Tuesday, February 13, 2007

"We're Not Using the Zed-Word"

Okay, so some of you might be feverish with anticipation about how the Weight Watchers thing is going. And yes, this is not going to become Catholic SlimMonkey anytime soon. But I do think that it is useful for folks to hear that everyone has something to work on in order to get their lives in order.

I weighed in the first week after being very good and very conscious of what I was eating. I stepped on the scale and the news came back none to stellar. I gained the first week. The group leader did her best to reassure me that this is normal, that the body rebels against the first changes and therefore stores some extra weight. I went up 3.3 lbs. I was really crushing, but then and there I decided that I was going to "just keep swinging." This has becoming my new motto.

So, went back to what I was doing, I paid attention to all my hunger and fullness signs and plugged along.

I go back to the center for my 2nd week weigh-in and got quite a little shock. Yes, like Val Kilmer in "Real Genius": "As I was making my preparation for hari-kari, I made a discovery." Let me assure you that this discovery out does the ability to lase a stick of dynamic by freezing xenon in an argon matrix. (Poseur Flim Dorks need not apply.)

I dropped weight, quite a little bit of weight. I was so shocked that at first I didn't hear the number, so I asked for confirmation. I lost 7.6 lbs. this week. I burst out with an ecstatic "boo-yah!" and sat down to enjoy my meeting.

Now, before you bombard me with emails about not to get too excited, please spare yourselves the effort. I have been on enough weight programs to know that spikes and fluxes are normal at the beginning. The real effort comes when you plateau although I suspect that is not on the immediate horizon. Either way, with this week's weight loss, that brings my losses back to the acceptable 2 lbs/week.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is very exciting and something to definitely blog about. Keep us informed of your progress and even when you have those bad weeks, keep us updated because I think the majority of us would love to encourage you!

Ellen said...

Congrats. I feel your hunger pains. I go to WW tomorrow morning. Knowing that someone else is going to weigh me gives me the incentive to work at losing.

Hang in there and try your best.

Anonymous said...

Father, I went on Weight Watchers at the end of 1998 and through 1999 I went from 276 pounds to under 200.

I lost so much weight, I had to resize my wedding ring (it kept falling off), and my face thinned out so much, one bank official didn't believe I was the person pictured in my driver's license.

The keys, I found, were this:

(1) Write EVERYTHING down. Let no thing be unwritten, even if you log just half a point for the entry.

(2) Drink water, then drink some more, and then drink some more. If you have to go to the bathroom eighteen times a day, then do it. I used to carry a water bottle with me everywhere.

(3) Eat your veggies FIRST. And eat as many as you can. (This one isn't crucial, but I found it to help.)

(4) Find out what high-point foods you like, and don't give them up. Just plan around them. I did not give up blue cheese dressing. I did measure it out, and I found a way to make sure it got spread out over all my salad, but I didn't give it up.

(5) If you have a bad day, DON'T beat yourself up. In fact, you should write it all down anyway. That way, you can see what a 100 point day looks like. And, I should add, I found that I could have one bad day a week with no ill effects.

(6) Buy one of the Weight Watchers cookbooks and use it. Find a few easy things to make, and do them.

(7) Avoid the negative-nellies at the meetings. Don't listen to or talk to them, unless it is to offer encouragement.

(8) Exercise. I started small (real small), and by the time I was done, I was running something like 7 miles at a clip.

Fr. S.T. said...

Sharon:
Many folks, myself included, eat way too fast and therefore eat way too much. Your body will send signals about when to eat and when to stop eating. That's what I was paying attention to. Rather than waiting for the right hour to eat, I would stop eat if it was becoming clear virtual starvation was eminant. I hope that helps.

Christine the Soccer Mom said...

The one commenter who mentioned the WW cookbooks is right. They are helpful. The best one (if you're busy, esp.) is their five ingredient, 15 minute cookbook. I use it all the time, and the recipes are pretty easy. I've also gotten hooked on using my crockpot and love the Fix It and Forget It Lightly cookbook.

I'm proud of you! And you are inspiring me to go back to counting my points again. (I am a bit over my goal weight, which I held steadily for more than two years.)

Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

Hello.
I am a new reader. I wanted to offer my services. I have a degree in Kinesiology, a personal training certification from the NSCA and I am a NASM Performance Enhancement Specialist. If you want any workout ideas or tips let me know. It can get tough to stay enthusiastic. My biggest advice...don't forget to warm-up and cool down with stretching. It's just like prayer; persevering even though results are not immediately apparent.

A warrior for Christ in BODY, mind and soul,

NMH
Austin, Texas

Cathy_of_Alex said...

Father: SlimMonkey does not have the same important, yet ominous, connotation that Ragemonkey does.

"Hey, I'm Father (H or T )of Catholic SlimMonkey here to teach the Faith"

Nope, doesn't work.

Keep up the effort. I've been there. You can do it!

Repentant Pharisee said...

I began WW last week as well. Down 3.8 lbs on my first return weigh-in, and I'm finding it very difficult to eat all the points I'm supposed to! Last night, DW made filet mignon. We split an 8 oz. filet, and I was fine with about 3 oz (after trimming fat).

Eat as many veggies as you can. I recommend having a bag of baby carrots always handy. They make for an excellent snack/filler/fiber source.

One thing which is very important is that you eat all of the points you are assigned. If you get within a few points, that's great, but if you just finished dinner and you still have eight or nine points left, don't make the mistake of thinking you'll lose more weight by consuming under your target. The point target is designed to keep the calorie count at a level which enables continual metabolization. In past efforts, when I tried to eat less than what was assigned, I gained weight on return weigh-ins, and would ultimately give up.