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.