Lose Some, Gain Some (Pounds)

I don't think I have ever talked about my weight loss journey on here so consider yourself warned that I'm talking about it now.

When I moved to Richmond I looked like this*:











Luckily my RVA employer participates in the Weight Watchers At Work program. So now I look like this:













In the past I went on diets and lost weight but it never stayed off for very long. My reasons for regaining the weight were: 1) I worked long hours and did not have time to pay attention to what I ate, 2) Taco Bell, and a lot of it, 3) eating late at night, 4) skipping breakfast, and sometimes lunch, because omigosh I'm so busy, and 5) maybe I'm just supposed to be fat. What I've come to find is that the reason was simple: I was in a bad relationship with food. There was a lot of miscommunication going on and the whole concept of eating balanced meals was a foreign concept. Thinking about the calories in what I was eating and drinking never even occurred to me. Joining WW was an eye opening experience. Food and I learned to talk to each and listen to what the other was saying.

I signed up for Weight Watchers and my first meeting was on June 3, 2008. In that 17-weeks, I lost 23.4 pounds. More importantly though I learned to be aware of the calories I consume and how to spread them out over the course of the day. After the 17-week session ended some co-workers and I decided to strike out on our own. We felt that now that we had this new found information that we could continue without the WW fee. We chipped in and bought a scale for the office and we weigh-in every Tuesday. We track our losses and our gains, we give each other pep talks and we talk each other down off the edge. Since going rogue, I've lost 19.4 pounds for a grand total of 42.8 pounds lost. One of my current mini-goals (because it's important to have mini-goals so that reaching the main goal doesn't seem so daunting) is to lose 10 pounds by the end of the year. September was a busy month and there were a lot of celebrations going on which means I ate a lot of cake and fancy dinners out and gained a bit more then I bargained for. All is well though, I am aware of the situation (and that's one-fourth of the battle) and am refocusing on my end of the year goal.

I'm happy with where I am (especially when I look at that first picture, it just makes me think of this) but I know I have a lot farther to go. I know I'll get there and I'm sure this past September will not be the only month when my feet hang off the back of the proverbial wagon. As long as my feet only dangle off the edge, I'm ok with whatever happens. Of course it would be preferable that they (my feet) put on a pair of sneakers and burn off some calories but that's a whole other battle.

*Sorry, I don't have full-body shots that document the loss; you'll just have to trust the cheekbones.