Some Progress

I have mentioned before that I have been doing Weight Watchers since early January and I wanted to share a quick post of my progress with the hopes that it will inspire others to start/continue/contemplate a weight loss program of their choosing. Now first I must say that Weight Watchers has not sponsored this post or given me any compensation to endorse their program. I have participated in WW before a few years back and it worked so I chose to use it again. That's it, plain and simple.

Also I don't want to get into my struggles with weight, body image, self-esteem or anything about my "journey" to my goal weight. It's not that I don't want to share that with you.There are SO many of these stories out there, you've heard it a thousand times on Oprah or the Biggest Loser, Ricky Lake (haha, "Go Ricki!"), any magazine and countless blogs. I think we are saturated with the reasons why people choose to change their eating habits but it all comes down to one thing, the need to change. That's what it was for me and that's all there really is to it. 

So I have been slowly loosing weight and have been keeping it off for 3.5 months and I feel much better overall. Again I say I have slowly lost weight and I think this is part of the success and why I want to keep going. I do indulge now again with my favorite guilty foods and I do still drink alcohol from time to time. But now I plan for those splurges by eating better the rest of the time. Before, every day was a splurge!  I saw a commercial for WW the other day with Jennifer Hudson and she said something along the lines of that she has been successful with the program not because she doesn't indulge in her favorite foods, it's because she does indulge that she is successful (in moderation of course). 

Here is a before and after. I am not sure if you can really tell that I have lost weight but I am down 17 lbs so far. I am tall-ish 5"7, so I can gain and lose a few pounds without others really noticing; but I notice!

Before

This was taken right before Christmas 2012, when I saw this picture all I could think was "what the hell happened!"

After

This was taken Friday April 19th 2013. Now I know I am posing more to the side in this picture compared to the before but I still think it shows the progress I have made.

I should say that this weight loss is entirely diet driven. I have not done regular exercise this entire time. But I will begin to walk/run again as the weather is getting nicer. I am more of an outdoor activity person then a gym person. I took the dogs for a walk on Sunday and it was so fun! I will do that more often now as I have plateaued and I will need to burn more calories then I am taking in to get over that hump.

If you wish to share your thoughts on weight or struggles that you have had please leave a comment or send me a message. Just because I have chosen not to divulge my history with weight (I may at some point) doesn't mean I don't want to hear yours!