A new lifestyle

Week One of my Lifestyle....

I cannot remember how many times I have been on (or off) some kind of diet.  I remember the first time my mom told me I should join Weight Watchers with her....It was the summer between my freshman and sophomore year of High School....And I feel like I've been up and down since then.  In my own, personal, "professional" opinion, I would say that at the time, I really didn't need to be on a "diet."  I was on the Varsity Swim Team, Summer Stroke Clinic and I was working to get my Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do / Kenpo.....I wouldn't necessarily say that I was idle.  But I think that my mom's goal then was to teach me what I needed to eat to maintain a good healthy weight.  In any case, I didn't realize at the time what was going on, and thus began my lifestyle of yo-yo diets.  There have been times in my life that I got my weight down, and I looked great, but it never lasted. 

At the beginning of April, we bought new road bikes, and it was when we started going out for rides on the bike path that I realized how out of shape I was.  I used the excuse of a torn PCL in my right knee to allow myself to stop exercising and stop paying attention to my health.  A few weeks ago, I finally hit my breaking point.  I saw myself clearly for the first time in a very long time, and realized that something needed to change.  But I couldn't just go on a diet to lose weight, I needed to make a lifestyle change.  I needed to really direct my focuses on being healthy. 

I knew that going on some kind of crash diet would end up in another failure....They never work.  My friend at work convinced me to join Weight Watchers at Work with her (The new Points Plus Program).  I have shyed away from WW at Work for the sole reason that in the past, only the most annoying people on the planet would go to the meetings (and whine about how they can't lose weight even though they ate ice cream out of the carton the night before)....And the leader was this incredibly obnoxious hag who would only talk about Pete Cardi.  But she convinced me it was different now.

So far, I've been to two meetings.  My first meeting, with my initial weigh in, and my first weigh in.  I'm down 5.8 lbs.  Personally, I think this is really just because before the inital meeting, I drank an iced coffee, but who really knows?  A few of the people are still annoying, but I'm making the meeting my own.

Changes I've implemented thus far:

• Buying copious amounts of fruit on a weekly basis, including watermelon, canteloupe, blueberries,  and strawberries....And actually eating it.
• Yogurt.  It really is delicious, and I stopped eating it for about 5 years.  I bought some last week and remembered that I love it.  My goal is to buy yogurt with a low amout of sugar, and a high amount of taste.
• Gluten Free cereal.  As in rice chex.  They're delicious with blueberries. 
• Salad.  I used to buy it and let it go bad.  Now I buy it and eat it.
• Fat Free Half and Half and Splenda.  The first day that I started WW, the very first thing I did was calculate the number of points in a Medium Iced Coffee with Milk and Sugar.  The final number:  6!!!  Can you say RIDICULOUS?  Now, if I insist on stopping at Dunkin', I get it with skim milk and splenda (2 points), or I make it at home (2 points).  Either way, it's a great alternative.  And I get to put those other points to something else.

Finally, the other change I made was to not cut everything out.  In the past, I cut out everything I love, and then went and binged on it later (and look at me now).  Last weekend, we went to the Newport Chower Cook-Off, and I had 20 mini cups of chowder.  But I had a healthy breakfast and a healthy dinner, so I knew it would be okay.  It's only been about a week and a half, but I already feel like I have a better handle on what I can eat, what I should eat.

Sunday we took our road bikes to the test and rode in the Tour de Cure to raise money for the American Diabetes Association.  We thought about riding the 15 mile, but after riding on Saturday in about 55 minutes, we decided to take on the 30 mile (which was 14 miles longer than our longest ride).  Needless to say, we finished in under 2 hours.  Exercise is key.  I'm finally getting it.  And not overeating just because I exercised, is even more key.

So far, so good.  I'm excited to continue the progress.