Losing Weight is a Piece.... No... a Small Slice, of Cake

I've just finished my 8th week with Weight Watchers Online!

Week 5
This was my first week with a gain.  It was after a girls weekend away with far too many points spent on alcohol, jell-o shots and flannel pajamas coffee. Yes, we were moms gone wild. I tried dancing as many points away as possible - luckily the gain was only 1 pound, but it was still disheartening to see it on the scale. I did work hard to keep the food under control and made sure I ordered mostly salads at dinner. This week I realized how many calories are in salad dressings and ended up bringing my own low point dressing with me. I'm also learning that with me it's all about location, location, location! So I'm repositioning my fruits and veggies in an easy to see, easy to grab and eat location in my fridge.

Week 6
We experienced a family tragedy this week which I still don't have words to describe my sorrow over. I did my best to keep within points but found my heart broken - which I would typically medicate with food for, but I didn't find myself doing that this time even though I was simply heart broken. This week I was down 4.8 lbs and I've met my 5% goal and had to re-determine my next weight loss goal.

Week 7
It was my sweet daughter's 5th birthday this week. My non-scale victory was that I only ate 1 slice of her birthday cake even though the extra cake was calling me from the fridge for 5 days after the celebration was over. I tracked religiously and did some mall walking. I keep re-committing to  getting active and getting my heart rate up, but I didn't make it to the gym this week. I'm able to start predicting the WW points that a food is going to be. Now that fall is approaching us the fruit options are starting to dwindle, but I'm making sure I'm keeping fresh veggies and tasty fruit always available. This week I'm down 2.4 pounds.

Here is an excerpt from my typical food day:

Breakfast
Greek key lime yogurt - 4 p
Coffee with 1/4 c of sugar free pumpkin free creamer - 2 p
Banana - 0 p

Lunch
Tuna fish 1 serving - 4 p
1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese - 2 p
3 pickles - 0 p
Lettuce to wrap it in - 0 p
Hellman's Mayo low fat 1 tbsp - 1 p

Dinner
Chicken cooked with spices 5 oz - 5 pp
Baked potato - 4 p
low fat sour cream 1 tbsp - 1p
green beans steamed 1.5 cups - 0 p

Dessert
Skinny cow ice cream sandwich 4 pp

Week 8
I'm making sure I keep fruit at the ready for when I'm hungry. This is majorly important to my success - having healthy food on hand so I don't make high point choices. This week I ate at Sonic. Holy goodness the points were high for that meal, but the thing I love about WW is that there is nothing off limits - AND I DIDN'T FEEL GUILTY LIKE I CHEATED ON MY DIET! I just have to accommodate the splurge with my points and eating and working out for the rest of the week to get the results I want to see on the scale. I also made it to the gym twice and got 12 activity points which I didn't even eat. This week I lost 1.2 pounds.

My total weight loss for 8 weeks is 22 pounds. I feel like it's slow and steady, which I'm ok with. My scrubs for work are starting to feel a little loose on me and slowly I'm starting to fit into clothes I haven't been able to wear in a while. I keep telling myself - this is a marathon not a sprint. If I don't see the results I'd like to see I always have next week to tweak it as I see fit.

I'm so lucky to have the love and support of my wonderful husband Jim. I'm a member of a Weight Watchers support group on Facebook, and I'm saddened by how many women are harassed by their partners over their weight and the torment they deal with from the lack of support and negative words. I'm counting my blessings he's in my corner and I'm counting the pounds away as I work toward my goal.

Weight Watchers Disclosure: People following the Weight Watchers plan can expect to lose 1-2 pounds per week.

MomAboutCharlotte.com Disclosure: I have received a free 3-month pass to experience Weight Watchers online. I am not being paid to use or endorse Weight Watchers and thoughts are my own.