I made it

After going to Weight Watchers meetings for almost exactly 7 months (I looked at my records today and found that I started on Feb. 15th) I am officially a lifetime member. This means that I made my goal weight and maintained it for 6 weeks. Now, as long as I stay within 2 lbs of my goal weight I can go to meetings for free (rather than paying the $12 meeting fees.) That's pretty exciting for me.

As you can see from the "before" pictures here, I really needed something. With Olivia and Turner, I gained 60 lbs each time. HOLY COW-- literally.


After having Olivia, I dropped most of the weight but still hung on to about 10 lbs (so I was behind already when having Turner.)

I remember when I delievered Turner and they told me he was 9lbs. I was really suprised. (Olivia had only been 6lbs and some change.) I thought, great, that's nearly 10 lbs gone like that. Then one of the nurses laughed and said, "This is where you hope you now deliver a 40 lb. placenta.) Gross, but true! Too bad for me, I didn't. The picture to the left was at O's 2nd birthday party (the same week I started WW.)


This is me 7 months later. I have to say, I feel really good. I have never had such an easy weight loss experience. I am committing to continue the meetings (for at least a year) but probably for the rest of my life. I need the accountability. I need to be around others who find the pull of food to be like a gigantic magnet.

Seriously, I was at a meeting a month or two ago and the facilitator asked us to share a victory we had that week. One lady raised her hand and shared about how she had been at a NAASCAR event that week and they had a "roast beef sundae bar". The whole room groaned (as if identifying in her pain) and then eyes lit up at the thought of such an amazingly wonderful thought-- roast beef sundae bar. why didn't we think of that??? The lady shared how she was able to pass by the "sundae bar" and ate a grilled chicken breast instead.

Now if you read that and had some kind of repulsive thought about a roast beef sundae bar, than clearly you don't need to be at a WW meeting. If your mouth started to water and you wondered, "How in the world/why in the world did she eat grilled chicken instead?" then you can relate to why I love sitting in a meeting and find support from these people.

But what I'm really thankful for is the way my mind has been re-trained to think about food. I think that I have a much healthier perspective on food. Not just physical healthy, but psychologically healthy. Rather than seeing food as a reward or a treat, buying a new pair of pants in the smallest size I've ever worn in my adult life is the treat. Delayed gratification... we humans don't like that very much.

I'm really convinced that God has given me the vehicle of Weight Watchers to release my inner thin person He created me to be. If you are struggling with some extra lbs. I'd really encourage you to check out a meeting. (They are doing a special promotion now through Oct. where the normal $25 registration fee is waived.)

So with this weight loss, I'm going to go ahead and let some Chinese woman pack on that 60lbs when my next child is born!!! Stay tuned for more on the adoption progress in a later post.