The Breakthrough

On occasion, when a topic pops into my mind to blog about, I write the subject line down and eventually come back to it. Two weeks ago, I wrote two words, “The Breakthrough”. I was tired of the plateau I was on and decided to kick things up a notch. I made the decision to really crack down on what I was eating and drinking and to increase the intensity of my exercise. And voila- results!

Something my Weight Watcher’s leader said in our meeting that morning made perfect sense. Sometimes people say “this program is not working for me” but in reality, they are not working the program. If you follow the Weight Watcher’s program, even tweaking it to meet your needs and lifestyle, it works!

Over the past two weeks, I dropped 4.1 pounds. I am officially down 24 pounds and am at a weight I haven’t seen since 2004. Yah-freakin-hoo-doo-dle-dee-doo! So how did I jumpstart my weight loss again?

I was extremely mindful about the quality of foods I put in my body, going for whole unprocessed foods (when possible).  I switched out my beloved white bread to white whole grain bread (baby steps, couldn’t jump right to wheat). ;) I made sure I had more dairy and was hitting my water quota. I only ate out twice, one time I made wise choices and the other time I had pizza and fries (hey, you have to live a little). I made sure we had ample healthy groceries in the house. I only had 1-2 point or 0 point snacks after dinner.  I paid close attention to the extra calories I was drinking, and I dusted off my favorite Weight Watcher’s cookbook and went back to some stand-by recipes. Folks, this is nothing earth shattering, but small changes lead to big results (long term).

I also cranked up my fitness. When I walk on the treadmill, I usually walk 3.0 to 3.2 MPH. Over the past two weeks, I’ve done small cardio bursts on the treadmill, walking 3.0 then fast walking 3.7. I also started wogging at the Y with my hubby Nate. Wogging? Walking and jogging of course.  I have been afraid to try jogging because I have two bad knees. I had tendonitis in both knees in high school and wasn’t sure I could ever jog again. So for most of my life, to save my knees, I’ve been doing low impact cardio. But I thought, let me test the waters a bit. I started out walking the Y track and jogging 1 lap and I’ve slowly increased my laps to jogging 8 which equals a half a mile. Jogging a half a mile and my knees still feel great, I’ll take it. I’m hoping that I can continue to increase my jogging because Nate used to run 5K’s and I’d love to be able to run with him someday- we’ll see.

All in all, it’s been a fantastic two weeks. Being able to up my weight loss while trying to manage the pre-Christmas chaos, multiple kids’ sports activities and working a lot of hours hasn’t been easy, but it’s been worth it!

Ask for help, make a choice, commit to the choice and continue with courage.

Hugs and friendship,

Tara