Doing the Happy Dance!!

[vanillalatte]

I had to come here and share with my friends! I officially hit a huge milestone in my weight loss journey! Since I started Weight Watchers in January, I've now lost 25.4 pounds! YAY!!!!

My first goal was to get out of plus size clothes and as of now, I'm safely back in the Misses section! WAHOOO!!!!! In fact, I really must go shopping soon. Even the new jeans I bought 3 months ago have "baggie butt". :eek:

[Amy Eileen]

YAY! Go LaDonna go! I know how hard it is to lose weight so you have every right to shout your good news from the roof tops! Congrats! :D

[Debb Cozzi]

Oh CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a wonderful accomplishment my friend!!!! Here's to 'baggie-butt' jeans!!! WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
:D :D :D :D

[Frani_54]

Way to go GIRL!!!!! Doesn't it feel good to shed those lbs?????

[twinkerbell]

Good for you! Now I'm jealous.

[Linda Paulson]

Ohhh LaDonna....I'm SOOO happy for you!!!! :D:D:D

I had just joined WW a couple of months before Bob ended up in the hospital. But with not being able to continue the program and sitting in his room for 5 months...I think I've found all the pounds you lost!!! :eek:

I need to get back on track......You are my inspiration!!!...WOOOOHOOO!!!

[Sandersmr]

WooHoo!!!! Way to Go!!! Maybe if I do the happy dance with you I will get kick-started again. I have managed to gain back everything I lost the first of the year.

[vanillalatte]

Thanks, girls!! It does feel good! I'm amazed at how much better I feel. Unfortunately, I lost another point today, too, but I guess that's a small price to pay. I'm going to have to start making a conscious effort to work in some exercise a few times a week to earn some Activity Points, but I needed to do that anyway.

For anyone who's thinking about it, I would highly recommend WW. I can even give you a doctor's testimonial ;) My sister who is an FP says it's the only program she recommends to her patients because it concentrates on the lifestyle piece and doesn't deprive you of ANYTHING. It truly does reinforce the "everything in moderation" axiom.

Oh, and I don't go to meetings. I do it all online. Easy as pie!!!

[Jen]

Oh that is just awesome 25 gone. WTG ! ! ! Keep up the good work.

Have thought about doing WW but never could find time to get to the meetings. Between work and kids. Not sure if online would do it for me though.

[Donna]

Happy Dancing with you girl!!!

[twinkerbell]

I have the kit that someone gave me with the book that tells you all the points and the card that calculates points. Could I just use that to do it or is there something else I need to know? I had been using sparkpeople.com to keep track of my eating and exercise but I've been slacking. I think it's because I hate having to calculate the nutrition info for every dinner I cook from scratch. It's really a pain in the butt.

[showme]

As one who knows what is feels like to battle weight, I am soooooooooo proud of your accomplishment! Great big HUGAROOS to you!

[vanillalatte]

Hey, Tiffany, the book and the cards are a good start, but that alone does make it a bit harder. I agree, if I had to calculate all of those points myself, I would have gotten frustrated a long time ago.

WW Online has an automatic points tracker. You start by putting in your current weight and your goal weight, your age, and a few other pieces of information. It tells you how many points you can eat each day. Then you use the tracker to keep a food diary. The tracker has a searchable database that has thousands of foods and recipes. You can usually find whatever it is you're eating there.

Calculating points when you're cooking for your family can be a real challenge. But on the web site, you can add your own recipes to the recipe book, tell it how many servings the recipe makes, and it will calculate the points per serving for you!

The points tracker also allows you to track your activities in the same place so you can earn positive points for activity, and those add to the total points you can use for food that day.

Besides your daily allowance, you also get 35 flex points every week. Those are yours to use any way you want throughout the week. You can use a few every day, or save them for a night out at a restaurant. I usually save them so that I can take my kids to breakfast on Sunday morning after church without blowing my entire week :) (The buffet we go to is FABULOUS!) Anyway, the points tracker also keeps track of those for you.

Finally, besides having tools to track points and weight loss, the site itself is a fantastic resource for learning about low fat, low calorie substitutes to use in your recipes, learning how to estimate portion sizes and what portion sizes are appropriate, shopping guides, and tons of other stuff. I don't use it, but you can also let WW tell you what you should eat that week with the meal planner. Just go to the meal planner and print out the recipes and shopping list for that week. Pretty cool!

The thing I like the most about WW is that I don't have to deprive myself of anything. If I know DH and I are going out to a movie on Friday night, I save a few flex points for popcorn. Instead of ordering the jumbo tub, we split a medium and forgo the extra butter. When we visit my mom for the weekend and I know she's going to cook my favorite foods, I save my flex points for that and eat veggies or fruit in between meals. It's not about dieting, it's about learning to control your food choices.

Sheesh, I've written a book here!! OK, I'll shut up now. Can you tell I love this plan? :) Anyway, if you have questions, feel free to PM me!

[wen2tap]

Way to go girl!! I know how hard it gets in a busy lifestyle with kids and DH's to make time for yourself.... whooooooooooooo

[yhalos]

:D LaDonna, I'm am so happy and proud of your accomplishment. I'm sure you feel wonderful. It is a fantastic feeling to get into those lower size pants.
Congrats and keep up the good work.

[ArtcTrish]

Congrats to you...I know you are proud!

[ScrapMel]

Congratulations! I started WW back in Jan also - and now have lost a total 32 lbs - I do the meetings - they help me a lot in connecting IRL with others who share my pain! lol - and they always have a great new product to try out or a way to lower the fat content in cooking. But I also use the WW online tools - I would be lost without them! And I also get all my meals off of e-mealz.com - every week a new set of recipes for the week, with points totalled up for you, and a shopping list are posted. I KNOW that has been the main reason I have been able to lose it. It takes the calculating the food points out of the way.

[Stacey Jewell Stahl]

Oh, this sounds like a great way to get rid of all of the pounds that I keep losing and finding. Thanks for the referral, LaDonna and CONGRATULATIONS to you and Melanie!!

[showme]

I've followed the Weight Watchers diet for years, and think it is FANTASTIC that you can now participate without going to a meeting! My oldest daughter has used the online program and finds it to be the best-ever weight loss program. 3 cheers to anyone battling weight loss!

[Lisa Dozier]

Congrats!!!!!!!!!! WOO HOOO!!!!!!!!!!

[rlma]

Wow! What an accomplishment! You go girl! I am so proud of you!

[sandilyn]

Wow, LaDonna! Congrats- that is FABULOUS! Keep up the good work!:D