The Beginning

As I stood in front of the full-length mirror and struggled to button up my size 3X jeans, and contemplated having to go into 4X jeans, I just stopped and said NO. I will NOT go there. I'm going to go back to Weight Watchers and get on their program, and lose this weight. Once and for all. I've done WW 4 times already, and have been successful twice. Gotten real skinny and then put the weight right back on. The other two times, I have just quit after a few weeks. Disheartened.
But now, at age 56, I am READY to get the ball rolling. I went in and weighed at 228.2
lbs. I'm 5'6" tall, and my weight is spread pretty evenly over me. I do have a belly, though, and am anxious to get rid of that. I got the points books and the tracker journal and started off with 26 points allowed each day. I put down anything I put in my mouth. The next week, I lost 5.6 pounds. That was great! But the next week, I only lost .8 lb. What was that about? I ate just the same as the week before, but at least it was a loss, and not a gain. Then the next week, I lost 4.4 lbs, and the week after that, I lost .8 lbs again.And I lost a point off of the number of points I got each day, so now I am down to 25 points per day. Then, that week was a roller coaster ride for me. I slacked off, and we actually ordered pizza delivered, and I ate 3 slices one night, and from the saved pizza, I ate 3 more slices the next day. Plus I was generous with my portions, and lo and behold, when I weighed in last week, I had a .2 lb gain. Nope. Not again. I got right back on track, and got my water bottle out and began drinking lots of water again, and no pizzas or any other take out food. Just stuff from my own kitchen. Tomorrow (Tuesday) is my weigh-in day, so I am anxious to see how I did. My jeans are much looser on me, especially around my hips and thighs, and about 2" bigger around my waist. And of course, my chest size has dropped. Where you WANT the weight to stay, it goes. And where you want it to go, it stays. So I am on my trail to weight loss. I am going to work in my exercise plan starting this week - walking. I'm going to walk on the Huckleberry Trail - a nice place to walk, that is paved and marked every 1/4 mile for about 9 miles. It starts at our public library and ends at a mall in the next town over from here. I'm going to start off slowly. I'm going to walk 1/4 mile into the trail, and turn around and walk the 1/4 mile back, making a half mile walk. (I have Parkinson's Disease, and it affects my legs, and balance, and I walk with a cane, so while that may seem to short to be effective, it is a lot to me.) Then I will up it to walking a 1/2 mile out and a 1/2 mile back, making it a 1 mile walk, then add another half mile, and another etc. My goal is to get to 5 miles per day, which should take me about an hour and a half or so, maybe longer because I am so slow. I'll see. I'll make my goal when I get to see how long it takes me to do a 2 1/2 mile walk - 1 1/4 miles out and back. I'll time myself and see how long that takes me. I need to get some good walking shoes with good arch support, which I don't have right now, so I'll use what I have now until we can afford better. My husband cannot walk with me, as he is also disabled and cannot walk but as far as the mailbox and back, and he uses a cane as if it was glued to his hand. He has a neurological disorder. But we do have 7 dogs that would all like the one on one of me taking them for a walk on the trail. But that means bringing a bag to pick up after them, etc. I'll have to drive to reach the Trail - about a mile or so away, which may seem silly, but it is all downhill to get to the Trail, and that means it is all uphill to get home, and I would not make it. I am so out of shape, that I nearly collapse when I have to go up an down the stairs to the basement in our house. My husband cannot walk the stairs at all. He has had 2 strokes, and several mini-strokes (TIA's). But I plan on being at goal weight by next Christmas. I have set my goal weight at 140 pounds. My husband says I should set it at 160 pounds, but that is just too heavy for me. I'll see what I look like at 160 pounds. So there is my history and my beginning of the last time I will join Weight Watchers. I WILL GET THERE THIS TIME, AND I WILL MAINTAIN THE WEIGHT THIS TIME. I AM WILLING TO COMMIT TO A LIFESTYLE CHANGE.