Month 1 of our diet journey
After spending a month just talking about going on a diet we finally took control. We joined Weight Watchers and started our diet journey on January 30th. Right after Dry January!!!
This is the start of our diet journey
We went to the garage and searched boxes for the bathroom scale. We moved into a house half the size of what we had in CT, so we have not unpacked stuff that we didn't really want, and the bathroom scale is one of those things we DIDN'T want to see!!! I mean, who really likes stepping on a scale?
We decided we were both going to lose the nice round number of 100 pounds each. Sue is 5'5 ½" (yes, she insists on that ½ inch), and Amy is 5'4".
After taking a long look at why we want to diet:
- What we weighed
- Where we needed to be for our health
- What was realistic
- What is each of our individual weight ranges for health
- How we want to feel in our own skin
- And having fun Challenging each other to lose weight
We decided to set a goal to lose 100 pounds each. . . At the time, it seemed SO far away, and would we be able to make it???? Every day that goes by, that number seems more and more attainable!!!!!! My mom is sometimes so unrealistic I remember her saying we can lose this by her Birthday in August. . . I asked her what year because I knew we would not lose 100 pounds in 7 months. It would not be healthy, and I really want to have a glass of Scotch once in a while. Oh, Mom is so funny she told me all this just to get me excited. It worked just like when I was 5!!!
I still think the scales are WRONG or "if only I were 9 feet tall", then I'd fall within my weight range!!
We found it was easier than we thought it would be to write down everything we were eating. It's actually FUN coming up with new foods and seeing how to cut the calories without losing the flavor. When we started our diet, we ate a lot of fruit, cereal, and some frozen Weight Watcher meals. We knew in order to be successful, we could not have this kind of food all the time. We really needed more, and the food had to have flavor and spice. So, we made a Posole and found we could have a huge serving if we cut out the fat and added spices. Our Posole recipe will be shared this winter on this blog.
Reimagined Recipes
Then, we started to experiment with all kinds of chicken recipes. We made sesame chicken, roast chicken, and chicken soup. One of our favorite comfort foods is meatloaf. So this reimagined recipe for Turkey meatloaf is so good, and you aren't missing a thing except extra calories!
Again, we found that we were really full and actually eating more. We had eggs for breakfast and then had some fruit for lunch. We figured out that little things like whipped cream cheese go great with smoked turkey, and you don't even need to have bread to have a really good lunch. Through our blog, we will share all the reimagined recipes we've reimagined that have helped us lose weight and actually eat more!
In February, Sue lost 12.4 pounds, and Amy lost 13 pounds.
We decided we were not going to start exercising. All we ever hear is in order to be successful in losing weight, you need to diet AND exercise. We decided that we needed to either diet OR exercise. . . not both to start out. It was too much to take on a diet and exercise at the same time. Being realistic about our success was important this time. Like so many people, we have started diet journeys and exercise programs many times over the years, and after a few weeks, we come up with an excuse not to exercise or not to stay on the diet. Not this time, we are going to be successful and share what we are doing.
In the first month, we lost a collective 25.4 pounds. Our biggest lesson from the first month is that it is extremely important to write everything down and to know EXACTLY what you are eating. Plus, you need to give up something, at least for a while. We gave up wine and high-fat foods. We still went out for lunch a few times during the month, but we really wanted to control what we were eating. And we were successful!
Please let us know what you think