Things That Have Helped Me Lose Weight.....

At my meeting yesterday my Leader gave me my 15kg Star (and my 7 week Achievement award as pictured above) and asked me for any tips on what I was doing that was helping in my weight loss. I have given some more thought to this and compiled a list as to what I think has helped me in my weight loss so far...

• Thinking and knowing I can do this. This time I have a totally different mindset involved. I began by thinking I WILL do this, and have never looked back
• Counting and tracking points religiously. I have found the online tracker invaluable and so easy to use. I hate writing it down manually and have found it so easy online.
• Weighing when in doubt. I often can estimate now and only weigh if the food is something I am not familiar enough with to "guesstimate".
• MOVE. It's been a year since the car accident and although I can't walk without pain, I have made a concentrated effort to increase my exercise, no matter how small. I don't look for the closest car park to the shop anymore, and I have started walking again with the kids. Aqua aerobics has become the exercise I adore and I do it at least once a week (unfortunately the other times it is on don't suit me due to work and the kids' activities on a Saturday morning).
• Cutting back on alcohol. Before WW I was drinking between 1-5 glasses of wine a day and many times it was late at night when I got home from work. And with the late night drinking always came the late night snacks (usually chips). I drank a lot after the car accident because it helped me to sleep and blocked out the pain along with the pain killers I was on. I still absolutely love my wine, but now I don't drink it on "school" nights and count it within my sugar points. I love chocolate, but offer me a glass of wine or a sweet and I would rather use the sugar points on the wine, thank you very much.
• Setting myself small goals. I felt so overwhelmed when I first weighed in at WW. How the hell did I let myself get to 131.9kg?!?!? And how the hell was I going to lose over 60kgs to get to my goal!?!? So, I set myself small goals of 5kg blocks. Fortunately WW rewards you with 5kg Stars, so it makes me more determined to get those little stars. I set myself a date that I want to lose the next 5kg by, and so far, so good. My "big" goals are to make it into the next weight bracket, ie. under 130kgs, under 120kgs, under 110kgs, etc. My ultimate goal at the moment is to make it under 100kg and into double digits by 1st January 2007.
• Tracking my Journey in a Blog. I kept a few diaries when I was a young girl, and kept diaries of both my pregnancies and my kids' lives so far, and then when I had the car accident I found a website called mybrokenleg.com which was full of helpful information for me from others with broken legs, so I started an online diary to keep track of my progress and record my emotions, especially since I encountered a period of depression that was tough to get through. I like to read back and see how far I have come and I love the fact I can post fat photos on my blog, and look forward to the day I can put up some skinny ones! It spurs me on to never look that way again!!
• Sucking Up the Support and Encouragement from Others. My friends and family have been extremely supportive of me since joining WW. Of course, they all want me to be healthy for my sake and that of my kids. I made the decision in the first week to let everyone know I was on WW so they could keep me on the straight and narrow (in the past I have never told anyone about it), and I knew that I would always be too embarrassed if I didn't succeed when they all knew about it! The WW boards on the website have introduced me to so many lovely people from all over Australia that are on the same journey, and it is easy to support them, just as they support me.
• Green Tea. My husband has been drinking this for a while now and I hated the taste of it. I am a tea drinker and always had my tea strong white with no sugar, but after joining WW I drank black tea as I wanted to save my points for other things rather than using them on milk. I then became accustomed to the taste of Green tea, and to say I love it is an understatement. I am addicted!!! And I have 3 or more cups a day of it. It is supposed to be terrific for weight loss, but I find it a great pick me up and when I feel I am getting a bit hungry, I have a cuppa first.
• My Husband Greg. Greg has been inspiring to me this year and achieved something I never thought he would or could do when he first told me about it - trekking the Kokoda Trail in 6 Days. He put his mind to it, and although sometimes he needed a kick up the bum to get motivated, he trained long and hard and pushed through physically and mentally to achieve his goal last month. He also raised over $2000 for the Starlight Foundation in the process! Greg has been my biggest supporter (although he sometimes leads me astray) and he is counting his points with me to lose weight as well, which makes it easier for me to stick to the program. His praise and encouragement are invaluable and most important to me, as are his sarcastic comments along the way!!