Tuesday, September 7, 2010

A Week of Sharing my Journal: What I learned


I learned a lot from journaling all last week and sharing it with you. The first thing that I learned: I actually enjoy journaling. It was like an adventure, seeing how much food I could eat each day and still be on plan. I got some comments on weightwatchers.com (where I also have been sharing my journal) about how much food I eat each day.

Which brings me to the second thing that I learned: If I follow the Good Health Guidelines (GHG), I can eat a LOT and still stay On Plan (OP). And since I'm still working on listening to my hunger signals, it's good to know that I don't have to sacrifice quantity for quality just yet.

Three: I can cook! I put together several "throw together" meals last week, and quite enjoyed both the cooking and the eating.

Four: I love Weight Watchers!!! I sort of already knew this one, but now I really understand how it is supposed to work, and appreciate it even more than before. It is a slower weight loss than, say, South Beach or Atkins, but I get to enjoy eating.

I remember a time when I thought that I needed to lose 10 pounds every month in order to be a successful dieter. Now I know that is just not true. I cannot even imagine what I would have to sacrifice to lose that quickly. All I know is that every time in my past that I have lost 10 pounds a month, I have regained it just as quickly.

Finally: Weight Watchers has helped me to see that losing 1 pound a week is a great rate of loss! Losing half a pound a week is great, too! If I lose a half a pound every week until I meet my goal weight, I will be at my goal weight of 135 in mid 2012. Which would be great! Yes, I am of course hoping that I will reach my goal much sooner than that, but if it takes that long, then I need to embrace it. What else would I be doing? If I had to choose between losing a half pound a week or gaining 5 pounds a month (my rate of gain pre-WW), the choice is easy. :-)

This is for life. I am embracing WW and all that it has to offer.


3 comments:

Dani - tkdchick said...

WW is such a fantastic and flexible program! I've been on it for over two years now. I have a Dr's set goal weight since I can't reach the WW one (137 lbs). But I do keep trying to get to "real goal"

Florrie said...

I love your blog-journalling :)
I did that a while ago and it really helped me focus, so I'm going to take some inspiration from you and do this for a week myself :D
Also I really like the format you've done it in so if you don't mind I shall copycat, but link to you of course!

Leah: Not Otherwise Specified said...

@Dani- Thanks for the comment! I understand about having a "real goal". I myself am planning on reevaluating once I get into the healthy BMI (155 for me). I may feel great there, and not need to go for 135! We shall see...

@Florrie- I don't mind being copied at all! :-) Thanks for the comment. I will have to check out your blog.