Jenn's Losing It

Shift your thinking to overcome weight-related negativity. In the meeting room the first week of August we discussed Weight related stigmas and discrimination. "Have you ever faced Weight stigma?  If you suspect that your body size has negatively affected how someone views or thinks about you or you have been called a hurtful name because of your weight then the answer is yes." "Weight stigma can come from anyone- a loved one, a coworker, your doctor, even a passerby. What makes this form of stigma unlike others is that we might believe it's true, BLAMING ourselves for being stigmatized rather than the person who was unkind to us. Some people affected by stigma turn to food to cope, for others it chips away at their self esteem." I know for me that my doctor was the biggest offender of weight stigma. I have been battling with hypothyroidism for several years now. I often felt like my medication levels weren't correct and that was sta...

There's no better time to enjoy them than at their peak! Going into the first week of August we talked about eating your veggies and fruits. But more than just "eat more veggies" and "eat more fruits". We discussed that even though fruits and veggies are zero point foods that doesn't mean that they're "free". During our meeting our leader brought up a great point- when you call something "free", most of us are programmed to go overboard, because it's free right?! Except it's not really free. Those fruits and veggies that some of us stopped counting (because they're zero) still have calories and sugar. But as we also discussed-grabbing that extra piece of fruit is better than that bag of chips or sleeve of cookies you may have been eating before.  Because if we're honest none of us joined Weight Watchers or any other weight loss program because we ate too much fruit or veggies. It's all about balance. If ...

Choose physical activity that you enjoy- It can help you succeed at weight loss! In the meeting room during the last week of July we talked about focusing on fun. Making your movement goals by doing things you enjoy rather than by doing what you think you should do. My leader gave a great example of how to have fun while earning fit points, she had us all stand up and we did the hokey pokey! It proved that just having fun or doing something silly still counts as earning activity points. We all traded stories about the last time we "had fun" or "played". For some it was gardening, furniture restoration or another hobby. For others like myself, it was doing things with our children. I gave the example of a family hike or walk and playing with James (my youngest) in the sprinkler. The Weight Watchers Weekly on this topic reminds you to "Move the way you love! Swapping an it's good for me mentality for an it feels good to me mentality...

A day late, I totally missed Sunday!  I'm on vacation mode.  We're in Maine on our annual family vacation.  We picked a really cute house that is large enough to accommodate my family of four, my sister's family of three and my other sister and in-laws will be coming for a short stay towards the end of our ten day adventure. When I left the house I said goodbye to my scale for the next ten days too!  I'm also going to take a break from tracking.  I will continue to post my meals as usual so I have some sort of an idea when I look back on what I ate.  My goals are simple for vacation.  Eat the best I can (I'm not cooking most of the time and sharing with people that eat very differently), not stressing if I make a less than great food choice, get 10K or more steps per day and drink water...plenty of water!  We have kayaks available all week and I'm looking forward to spending more time on the water using them.  I'm not allowed to do any sw...

"You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf" ~Jon Kabat-Zinn In the meeting room during the third week of July we discussed mindfulness. Mindfulness is defined as being aware of the here and now. That's it. Awareness. Without judgement, no good or bad labels. "In a way, it's taking yourself off autopilot, which can help you keep your goals top of mind. " "Being more mindful can boost your well-being, optimism and self esteem. It can help you more easily see the positive changes (off and on the scale) that you've made happen with your healthier food and activity choices."  Mindfulness is also useful to help you manage negative emotions such as stress, sadness, anxiety and so on without turning to food to cope. An exercise that is given in the Weight Watchers Weekly is "Just Breathe". 1. Sit comfortably with your eyes closed. Inhale deeply and slowly through your nostrils, hold for two seconds...

Sunday morning in the Weight Watchers meeting room one of the things we talked about is how you aren't determined by the number on the scale or in your clothes. Those numbers don't define you and shouldn't be the cause for you to "wait until you've reached that so called magic number". My leader caught me agreeing to all that she said and put me out there. I responded with some painful truth for me. When I hit my goal weight in 2010/2011, I didn't find that pot of happiness at the end of the journey and at the time I couldn't tell you why. I couldn't tell you why until just recently. Now don't get me wrong, I had some other things going on around this time that added to my misery but my weight loss "let down" was from other choices. I'll roll back to the beginning. My original "weight loss why", the reason I started my journey was "To do something for me, put myself first". Nathan was born in the summer ...

So I'm still in the recovery stage of having gallbladder surgery. I met with the surgeon for my follow up, he said I'm healing well and I have no dietary restrictions. But I'm land bound for the next four weeks along with no lifting over 10lbs. It came as a setback for me because I really thought I'd be cleared to go swimming while I'm on vacation but I understand the reasoning as to why (I'm healed externally but internally I'm still healing and swimming it soaking could cause a reversal of external healing). I definitely don't want that! So I'm allowed to go boating and anything else I feel up to. I had planned on trying kayaking for the first time. Food wise, I'm just learning what works best for my body right now. I learned ice cream and I have to break up (which we were in a dicey relationship before this anyway) and sweets aren't really my friend either. The doctor tells me that at the six week mark things should all feel back to...

Socialize Smart with Weight Watcher's tips for estimating portions away from home! During the second week of July we discussed attending parties and the like in the meeting room. Because let's face it, it's that time of year. We're all heading to BBQ s more often than ever! For me mid July is the biggest. My boys have birthdays one month apart so we do one big family barbecue for them and they each get a cake. So lots of tasty food followed by my favorite cake!  In prior years I just ate until I could explode and chalked it up to a once a year experience. This year I was more mindful when it came to my eating. My original plan was to go easy on the food and save cake for the next day - as the party was Saturday afternoon and my weigh in day is Sunday morning. Instead I went for plan b. I ate in moderation and had some cake. The scale wasn't in my favor, but I'm also sure that it could have been much worse. On Sunday I ate my heart out and fin...