Another great thing

I had another great thing happen this weekend.....my husband, Bryan, joined WW.  He told me a couple of months ago that he was going to join.  Every other week since then I have asked him if he wants to go with me to a meeting but his schedule has interfered most weeks.  This Saturday we woke up and I noticed that we had time to get to a  meeting.  I asked him if he wanted to go and he said yes.

As we approached the meeting room door, he asked if I was going to sign him up.  I said, "No, you are signing yourself up.  You are joining, not me.  I am not trying to push you into doing this."  He smiled and said, "I know dear."  We walked in the door, I showed him where the clipboards were and gave him a pen.  He went to the receptionist's desk and started filling it out.  The receptionist approached him with a smile on her face and said, "So she talked you in to it, huh?  I saw her give you the pen."  I really tried to stay out of it as much as possible.  I wanted to be there to support him but I really didn't want it to be me dragging him to a meeting.  I wanted it to be for him, not for me.  He has been complaining about his weight for a few years now and recently it has been getting to him more than ever.  I knew he wanted to do something about it but it's hard to make that first step.  I just wanted to make it with him for support.

After he was all signed up we went to the weigh in booth.  The meeting had already started so I just listed to the meeting while he weighed in.  He didn't know I had already weighed and gone to a meeting the day before until he offered the next weigh in spot to me.  I was happy to attend another meeting for my own sake too but my main reason for being there was for Bryan.

The weekend was wonderful.  He tracked points all weekend and controlled himself beautifully.  It was impressive, encouraging and motivating.  We had a busy weekend so there were restaurants involved.  He lived the program flawlessly.  I was excited to have him join WW because I want him to feel better about himself and lead a healthier life.  I love him and want to grow old with him.  I know that his healthy greatly depends on his food choices and weight.

I also knew that if he joined it would be easier for me to live the program too.  I saw that difference clearly this weekend.  We ate at 2 restaurants.  One of them is normally challenging for me.  It was so much easier when he was writing down his points and asking my opinion on the pointsplus value of foods and quantities.  It kept me accountable in ways I have not experienced before.  This is going to make weight loss much easier for both of us.  I am so thankful and looking forward to this new journey.  Now I have 2 meeting partners too!

Corinna

"The righteous gives good advice to friends, but the way of the wicked leads astray.  The lazy do not roast their game, but the diligent obtain precious wealth. In the path of righteousness there is life, in walking its path there is no death." -Proverbs 12:26-28

Commitment Renewed

Today I attended a WW meeting with a friend.  After my last blog my friend emailed me with her words of re-commitment and support.  While reading her email I realized that we were very much in the same place looking at some of the same struggles.  I emailed her with the recommendation that we should attend a meeting together to re-commit.

Today we went to that meeting together.  It was wonderful.  It was nice to be there with a friend who understands what I'm going through.  It was a great meeting too.  We talked about some of the things that I have been struggling with these days.......how to eat foods you love and still control your weight.  I think this is one of the hardest things to do when losing and maintaining weight.  Who wants to deprive themselves to lose weight?  Deprivation is what keeps us from losing weight because we eventually give in to the temptation.

I'm happy to report that after meeting my friend today and participating in the WW meeting I feel completely renewed.  I'm looking forward to continuing this journey.  I'm also looking forward to making it feel new.

Corinna

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." -2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Commitment

I am the kind of person who holds a commitment as a very high priority. When my kids join a team they are expected to get to every practice and game that they can.  When they don't feel like going I remind them that they made a commitment and they will stick to it.  I feel the same way when it is my team too.

I belong to the choir at my church.  When life is spiraling out of control at home with our crazy schedule I often want to skip choir practice.  In fact, my 13-year-old son recently reminded me one night when I told him that we were going to skip practice that night that "we made a commitment and the choir is counting on us.  It's not right to skip."  He was right.  I went that night and was happy that I did.  I was a part of the choir and being a good example to my son at the same time.

Commitment is very important to me.  This makes me question my commitment to my weight goals. I've been pondering what it is that I am lacking lately.  I've decided that it's commitment.  I attend my WW meetings many weeks but not all.  I track my food intake some days but not all.  I stick to my PointsPlus Allowance some days but not all.  I track my exercise some days but not all.  This lack of commitment is making me struggle.

When I was new to the WW program I was committed 99%.  I never missed a weekday of tracking.  Yes, sometimes I would not track on the weekends but I just decided that I had used my weekly extra points over the weekend with my no tracking and would get right back in the game on Monday.  I lost weight that way so it worked.  Okay, now that I am typing this I realize that this must not have been true because my weight tracker has a number of weeks when I did not lose weight and a some gains too.  I guess I didn't always get right back on Monday, but most of the time I did.

Right now I'm not even close to most of the time.  I'm about 30%.  Yikes! To put a number on it like that makes me realized just how sad my commitment is right now.  I would be disheartened if my kids scored a 30% in their schoolwork.  Why is it okay for me to give 30%?  Well, quite frankly, it's not.  It's not okay and that's why I'm just not feeling good about my efforts these days.  I'm not happy with myself and now that I told all of  you, I'm downright mad at myself.  I've been fooling myself lately saying, "Oh, go easy on yourself.  Who cares? Take some time off of worrying about it."  Where is that getting me?  That is not what I need right now. What I need is commitment.

So here goes.  You have my commitment.  I will commit to making this work better.  I will commit to my weight goals.  I will commit to making myself a priority too. I'm tired of waffling.  I'm ready for commitment!

After Picture

I can't stand seeing myself in pictures.

Don't get me wrong.  I don't mind being in pictures. I'm not one of those people who runs away from the camera.  Taking pictures is part of life and part of our memory keeping process.  Even when I was at my heaviest, I didn't hide from the camera.   I didn't run to it, but I didn't run away from it either.  I will admit that before I lost my weight the picture Christmas cards were of the kids only.  Now, we take family pictures for the card on most years.

Recently, I spoke at a homeschool conference. After I agreed to speak at the conference I was asked for a picture and a biography that could be put on the conference website.  "No problem," I thought "I'll just have the kids take a picture of me and email it over."  Every day for a week I had my kids and my husband taking pictures of me with our digital camera.  We probably took 10- 20 pictures a day and I didn't like any of them.  I didn't realize that is would be so hard to take a decent picture. My kids and husband would show me all the ones they liked and I couldn't stand any of them. It's amazing how hard I am on myself when others think I'm  just fine......but that's a topic for another blog. Anyway, here is the picture that I finally let on the website.  I still think it has a lot to be desired but it was one of the only ones that I would agree to let people see.  I thought I would put it here so you could get a good look at how I have changed since the before picture that I posted on my previous post.

Corinna

"For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well." - Psalm 139:13-14