Lisa's 8 Week Winter Jump Start: Week 6

This Jump start has been a struggle for me, but now I am in the zone.

Successes

1. Working out 6 of 7 days
2. 2/2/11 down 4.8 lbs

Setbacks
1. 1/26/11 up 1.8 lbs

Total lost from start 8.4 lbs for a weight of 242. ( This is my 10% mark from when I started Weight Watchers)

I am more motivated to keep weight going down to prepare to look awesome on Spring break. This motivation is really working for me. I never figured me to be so vain.

Jennifer Hudson: ‘I Lost 20 More Pounds!’

People.com reports:

Since she revealed her amazing body transformation in April, Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson has lost an additional 20 lbs. “I didn’t expect to go as far as I did!”the Weight Watchers spokesperson told PEOPLE in New York City, where she launched the Lose for Good campaign, which teaches families how to prepare healthy low-cost meals in an effort to help fight hunger and obesity. “People are like, ‘Okay Jennifer don’t lose anything else!’”


I am happy for her. Even with this weight loss, she still has lost the weight at slower place then other celebrities. As a Weight Watchers member myself, I totally believe her results because I see them weekly at my local meetings. I have even lost 30 lbs myself with Weight Watchers. I am not a 4-6 like Jennifer yet and I may never be but I am working on me.

Lisa's 12 Week Summer Jump Start

Week 8 Results

7/26/2010 Down 1.6 lbs going back to 239.2 lbs.


How I did it:
1. 1 trip to Burger King
2. 1 trip to Arby's
3. 6 trips to McDonald's


This morning I was dreading my weigh-in. So I dressed up in a fabulous outfit and went to my weigh-in anyway. I am up 1.4 lbs. I am so happy with this number. I totally ate fast food 10 times last week due to lack of preparation. The reason I am happy with this number because I was up 4.4 lbs in June 28, 2010 due to a 40 point biscuit/roll overload.

So even the little tips I learned about fast food eating worked out. Such as only get the sandwich and not the sides. Drink the diet soda versus the regular. Get the kids meals.

Saturday I turned things around and went the grocery store and the fruit stand. So Saturday and Sunday's meals were more reasonable then my fast food days.

Lisa's 7 Week Jump Start: Week 6 Results

After six weeks of Jump Start, I am going to say I have stayed the same. For a total of 8 lbs. I am saying this because I have changed my WW weigh-in time to Monday night, versus Wednesday morning. So today’s weight is from my home scale. This is how I did it this week.



1. Eating lots of veggies via salads.


2. Throwing away food that was stale versus continuing to eat it.


3. Fitting in extra exercise when I could.


Staying the same is awesome. It means that I didn't sabotage myself after reaching goals.

Lisa's 7 Week Jump Start: Week 5 Results

After five weeks of Jump Start, I am down another 1 lbs. For a total of 8 lbs. This is how I did it this week.

1. Resiting free donuts.

2. Turning around my sabotage thinking.

3. Having a protein snack on Tuesday night, my late night, so I wasn't so starved I had to go to McDonald's.

4. Walked some extra step while running errands.

Also, this 1 lbs help me reach another bigger milestone of losing 10% of my starting Weight watchers weight.

Jump Start Update

Here are the changes that I have made in the first two days

1. High fiber breaksfast of fiber one or old fashion oatmeal.

2. Sharing an entree while eating out.

I went to Weight Watchers and got a baseline weight. I weigh 251 lbs. So now we have a starting point for the 7 week jump start.

Well keep you posted!!!

Lisa's 7 Week Jump Start

Well, I have finished my first semester of Grad school. It was grueling and time consuming. I spent 7 hours a week in class, 20 hours a week studying, and 12 hours a week in commuting. I now have a 7 week break before Spring Semester.

I am going to use that 7 weeks to jump start my weight loss and recommit to Weight Watchers. I have mostly been maintaining bigness for the bast 6 months. Now I am going to get on a losing streak. I have decided to use the 7 hours of class time for exercise. I am also going to turn the 20 hours of studying into more sleep town.

I will be chronicling my journey here. I will post my stats on Wednesday.

