The Measurement Strips

The other day, as I was looking at my reflection in the window of the light rail, I realized that I do not have a clear perception of my actual size. After thinking about it I also realized that this has been one of my problems with realizing my weight loss successes in the past and if I don't get a grip on this I will once again look at myself in the mirror after having lost a huge amount of weight and think,"I'm still fat." I do not want this to be in my future so instead I am making a plan and have created a simple but effective visual tool! Here's how the measurement strips (pictured above) work:

• The blue ones are what I measured when I started this weight loss journey (no need for actual numbers here folks!)
• The yellow ones are the goal measurements that I have for myself...these were taken straight from the Anthropologie sizing chart so that I can totally wear their clothes when I'm done!
• Every day I am going to look at these measurement strips and clearly think to myself, "That is what I measured at my biggest," and then,"That is what I'm going to measure when I am done."

Here's what I'm looking at for inches to lose (from left to right in the photo):

• Bust- 16.5"
• Waist- 20"
• Hips- 16"

Here's to reality in both the present and in my future success!!!

Weigh-in #2

Today was weigh-in day and the scales revealed a loss of 2.4 pounds for a total of 6.6 pounds! I got my 5 pound sticker today, shared during the meeting and stayed after to talk with another lady about strategies for the frustrating mental conversations we all have. It was great to get all of the positive feedback and shared experience. It eased my mind a TON!

After the meeting I went to the grocery store and stocked up on a ton of fruit and vegetables! I came home and cut up everything and made it all easy to grab and eat! I even measured out some tasty cheddar popcorn for snacks!!!! It feels good to be set up for a win!

I think that this preparedness is going to be key and I am going to have to stay on top of it in order to win at this game of weight loss!

Losing it without losing "it"

Is that possible? I wonder if it is! Can I lose weight and not feel like a crazy person the entire time? The past several days have been pretty rough, emotionally. All that has been going through my head is, "Have I lost weight? I haven't! I know I haven't! I should eat chocolate! No, I shouldn't eat anything! No wait...I should eat some vegetables because they don't "count"! But then maybe I still won't lose weight! I will never be able to...or I'll lose weight and just gain it back like I have before! I need chocolate!!!!!! No, NO CHOCOLATE!!!! How long until dinner?" Ahhhhhhh!!! I seriously feel like a nut case!

This whole journey is going to be more than even I bargained for. I am not sure what tools I'm going to need to keep going. I'm sure I will collect a ton on the way. Right now I am in search of ways to retrain my brain so that I can have some peace of mind. I have several avenues to pursue for guidance and I am ever thankful for friends who send me text messages stating "Love you so much. Too much to let you fail :)" So here is a quest for you, my lovely friends, when you think of me and think, "Hey, I hope she's having a great day and totally winning!" send me a text message or an email. Any old random time!!! Really! It will really help!

Here's to losing it without losing "it"!

First Weigh-In

Today was my first official weigh-in at Weight Watchers. I stepped onto the scales with some trepidation. My week had been full of celebrations: my birthday party (cheese, bread, cheese, cheese, apple cider, and cake), Sunday dinner (cake and more delicious cheese) and Valentine's Day (dinner at Cheesecake Factory that included cream & butter in the sauce) and I was SUPER worried that all of the celebrating wouldn't give me the results I was looking for.

The numbers that I saw blew me away! I lost 4.2 pounds!!!!!! I am thrilled that my use of the online tools and paying attention to when and why I was snacking really paid off! Week number two is going to rock!!!! Today I even did a great arm workout and prepped some awesome snacks for the week!

I am also sharing what I am up to with various people in my life so that I am accountable not only to myself but to others as well. It's a brave move for me and I am proud of myself for doing what I know will make a difference for me in the long run. Tonight I was chatting with Stacey, my landlady, and she said she'd be sure to check in with me!!! That's exactly what I need, people on my team. Go team Erin!!! (That makes me think that I might need t-shirts...hmmmm...a crafty project...)

New Readers Day!

Hello gentle readers! I originally started this blog with a friend of mine who has ditched the get thin effort and this blog...so I am sharing this with you lovely folks so that you know what I'm thinking and planning and what is happening in the world of me getting "skinny"

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

E

And we're back!!!!!

So I've joined Weight Watchers...and it was with a great deal of trepidation. It took me three tries to get myself to a meeting and what I finally had to do was ask a friend to go with me, which ended up making me truly commit to going. I joined because I need more structure and support around loosing weight. I joined because I honestly had no idea what else to do. I joined because I am sick of being so fat!!!! I joined because I deserve the life I want!!!!

I am attending a meeting for people who need/want to loose more than 50 pounds. I went in thinking that I was going to have to have a huge debating conversation with some ridiculous person over how much weight I want to loose. I was wrong! I can choose what I want my final weight to be and that's all there is to it! I am SO happy about this! They also no longer read your weight out loud! They only tell you if you've lost or gained. The woman, Jayne, who leads my meetings has lost 115 pounds and passed around her "before" picture, which was astounding. It gave me a sense of relief to know that the slender woman at the front of the room understands what I am going through. I figure I'll use the meetings as a kind of therapy time and use all of the materials to my advantage! I even subscribed to their magazine.

So far I really love the internet tools. It makes keeping track of what you've eaten super easy (there's also an app on my phone.) You can even add in recipes and it will calculate the points for you. This is something that I struggle with on "diets" because I just want to cook my food and then eat appropriately but most diets make you eat weird food or not eat certain foods but WW lets you eat whatever you want, just keep within you points. They encourage you to eat more "power foods" than junky stuff and the more junk = more points but you decide what you eat! The whole points system is also causing me to think more carefully about the snacks that I'm choosing. Tonight I wanted something sweet but didn't want to hork out on ice cream, so instead I had a banana (0 points), 2 tbsp of crunchy peanut butter (5 points), and 4/5 of an ounce of some dreamy dark chocolate (2 points). It was divinely satisfying and delicious!!! There's also a rad weight tracking graph (I love me a good graph) and an exercise tracker! Super rad!!!

My weigh in day is Wednesday so I'll keep you posted on how it's going. I'll get a gold star sticker every time I loose 5 pounds and they have even broken down my total weight loss into manageable portions so that I have something that my brain can get around! Their expectation is to loose between .5 and 2 pounds a week. Most people in the 50+ pound range loose 1-2 pounds a week. Check out some of my goals:

5% = 16 pounds

10% = 32 pounds

I also made some goals for my first week...here they are:

1. Understand the WW point system
2. Loose at least 1 pound
3. Exercise 3 times

Sorry if I repeated myself here but I wanted to record everything somewhere!!! What are you up to? How are your goals coming???? Don't leave me hanging here!!!! I can't stand being the lone poster!!!!