Another Try Fulfilled

Not long ago, I shared my personal struggle with weight loss. When I began toward the end of January, I had a profound sense of motivation which carried me through until June. I began to struggle as I tried to balance healthy eating habits with real life. A trip home meant lots of delicious food and lets not forget about random happy hours with friends. Food is a pillar of our culture, especially for celebrations. And for some reason, I was craving peanut butter but found it too high in calories and fat to buy it. This deprived feeling does not encourage dieting. I was about to jump off the wagon, but fortunately Jesus answered my prayers as described in "Testify" and "Another Try."

I have wonderful news to share. Through Jesus Christ (as my will is entirely too weak), I lost 5 pounds in the past 2 weeks. I have lost a total 30.6 pounds! I finally made it to 30, a feat I've been trying to achieve since June.

How did I do it? I'm not completely sure!

I did pig out on Tuesday during a meeting. Trader Joe's makes these chocolate covered fruits, and they must be sprinkled with crack. Furthermore, I ate pizza 4 times last week (3 of the times were in a row). I convinced my supporting boyfriend to order a plain pizza at Blind Lady Ale House (cheese and basil); the next day, I fixed english muffin pizzas for brunch (mine were veggie); an impromptu dinner invitation yieled more pizza (goat cheese with either proschutto and arugula or chorizo). Sunday I gathered with my supper club and ate delightful things related to our first kiss. I left feeling very full. A feeling I do not feel as often since I began my journey with Weight Watchers. Monday, I gathered with my community group to watch the Chargers (lose); we ordered a 28 inch pizza, half sausage, half pepperoni. I brought a salad, but still ate 3 pieces. And, I forgot to mention eating vermicelli with chicken at a Vietnamese restaurant on Sunday for lunch.

For most of the week, I wrote down what I ate and calculated the extra points. Of course, by Sunday I knew my extra points were gone. I jogged twice on Thursday and once on Sunday and once Tuesday. Honestly, I expected weight gain.

One thing that has helped me adopt tracking points as a lifestyle change is to guess points values when I eat out. Before, I would just skip it because I did not know. It's better for me to guess, even if I underestimate, so I take away some of my extra points. It's all about planning. I'll add more veggies to lunch, so they can also be snacks. I choose when I splurge on calories and try to eat less points on days I'm dining out. Note I did not say eat less. I eat plenty. To lower my overall points intake, I bring extra veggies and fruit along with my main dish for lunch. Breakfast is easy since I often eat veggies and fruit with whatever I'm eating. For example, today I'm scrambling an egg (2 points) with onion, pepper, avocado (1/4 is 2 points), and salsa. I'm frying zucchini in non-stick cooking spray and eating 1 cup worth of grapes (1 point). BAM a filling breakfast for 5 points. I have 21 points per day with 35 extra points for the entire week.

Well I did not intend for this to become more of a how-to, but I'm really excited about my avocado. Like peanut butter, avocados are a treat. Side note about peanut butter, I had not realized how large 1 tablespoon is, so I've been able to use butter AND peanut butter on Eggo low fat waffles.

Sometimes I felt like I needed to eat at home in order to lose weight, but this week has shown me that I can live a "normal" lifestyle and still lose weight.

Feeling further encouraged, I'm ready for this week, because now I accept the challenge of maintaining the 30 pounds I've lost or losing even more. I am 15 pounds away from my goal weight, which is based upon the Body Mass Index. I've learned that I can still enjoy everything I like as long as I balance it with healthy options. I need to limit myself or I lose control. Thanks for your support, and praise to Jesus for truly renewing me inside and out.