Healthy You Challenge Check In

This week I have joined the Healthy You Challenge!! I have never joined a group like this before but something tells me that it's going to be good support, and lots of motivation for me and I hope to be of good support to others as well :)

This past Saturday (my weigh in days) I lost 3 lbs. which is a good loss although I was hoping for a much bigger number but I have to remember that losing the weight slowly is the most healthiest and best way to lose it. Sometimes I get impatient with the numbers on the scale but I teaching myself that I can't just focus on what the scale tells me , that I also have to focus on doing what is good for me which is :

*Eating Healthy
*Excercising
*Drinking plenty of water
*Self-Positive talk
*Taking my multi-vitamin & Herbs

This is a new week and so far I have done very well with keeping within my weight watcher points, and not only doing that but also eating my healthiest. The one thing I have learned about weight watchers is you can eat anything you want and still lose the weight as long as you stay within the points of the program (at least I can) but this year I have not only committed to losing at least 100 lbs. but I have also committed to eating my healthiest!! I was never really big on eating "healthy" until I decided to embark on this journey. I used to hate eating "healthy" , but now I can't get enough of it :) This is a total lifestyle change for me and in the begining it was one big struggle after another , but now it's become a habit for life :)

Weigh In Day :)

Well today is my second weekly weigh in , and I am proud to announce that I have lost 3 lbs. :) Not a big loss but it's a loss and I am proud of it and j ust very excited that I am losing steadily each week so far. I have to admit that I thought I was going to have a gain this week because last

night I ended up having a piece of pizza and I did go a little over my daily points but what I did was I ate a salad with it , and that is something that I would have never done in the past so I am proud of myself for having self-control and self-discipline with that. I am slowly learning that I can still have the foods I love as long as they are the correct portion sizes, and as long as I play it smart and stay within my points :) This year is definantly going to be different and I can just feel it , somehow I just know that I am going to make my long-term goal of losing 100 lbs by this time next year and that is exciting just thinking about it!!

Some things I have done to help myself stay motivated and to help myself see that hard work does pay off in the end is putting up my "thin" pictures where I can see them and telling myself that I will look like that again :) It has really been helping me, especially when I go to the fridge to eat, and then I see that picture of me on the fridge and I tell myself , "Now Michelle are you eating because your truly hungry or are you doing it out of emotion", and when I evaulate it like that it makes so much more sense to me and I make a good decision....God it feels good to be in control of my eating habits :) In the past I would eat out of pure pleasure and just mindlessly eat and not even think about how many calories I was consuming and now I think about the consequences of eating a whole gallon of icecream , or eating a whole cheesecake and now I much rather reap the rewards of eating correctly than to overeat :)

The one thing I like about Weight Watchers is they teach you that you don't have to deprive yourself of your "favorite" foods , they teach portion control , and you don't have to count calories because they have done the work for you and you just count points and I love it because it makes it so much easier for me and my busy life!! Right now I am doing the WW plan online and on my own and so far I have done well with it and I believe that is because I have a good support system with friends, family, online friends, and also my boyfriend has been a real support and is a good motivater (being a retired police officer he is a very good motivater :) )

Not only am I losing weight but I am feeling really good physically and I believe that is because I am eating very healthy and leaving out alot of sugar, and sweets. Don't get me wrong I do have "sweets" when I crave them because I feel that if I don't allow myself that freedom then I will end up depriving myself and having the possibility of binging on it later, I just limit how much "sweets"I have and that has made a big difference in my weight loss efforts. I don't do well on high carb foods and I stay completley away from the "bad" carbs and that has really helped me. Life is looking better everyday :)

Trying hard and it's paying off/ Long-term goals!!

I am trying so hard and it's paying off :) I tend to weigh myself way to much , and when I am losing that is fine but when I am at a stand still then it's setting myself up for failure!! So I am trying to train myself only to weigh myself at weigh in's only (which are Saturdays for me). I did great with eating yesterday so I am proud of myself and so far today I have done well ....of course I have only eaten breakfast and it's still early but I know I am going to do well with eating today :) I won't allow myself to mess up!! I am probably the hardest person on myself but it's not a bad thing , it's a good thing as long as I stay positive on myself and lose the negative talk.

