It's Been Way Too Long Since A Post

 My highlight so far this year, was my third row seats to a Duran Duran concert.  We were SO CLOSE!!  It was AMAZING!  😁

So at least there was a highlight in this otherwise bad year.

Kickstart started great and then halfway through, I kind of lost the momento....and well then fell off.

Weight Watchers cancelled the only evening meeting in my area within a 50 mile radius.  Yeah, they'd say that is doable.....but not if you're leaving work and going through rush hour traffic.  Why is it that WW thinks no one works anymore???  I'd have to go right from work and it would be 87 miles and take almost 2 hours to get there and I wouldn't make it in time even on good traffic days.

A close high school friend passed in October.  I knew she had been sick but her husband stopped updating and turned off her phone (for her to rest) cutting off any communication.  He wouldn't respond to any FB postings.  The obituary was never in the newspaper; another friend just happened to come acrossed it online the day before her viewing which was scheduled rather weirdly from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.  Fortunately for me, I stopped on my way home from work.  She'd been cremated; I gave my condolences and left.  I realize he was grieving.....but so were all her friends.  I understand since covid, not many do services and such anymore and that is fine.  But c'mon, get the information out there!

Start Spreading The News.......

 ....she's finally gone!

😄

Sima is finally gone from Weight Watchers!!  Took them long enough! She got a huge pay-out though, which seems weird for a company whose stock is at an all time low.

Time to get back to the BASICS Weight Watchers!  Time to come back and take care of the members who have been there for you for 60 years.

Some quick things you should do?

1.    Bring back the website!

2.    Start adding back in-person meetings (especially evening ones).  And it doesn't have to be the fancy store front ones; start out in rented rooms.

3.    Bring back your products - those snacks that fit into the plan.

4.    Offer multiple different plans like you used to and don't force people to have zero point foods; if they want them-fine; if not-okay!

5.    Keep the weight loss med plan and support; but dump the clinical portion - people should be going to their own doctors for that!

They can now do so much; but they need to act fast!

And how about the next CEO having some nutritional background????

Off To A Good Start

 First week of Kickstart is complete and I managed a 1.1 lbs loss!  It could have been more BUT, the weekend, as always, threw me off.  Need to work on that.

My #9 commitment is to do a YouTube exercise video twice a week.  I totally didn't do that one at all.  I decided to make a slight change on that to any exercise other than a walk twice a week.  I just did some desk exercises, so that will be better!  Let's hope it's a consistent week and a much better weekend!

I've done really well with packing lunch and making dinner.  Hubby's been really happy with the dinner part!  Tonight we're having ham & bean soup in the slow cooker!  It's not my mother's homemade type, but it definitely comes close:

1 lb. ham    (I use the ham slices)

1 lb. bag dry northern beans (no need to soak them, just rinse them off)

2 -32 oz. chicken broth    (I also add a little water)

Onion    (optional - I don't)

THAT'S IT!!  Throw in all in the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.  You do not need to soak the beans to soften them ahead of time, just put the dry beans right in the slow cooker.

I got the original recipe from:  4 Sons Are Us

And yeah, you won't even know it's chicken broth!  I imagine you could also use vegetable broth.

How I Made Weight Watchers Mine

I wanted to explain how I made the Weight Watchers program my program.

I went to settings and changed from weight loss mode to maintenance mode.  This allows you to change your daily points.

I chose to up my daily points by 5, giving me 28 dailies rather than 23.  Why????  I find that 23 is way too low for me and there are things on the zero list I do not eat (I'm talking you - Tofu and tempeh); I also won't eat popcorn as a zero food - I must count points for that.  So I gave myself points in their place.  Why 28?  When I switch the app to the diabetic plan, it gave me 28 points (course it took some zero foods from me, fruit for example).  I felt 28 was a good starting point and considering that normally I probably eat double if not triple that (and the wrong things); 28 is fairly a good starting point.

Why not just do diabetic?  Because I want my fruits to be zero.  I could do diabetic and then just quick add my fruits at zero.  This is another option you can try, but I chose to do it my way.

I also turned off the roll overs.  I am earning points with walking.

Now, when eating I try to look at the old Simply Filling Food List.  Weight Watchers ditched this plan when they went with the three colored plans (Green, Blue, Purple).  Simply Filling is basically a much larger list then the purple plan was, the catch was that you didn't get any daily points only weeklies.  No I do not count all the foods on the Simply Filling list as zero - I only count the foods on the current plan list as zero, whatever the WW app says is zero, is what is zero - BUT I do refer to this list for better eating choices.

