Weight Watchers Journey

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I came to the realisation last night that I've known My Opoes for a little over eleven years, we'll celebrate nine years of marriage in July and I've also been a full-time mummy for eight years. Early on in our relationship I spent time organising what I was going to wear out, what shoes would work best and should I wear a little bit of make up or nothing at all. We got engaged a year after our first date and from that moment on my focus shifted to other more important things e.g. organising a wedding, babies, kindy, planning holidays, school, errands etc I have spent the last ten years putting myself last, getting on with things so that everyone else is taken care of. Now I know I'm not alone in thinking like this (putting myself last) but I've decided 2013 is going to be the year I start taking care of myself.

It's funny but when you write it down, saying that you are going to start looking after yourself sounds selfish. I believe that if I don't start looking after myself then the outcome could become dire. There are a few reasons for wanting to look after myself and at the end of the day the longer mummy is around the better it is for my family. Some of the things I do regularly is always eating last, I put off going places especially if one of the children are tired, I tend to fit in a shower when I get a chance instead of first thing in the morning, I can't remember the last time I went to the hairdresser on my own let alone to have something done others than a quick trim, I tend to grab clothes or shoes at the shop and bring them home to see if they fit because it's just too difficult to drag three kids and a pram into the change room with me and if I do purchase something it's always on the cheap.

Some of the things I do are easy to change but my weight is something that I can't magically change over night. Although it's not an excuse I've had three babies in thirty-eight months and I never really took the time to start loosing the weight after number two or three were born. So I've decided that the first thing I'm going to concentrate on is loosing weight and I've decided that I'm going to get a little bit of help. This isn't a sponsored post, all the opinions expressed are hundred percent mine and I'm only sharing this with you so that I can hold myself accountable while I'm on this weight loss journey.

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When deciding I wanted to loose weight I was shocked to discover that I had more than twenty kilograms (more than 50 lbs) that I had to shift from my frame. This twenty plus kilograms seemed huge, very scary and to loose this amount of weight wasn't just going to happen overnight. Being a Celiac (Coeliac) means that I can't do most of the meal replacement diets, Jenny Craig is out of my price range, joining a gym involved daily child minding fees for each child and the weekly membership fee and having meals delivered to our house would have to be added to our weekly grocery bill. So when you added it all up joining Weight Watchers was the best decision for me and our families budget.

At my first meeting I had to sit up front so that the leader could find me after the meeting to get my weight recorded, to give me all the items I'd need to start and then to talk me through the additionally items that I could need to start the program successfully. I enjoyed being out of the house on my own for that hour so much that I don't think I focused to much on what was being said. One thing I took away from the meeting was that 'any loss, small or large was better than a gain'. Being told this on my first visit was really helpful especially when a new member lost 2.4 kilograms (5.29 lbs) and I only managed to lose 0.4 grams (0.88 lbs).



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So at this stage I'm looking at doing Weight Watchers for a minimum of a year at the rate I'm travelling BUT at least I'm losing weight safely and not to dramatically as I don't think I could afford having any surgery to fit me up after the weight has disappeared. One thing I'm learning is that I need to be better prepared. Meal  planning needs to be done for the entire day instead of just planning dinner, having snacks prepared and in my bag will make my life easier and having my weight watchers 'eating out' book on hand will allow me to make healthier options when eating out.

I am still learning and making mistakes BUT I'm getting there very slowly and hopefully I'll reach my first goal of losing 4.2 kilograms (9.25 lbs) which is 5 percent of the weight I need to lose. Now I'm off to have my breakfast and to organise some more snacks. Hopefully I'll get better at working the program into my daily life, I'll find a way to introduce exercise into my routine and soon the benefits will start playing off with a wardrobe that fits better. I hope to share my progress with you as I progress and maybe soon I'll be able to announce that I've reached my 5 percent goal.

Megan