Emotional wise I am doing well today , which is good since I am a bad emotional eater, but this year I made a committment to try not to eat when I am emotional ....instead I will journal in my blog here, call a friend or my boyfriend and talk about my feelings , or keep myself busy somehow so I won't eat out of emotions. It's hard for me because my job gives me access to a kitchen all day long therefore I have to really discipline myself to eat correctly, stay within my weight watcher points, and stay positive :) On WW I am never hungry , that is one thing I like about the plan, and eating high protein/low carb along with counting my points really has helped me to stay fuller longer , and not feel like I am starving. I also eat mini meals every 3 to 31/2 hours ....which keeps my blood sugar levels balanced and that helps too.

I am excited about watching "The Biggest Loser" tonite :) I am addicted to that show and it really keeps me motivated watching it. This year I started watching the new season from the start which aired on New Year's Eve , and I have kept up with it each week (every Tuesday). So it's kind of like I am losing weight with them and that is neat. I think that this season is interesting because they have "couples" losing weight togather , it's a different twist and the best season yet. Last week the group voted out the brown colored shirts couple and I thought that was really sad because they were there for thier health , of course all the couples there this season seem to be there for thier health but this couple was really desperate to stay so it was sad to see them go , but I think that they will continue the program from home because they really got an eye opener of how bad they were eating. But I can't wait for tonite's episode :)

I wanted to write out some of my long-term Goals here :

* Of course the #1 long term goal is to lose 100 pounds by this time next year :)

* To have all of my weight off by Jan 2010, which is two years and I think that is reasonable although I might get it off quicker than that which will be fine too :)

* To not only get the weight off but to get physically fit and toned...of course I know it won't be like when I was 20 lol , but I want my body to look good and I want to be physically fit as much as possible at my age (34 years) :)

Losing Weight In 2008

This is my year!! I am on a journey to lose 100+ pounds and I have made this the year to do just that. Since this is the first post of this weight loss blog I will introduce myself and tell you my story. My name is Michelle and I have alot of weight to lose thus the reason why I have started this blog. I need some motivation and I thought this would be good for that. I never had a weight problem until I turned 25 years old, and I never saw the weight coming on, I guess I was in denial therefore I just ignored the problem and before I knew it I was at my highest weight of 430 lbs.

I finally came to the realization that I needed to do something about my weight before it literally killed me. I knew I was fat and I knew I had to do something about it, so 18 months ago I decided to join weight watchers to get the weight off. To my surprise I did very well and I lost 30 lbs and I was so proud of myself for that , even though it was not alot of weight off , at least I was losing and not gaining. I continued weight watchers and lost another 55 lbs by Thanksgiving 2007 , but then the holidays hit and I have been at 345 lbs ever since :( I didn't gain any weight over the course of the holiday season but I have not lost any more since. So this New Year is the year for me to lose at least 100 lbs .....if I can accomplish that I will be happy!

Some things that I need to work on:

* I am an emotional eater and now that I have finally admitted that I am now ready to work on it. I have to concentrate on remembering not to "eat" when I am emotional ....my Motto is going to be "I need to EAT TO LIVE, NOT LIVE TO EAT!!!

* I need to concentrate on abiding by my "points" with weight watchers. Alot of times I forget to add up the little points such as points for salad dressing, butter ect....and those points can really add up ....so I have to watch that and get better at adding all of my points up and not forgetting the condiments and such.

I am going to stick to a high protein/Low Carb diet along with counting my points on the Weight Watchers diet. I love WW , and I have lost 85 lbs with WW so far therefore I want to stick to what works , but I want to stick to high protein/Low Carb along with WW ....so I will be eating healthy meaning lots of veggies, salads, lean chicken, fish, and leaving out the "BAD" carbs :) I am on my way ...Wish me luck!!!