It may sound complicated, but it really isn't.

Actually I only used 23 points yesterday; and only 12 today; but I am comfortably full! I may never need the whole 28 dailies; but they are there if I do.

Tomorrow evening I'm going out with friends; the chosen place is a brewery and the food menu isn't healthy.  That's okay; like I said; I only used 12 points today and despite that I'm not doing roll overs... I do realize that cushion is there if needed.  I'm also eating lighter for breakfast and lunch.

It's all about planning!

Kickstart!

 Kickstart starts today!

I've managed to eat breakfast, track with WW, almost have all my water in, found a book to start, packed lunch, will be cooking dinner and will be walking with hubby later.

So most of my commitments are there; I have 2 or 3 that aren't everyday things.

I decided to do the current WW plan (I am still paying for it) with some adjustments.  At first I was going to follow the diabetic plan but still count fruit as zero.  That would give me 28 pts daily.  And yes, I could do that!  I ended up, however, just going into my Food Settings, changing my focus to "maintain" (even though that isn't what I'm doing) and setting the daily pts to 28.  I turned off the rollovers.  I know it's not the way it is to be done; I know that's not the "official" WW program; but it's what I'm going to commit to for now and see where it gets me.

I'm not looking for tons of points to accomodate bad eating.  My goal is to look at the zero list for the old WW Simply Filling plan and eat mostly off that.  All that stuff, of course, isn't zero on the current plan and that's fine; but it has to be the better foods to eat.

I was not happy with my weight this morning; so hoping for something better next weigh-in!

I'm not sure if I'll go back to meetings.

My Commitments

 The Kickstart will begin next Monday the 16th of September.  My Commitments are:

1.    Commit to the 6 weeks.

2.    Pick a WW program and stick with it.  

3.    Drink 6, 8 oz waters per day.

4.    Eat breakfast everyday.

5.    Pack work lunch 4 out of 5 days.

6.    Cook dinner at least 4 out of 7 days.

7.    Make wise food choices when eating out.

8.    Take a walk daily.

9.    Try a YouTube exercise video twice a week.

10.    Read one chapter of a book daily.

I haven't decided on a book yet; but it will be a book telling a story; not a self-help type.

But mostly, I'll be taking it a day at a time.

Today....

I'll update with my commitments in a few days.

I've mentioned that 2024 has been a bad year for my family.

Today....  we buried my father.

My Dad hasn't been well and the last week was very brutal as we were watching him die.  We always said that once one of our parents went, the other wouldn't be far behind.  He and Mom were only apart 6 months.  I'm glad they are together again; but I'm sad that my parents are both gone.

I know I've been lucky to have them both for a very long time.  They were married 70 years; most don't get that.  I just would have liked to of had more time.

Time.... there's never enough time.

My Commitments

 I should have 9 commitments by the start date.  So far I've thought of these:

1.    Drink at least six 8 oz servings of water.

2.    Stick to one WW program; don't switch around.

3.    Take a walk each day.

4.    Read one chapter of a book each day.

5.    Eat breakfast every day.

6.    Pack lunch at least 4 days each week.

That's what I have so far.  Most are weight related, but the book one is more for a healthy mind.  The commitments do not need to be weight related.

I'm working on the other 3.

Number 2 is a big one.  Everytime I try to go back to the plans that did work for me; I hate that things like eggs/chicken have points!  Weird, I  know.  It's all those plans in my head.  Anyway, I've chosen to use the Carb Conscious Plan on the Healthi app; that's the same as the Points Plus Weight Watcher plan.

Even though the Kickstart hasn't started; I thought I'd try a few days "on plan".  When I started Points Plus the lowest the points went were 29; they would change that a year later to 26.  My points always started at the lowest, so I'm going to start with the 29.  29 points a day/49 weekly points.

Below is my plan for tomorrow:

What I'd like you to notice, is that I still have 2 points left AND I've only used 1224 calories.  Not too bad....and all the food is normal.  Running all this through the WW app?  I ended up 7 points over for the day and I wouldn't even know what my calories were unless I added everything up.

The New Direction

 My last post indicated that I needed a new direction.  I don't like the current Weight Watchers program; if it works for you - GREAT.... but it just doesn't for me.

As a matter of fact, since the introduction of smart points and moving forward; none of those plans have worked for me.

