This post was written by Crystal.
I will admit that I was not doing well. I strayed away from Weight Watchers, had some failed attempts at finding an accountability partner, and was moving up on the scale instead of down. I had weighed in at 176 in January 2011 and was down to 145 at the end of June 2011. Then I started going the wrong way. On Sunday, September 11, 2011, I scared myself back onto the weight loss wagon. I weighed in at 153.8 pounds. Nope, I wasn’t having that again.
Walking Partner
The big step was meeting my new accountability partners, Sheila and her standard poodle, at the beginning of September. We started walking every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning. She even introduced me to a part of the park near my house that I didn’t even know about. The trail winds all over the place, offers some different elevations, and keeping the standard poodle from chasing the squirrels is a work out in and of itself. We are going onto our third week and I am very happy that Sheila has ended up being dependable and fun. I hope she thinks the same of me.
Weight Watchers
The second step was to jump all the way back into the Weight Watchers Online program. I signed up again on September 12, 2011, got four months for the price of three, and started being very strict. I only used my given points each day and 14 of my 49 weekly extra points. I usually use at least 30 of those. By the end of the week, I hadn’t touched 35 food points and didn’t use any of the 10 points I had accumulated for exercise either.
Grocery Shopping
In order to stay on track with those points, I needed better food in the house. I ran to the grocery store and stocked up on fruit and veggies so I would have some no point snacks. I also bought another twelve Smart Ones frozen dinners so I could have some low point lunches. My husband started grilling us up chicken and fish at night again and we paired them with no point green vegetables like green beans. When we did eat out, we stuck with Subway, Chick-Fil-A, and I got low fat meat and steamed veggies in a chicken broth the one time we had Chinese. In short, we got back on the higher fiber, lower fat diet that we were on before.
My Results
Drumroll please…on September 18, 2011, I weighed in at 149.8!!! I lost 4 pounds in a single week! And I never felt hungry at all. Bananas, plums, grapes, and sugar free jello have become my friends again. I have very small portions of desserts at the end of the day. With those results, I am staying on the weight loss wagon and am aiming for 135 pounds by the end of November. I may let loose a little for the holidays just to give you a warning, but I will hit it hard again in January 2012.
How have you done? Have any great suggestions for great snacks that use fruits, vegetables, or no calorie options?
Crystal Stemberger has written 7 articles on this blog. This post was written by Crystal Stemberger of Budgeting in the Fun Stuff where she writes about finding the balance between paying your bills, saving for your future, and budgeting in the fun stuff along the way. If you'd like to see more, feel free to follow her via RSS, Email, Twitter, and Facebook. Thanks for reading!
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Nice job
I made a change to how I eat about a week ago, and while I haven’t yet lost enough weight to convince me it isn’t water, I feel a lot better. My new plan is basically to eat 5 small meals a day, instead of 3.
Good luck! I tried to stop eating after 9pm…
Hi Crystal, good luck with the newest efforts. As you said yourself in the last sentence, the best snack option is a no-calorie one: don’t have one.
I’ll be trying that this week.
friend who is a nutritionist told me to never exercise soley to lose weight. it’s best to lose weight through diet and exercise to be more healthy. so when i need to lose weight, i focus on the foods i eat and not as much on the types of exercises.
Yeah, me too…Weight Watchers and exercise is just working faster.
Fruits are high in sugar, I’d be careful with how many I have. Try cutting out a lot of carbs – what works best for me (gaining weight) and my mom and dad (losing weight) is the same diet: 95% paleo.
Good luck on cutting back!
nice work! Keep up the great work. Eating healthy is a great way to go and no need to feel bad about the holidays. It’s important to relax a little.
Thanks.
I appreciate the support!
I would suggest celery. They are only 7 calories each and provides the chew factor.
Sadly, I only appreciate celery when it’s slathered in peanut butter or dipped in ranch, lol.
That’s awesome. Keep at it. My fiancee and I are on a hardcore diet as well. We’ve been on it for 2 weeks and we feel amazing. Only protein and veggies…and one fruit per day. In the gym everyday! We can’t wait to see the results!
Wow! Good luck to you both!
Congratulations on your new weight loss program! Stick to it and you will soon reach your goal. Good luck!
Thank you!
Nice job, you looked great at the Conference!
I noticed that I was one of the few male bloggers that was in less than ideal shape, so I came home with new motivation.
Nah, I think that there were all shapes and sizes, but good luck if you hit the diet track again!
Oh, my— the never ending battle with the scale:( I have always been a “curvy”– (IE, not thin, but definitely not fat) girl…until I injured my knee about 2 years ago, ended up pretty much incapacitated and couldn’t walk— which is something I always loved to do—really packed on the pounds. Now, with an extra 50 or 60 pounds (that goodness I am really tall) getting way back on what I eat is necessary in addition to walking and all the other exercise I can get. You seem pretty happy with Weight Watchers Online– and I have a good friend who has lost almost 40 pounds using it, so I think I will check it out:) Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
I am truly a big fan and am not affiliated with them in any way (haven’t even contacted them for adevertising yet, lol). As long as you follow the plan and stay within the points they assign you, it works.
You looked quite trim to me this week end. You are doing great!
[...] Second, Crystal of Budgeting In The Fun Stuff also does a guest post stint at Prairie Eco Thrifter: Losing Weight Again [...]