0, a 12 oz can of soda is 3. Every ten pounds you lose, you lose one point...18 is the minimum and 44 is the max you can have. Points are determined by your current weight, height, occupation (if you are active or sitting at a desk all day), age and gender.

2: The points value of a food is determined by the calorie, fat and fiber content of the food/beverage you are going to consume.

3: On top of your daily points you get 35 extra weekly points. You can use these in one day or spread them out over the week. Ex: Since I have almost maxed out my daily points due to a high point lunch with colleagues this afternoon, I will probably use about 7 or 8 of the 35 for dinner and save the rest for the rest of my week.

4: You can earn activity points by working out. Tonight I am going to the gym to ride the stationary bike for an hour...because of my body type and how hard I will work on the bike, I will earn 11 extra points. I can eat them or choose not to eat them, but the leader at the particular meeting I go to recommends eating about half of what you earn to keep your body from going into starvation mode...but it is NOT required...simply a recommendation.

Now the part I believe most people don't know:

GOOD HEALTH GUIDELINES

1: 6 glasses (8oz) of liquid (not to include alcohol) for hydration, water is best

2: 2 servings of dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt etc)

3: at least one serving of whole grains

4: 2 tsp healthy oil (flaxeed, olive, safflower & canola)

5: 2 servings lean protein

6: 5 servings of fruits OR veggies

7: 1 multivitamin a day

8: Limit sugar & alcohol

9: Activity - even if it is just ten minutes walking around the block get moving! Very Happy

Unfortunately, I am not the best to look to as far as my weight history goes, but when I don't lose, I KNOW why I am not losing. I fell off the program right after my husband came back from deployment and I am slowly getting back on track now. I am following my points this week and next week will begin implimenting the Good Health Guidelines. If you follow these guidelines it is almost ALWAYS guaranteed you are going to lose SOMETHING even if it is less than a pound! Keep in mind that a healthy weight loss is about 1-2 lbs per week. Good luck everyone, hope this helps out a few people! Smile

Oh and remember:

*Sometimes it takes your body a week or two to "wake up" and realize that change is happening. If you don't see results in the first week, give your body another week or two.

*Sore Muscles Retain Water! This can cause your weigh in to be different than what you expected, don't get discouraged!

*Try NOT to weigh in EVERY DAY! A Friend had to drill this into my head, but sometimes it has a negative affect on your Psyche...it did with me and I got super discouraged.

*******Please keep in mind that this post is not directed towards anyone in particular...I just wanted to post it so that it might help some people out there. It is not meant to "bad mouth" anyone who has not attended an actual meeting or to seem hypocritical in any way. Everyone struggles with weight loss including myself...just thought I would see if some people could start putting these guidelines to use as an extra "kicker" to the plan if they didn't know about them! Very Happy

*******

posted 05 Feb 2009, 17:53

Help, I can't take diet & excersize n e more
So the best advice I could probably give is double check everything you are eating. Especially your favorite foods. If you are just trying portion control for eating, make sure all of your foods are really on the core list and you are only eating until you are full. If you are watching points, you have to watch points and figure out what makes you really full, but keeps you within your points. With either method (portion control or points)...buy a food scale if you don't already have one. I never knew how much I was underestimating my points by giving myself what I thought was "a serving" of pasta. It ended up being two and I thought it was one. If you tend to try "cheat a little" and count 2.5 points as two...count it as three. Overestimate food points...underestimate activity points. That way you know you are counting and don't feel like you did SO well that week, but gained. That was one of my problems before. You have to be honest with yourself. If you have to think twice before you write it in your journal...make sure you really know what the points are. If you don't know what the points are...don't eat it. Things can definitely surprise you...and not always in a good way. Then...on the days you are not very hungry, experiment with new foods so that if you don't like them, you will be full from sampling, but not feel like you have wasted your points.

Definitely find something, as far as exercise goes, that you absolutely love doing. I am not exactly sure where you are from (I didn't look at your profile yet), but if you like country music, or even if you don't but want to try something new, see if you can find a country bar and learn the line dances...they are a blast and if you do them correctly they use SO many muscles and it is great cardio! My husband swore up and down that dancing was not a workout...I proved him wrong by going out dancing three times in one week. The other days that week, I was in the gym, walking my dogs or riding my horses...I lost FIVE pounds that week (keep in mind I had been off the program for over two weeks because I was sick, so I had skipped a weigh in). I have found that changing up your exercise routine even week to week will throw your body off and get the matabolism guessing again. I used to just do the stationary bike EVERY day for an hour. It was great at first because I was losing 2 or so pounds a week...then I would only see those .2-.5 lb losses you are talking about. I couldnt figure out what was going on. I was following WW perfectly, getting all of my good health guidelines in...working my butt off at the gym...and not seing the great weight loss I was. I got really discouraged and quit for a while. Then I started dancing a couple days a week, I would walk the dogs...then do the gym. The key to weight loss (I have found anyway) is to try new things and try not to get bored with it. Don't eat the same things over and over. Definitely make sure you get those good health guidelines in. I never knew how much they really helped until I started really following them. Go back to the "younger years" and go buy a jump rope. It is great cardio and can be really fun. Trust me, I sweat a lot too, so I know how gross it can feel. I have never had to experience an infection afterwards though, so I can see how that would have been very discouraging. I hope your doctor can assist you in figuring out a way to keep that from happening. Hopefully when that does clear up, that "red, hot, sweaty" feeling will be encouraging to you. i used to hate it...until (and I thought this was absolutely gross and still don't understand it very much) my husband said it was kind of a turn on. He said it just shows him how hard I am really working to get to a healthy weight and that I should feel good about sweating and being "flushed". Now...if I don't sweat or get red...I feel like I didn't get a good workout! I wish you the best of luck. Feel free to email me if you need any ideas for new low-point foods to try. I made a killer chicken alfredo pasta dish with salad and asparagus the other night and it was relatively low in points! Just remember that not everyone's bodies are the same. You could eat exactly what I do and gain and the same thing could happen to me if I followed what you eat. Oh...and last thing...if you just started working out and watching your weight...give the weight loss a couple of weeks to catch up with you! My husband is a firm believer that it takes two weeks for your body to reflect what you have done in the current week. I have found that most of the time it is true. Especially after the first couple of weeks because then you are done losing "water weight" and you are truly burning fat. Smile

Good luck!

posted 23 Oct 2008, 17:05

Diet Soda
I started off giving up sodas by switching to diet...it helped me out a lot and saved me a TON of points and calories. I am a soda-aholic. I was going through a twelve pack of diet soda in a week. I would have it all the time. I wouldn't recommend quitting cold turkey, but I would recommend slowly weaning yourself off of them.

I read everyone's posts above and I can tell you that I do feel less bloated now that I have given up sodas. I mostly did it because of the caffeine. I have been dealing with headaches, but it has only been at night right before bed, so I just go to sleep and then feel fine the next morning. I did find it interesting that someone had read that diet sodas make you crave bad foods...since I have given up sodas (I have only had one in the last two weeks and it was a kid's size at Applebees) I find that I really don't crave a lot of sweets. Might be a strange coincidence! I would say give it up if you have the willpower. Smile

Goodluck!

posted 03 Sep 2008, 16:58

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