The original point program and points plus is what worked for me.  So I'll probably go back to the Healthi App to follow one of those.  In the meantime, I've joined a group for six weeks of commitments.

I've been following Jean-Luc & Nick since they were known as the Weight Watchers Gays.  They were great influencers for WW, they even appeared in some commercials; but as with all "big name" WWer's, WW eventually turned their back on them and they had to move on.

They did a plan a few years back which I joined, but dropped out of early.  This was during the covid period and I had a hard time finding food items for the food plan portion.  The food plan pushed towards vegetarian (it wasn't required, but it is what it is), and that's not how I want to eat and again, a lot of the food items just weren't in the stores due to covid, not to mention the costs of the foods that were, were extremely high.  They ran that program for a few cycles, ending it this year.

Now they are doing 6 weeks of commitment called Kickstart.  This is totally free to join!  The only purchase you may want to make is to purchase the Kickstart Workbook.  It's $25 (USA) for the booklet or you can get a download to print yourself for $15; but you can use any workbook/app/whatever you want to to follow along (but I highly recommend the workbook).  For more information go here:

Kickstart with Jean-Luc & Nick

It cost nothing, so what do you have to lose?!

There isn't a food plan; so choose what you want.  The first commitment is, of course, to make the commitment to stick to the program for 6 weeks.  The other 9 commitments? You choose those, so they are different for everyone.  I often work on tries and that pretty much is what the commitments are; the little steps to reach a bigger goal.

Kickstart starts September 16, 2024.  This date is kind of ironic as September 16th was the date of my first meeting at WW back in 2010.  Weird, huh?

In the meantime?  I'll keep pushing forward; no sense looking back.

I've Been In The Land Of The Missing

Yes, I've been in hiding....

Yes, I am totally off plan....

Yes, Yes, Yes - I'M FAILING

.....but I haven't given up.

Vacation threw me off course and it's not that I'm having a hard time getting back on... it's just that I don't want to.

That's right - I don't want to do whatever it is I've been doing.  It just doesn't work for me.

I was very excited to get my 5 lb charm at my Weight Watchers meeting; I really wanted to work towards the next one; but, I'm sorry to say I just don't like the Weight Watchers plan.  I do not like having a zero point list of items that make no sense what-so-ever.  Vegetable and fruits?  Yes, I understand that; the rest of it? No sorry, I'm an overeater and I can overeat those things.

So I'm backing up and regrouping.

The above is something that really hits home to me and now makes me realize that I am choosing Weight Watchers and maybe it is just not the correct choice for me at this point.  Maybe, just maybe I need something new to jumpstart me - and I'm not speaking of a new "diet" plan to get me there.

Stay tuned......

At the Beach!!

Made it to the beach and hubby says everything is fine at home.

My plane departure was delayed about an hour, but I made it.  The sky was absolutely gorgeous for the flight:

Haven't been to the beach yet, my nieces just flew in today; but we did some shopping this morning.

I hate to admit it though...I have been over snacking!  Need to get that under control!

Surgery Update

 I probably won't get back to Weight Watchers until after vacation, so my next official weigh in will be August 1st.  It just makes the most sense right now.

That doesn't mean I'm going to be inhaling food - it just means I won't be weighing at a meeting until then.

Hubby's surgery went well and other than the inconvenience of the pain (expected) and learning to adjust with his arm splinted and wrapped into one position (again expected); I think he will do well and I can plan on leaving for vacation.

It was a long day for surgery though.  We had to be there at 8:15 a.m., they didn't take him back to surgery until 12:15 p.m., and we didn't leave the center until 4:00 p.m.  It's a one hour and 45 minute drive to and from the place.  So we were up at 4:30 to take care of the animals and on the road by 6:00 (you never know about traffic).  We got home about 6.  So it was an extremely long day!

Quick Update!

Tentatively, I have a plane reservation to get me to Myrtle Beach on July 21st.  Tentatively?  Well hubby's surgery on his elbow is Wednesday, and a lot will depend on how well he does and whether or not he can handle the household while I'm gone.

I was suppose to be leaving on Friday and driving down; but that's too soon.  So I'm hoping to fly down on Sunday and drive back with my other sister later in the week.  Hubby, of course, is insisting he'll be alright and doesn't want to ruin my vacation, BUT we all know how things may go.  So no promises right now.

I didn't make the meeting this week, so I have no weight update...I think I'm probably just managing to stay about the same.