10 ways to cut food costs

1. Limit impulse purchases."Go to the store with a shopping list," says Mercer. And stick to it.

2. Buy in season.Blueberries are a cheap treat come summer but practically an investment once it's fall. Consider growing some of your own produce as well.

3. Use coupons.Sign up for your supermarket's shopper discount card, too.

4. Purchase sale items in bulk."Use the same main ingredient and dress it up differently," Mercer suggests. Turn ground beef into chili, burritos and a topping for baked potatoes. Plus, freeze some beef for the weeks to come.

5. Buy generic.Follow this rule except when you know a certain brand is of higher quality. A major national brand of sliced Swiss cheese recently sold for $4.49 per half pound versus $3.49 for the store brand (priced on shoprite.com).

6. Think whole foods."The more processed foods you buy, the higher the price," Mercer says. Even a banana in pricey New York City only costs a quarter whereas a small candy bar costs at least 75 cents.

7. Do it from scratch."You're paying more for convenience," says Mercer. So grate your own cheese and shred your own lettuce.

8. Shift those proportions.Use pricey meats as an accent; not the main event. For instance, skip the pork chops and cook up a pork stir-fry.

9. Load up on beans.Meat is expensive, says Mercer. A pound of 85% lean ground beef purchased on shoprite.com costs $3.69. A 1-pound can of black beans? A mere 50 cents.

10. Shop at wholesale food stores. Some examples include Costco, Sam's Club, BJ's and more. Make sure you know prices, though, to guarantee a savings.

Avoid the ‘recession 15’ with these 10 tips

1. Don’t buy that $1 meal!

2. Find healthy meal alternatives.
3. Keep your gym membership if it’s a lifesaver for you.
4. Haggle at the gym.
5. Just let your gym membership go if you never use it.
6. Walk or jog your way to fitness.
7. Put some air on those old bike tires.
8. Pick up some secondhand exercise equipment.
9. Or just do simple, at-home workouts.
10. Give workout videos a try.

Some tips I am keeping up with are:
Tip 3: keeping the membership if it is lifesaver. I am still paying my $40 for WW a month because it is my lifesaver. Before WW I was gaining 1.5 lbs a month. In my 29 weeks of weight watchers I have maintained or decreased in size. For me, if I gain anymore weight I am sure I will get in the diabetes range and that medicine can run anywhere from $15 with co-pays to $100s a month without insurance.

Tip 10: I am back to doing my old school Richard Simmons tapes. They are fun to do because him in those shorts keeps me laughing.

Health Wire: Cutting calories and group sessions are key to weight loss

"A New England Journal of Medicine study finds that cutting calories — regardless of the balance of carbohydrates, proteins or fats — and attending group sessions help you lose weight."

This study is good for all dieters who face the "food police". I do Weight Watchers which has the group session component as well as the cutting calories component. Weight Watchers suggests that you can eat anything if you allot points for it. They do recommend you fulfill the healthy guides before you start using your points for treats and fast food.

Which means I can eat a big mac for lunch, if I have a salad for breakfast and soup for dinner. But when dealing with the "food police", being seen eating anything but a carrot means you are not taking your weight loss seriously.

But as the study shows, reducing calories on a consistently helps you lose weight not just the diet foods you eat that might be low in calories.

Unrealistic Goals

Today I have been musing about unrealistic goals.

For that past five weeks I have set a personal WW goal to obtain 18 activity points a week. After five weeks of missing the mark, I realized it was unrealistic goal for my life right now.

It is unrealistic because my favorite exercise is walking. In the good weather times I will walk 45-60 minutes after work without a care and earn a solid 3 activity points eat day. But in the winter, I am barely outside for more then 20 minutes a day.

So today, I have taken it off of my personal goal list so I can stop feeling self deafeated each week I don't make it. It will not return as a person goal until good weather times.

New Blog Contributor

My name is Lisad00. Thealogian has asked me to contribute to this blog.

Here are the top things that shape my diet/food thoughts:

• Being at a top weight of 271 lbs
• Currently being a member of WW
• Having successfully lost weight with the Richard Simmons Foodmover
• Being a Woman
• Being Black
• Have spent time on a 600 calorie a day diet

I want to offer the following to this Blog:

• Commentary on food and weight perceptions brought to you different media outlets
• Honest comments on my current journey with Weight Watchers