Starting Over

As I entered my last year in my 20's and my 5th year living in Florida, I decided it was time for a lifestyle change. I have always been overweight, not obese but overweight. After college, I was at my highest weight 195, and made a lifestyle change. I joined Weight Watchers and worked out and lost 40 pounds. I then got lazy again and slowly the scale started creeping up again. It never got back to that highest weight but it was higher than I wanted it. 

This fall I left my job as a teacher and embarked on a new career in the corporate world. It was a huge change that impacted not only my professional life but also my personal life. I found my self back in old habits of stress eating and emotional eating. I know this is not healthy. So I decided to once again do something for me. I decided to rejoin Weight Watchers and get myself healthy again. On Wednesday, September 3, 2014 I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting and prepared myself for my new start. I weighed in at 174.2 which was almost 20 pounds above the weight I was at when I achieved Lifetime Member at Weight Watchers. I prepared myself for their Simple Start program, as opposed to tracking points. My mom is also working the Simple Start program and we decided to be each other's support system from far away (She is in Chicago and I am in Fort Lauderdale). 

I started with trying different options for breakfast through the week. I found that my favorite was the Weight Watchers shake with coffee and a banana all blended together. I drank this and ate a hard boiled egg, I find that if I don't eat protein in the morning I am hungry about 5 minutes later. I spent a large amount of time looking to see what was a power food and what I would have to use my 7 points a day for. I spent a lot of time the following Sunday preparing veggies for the week. I cooked beets to have on salads, cut up peppers and carrots to have as a snack and organized the fridge so I could see the Power Foods. It was a good week! I felt confident in my food choices. 

I then did something I have never done. I joined a gym. I got a 3 day guest pass to LA Fitness by work. I chose the one by work because I can go right after work, which lessens my risk of getting home and not wanting to go. I had wanted to go back to a Zumba studio but found that it had closed down. I started at LA Fitness on Monday with a Step plus Abs class. It was a great work out! I then followed it with a Zumba class on Tuesday. Wednesday was the day of truth...weigh in day. I lost 1.8 pounds in the first week. It had me looking forward to continuing this journey. I am excited about feeling better about myself and one day having a great before and after photo to share with you!

Week one Weight loss!