My Weight Watchers Story: 60 Pounds Lost

I've been wanting to post my Weight Watchers story for a while. Having just passed my one-year anniversary of becoming a Lifetime member (lingo explained later), I figured this is a great time to share!

I weighed 183.5 the day after I had my second son. In the euphoria of having a HBAC, I somehow gained 10 pounds in 6 weeks post-birth.

My precious 6 week old

Baking with the 2 1/2 year old

4 months after that, I was back at 183.5, but not budging. This was in May 2010. These pictures are from around those times.

Still drinking green smoothies

My almost 6 month old

I knew something needed to change because what I was doing wasn't working. My reservations about signing up for a formal diet program were that I had an eating disorder for well over a decade, though I had not been symptomatic in 7 years at that point. I had several friends with disordered eating history who had success with Weight Watchers, so I started doing it "unofficially" (this was the old Points program, so points were easier to figure out), just counting points every day based on the info I found online. I did that for about 2 weeks, lost weight, and my head was still in a good place.

Weight Watchers On-line
At that point, I signed up for the on-line Weight Watchers program.

I was pretty active, chasing 2 little boys and taking lots of walks, so I lost about 10 lbs/month until I reached my goal (about 3.5 months later), which was just under 150. My weight had generally been in the high 150's into the 160's for most of my post-esating disorder years, but my doc had told me years ago that a good healthy range for me is 138-150, so I thought 150 was a good goal.

This was in about October, 2010. I introduced more high-fat foods into my diet and ended up losing about another 7-10 pounds.

Trying Weight Watchers Meetings Out
I fluctuated a bit after that until in April, 2011, I decided to join Weight Watchers meetings. I wanted to try the different type of support and accountability, as well as learn about the new program (I was still following the Points program, not the new PointsPlus system). I was about 155-156 at that weigh-in.

I lost more slowly with the new program, but I made my initial goal weight of 148 in about 2.5 months. If you attend meetings, once you hit your goal weight and stay there for 6 weeks, you become a Lifetime Member and can attend meetings for free. I made Lifetime in June of 2011. I continued to lose weight and have lost about 60 pounds total (I still fluctuate a bit within a 5 pound range).

Personal Reflections on the Program
I love the new PointsPlus system. I love that almost all fruits and veggies have a zero PointsPlus value (so green smoothies are now free!). I like that protein and carbs are now factored in, so that the PointsPlus value has a better overall nutritional value.

I also love that every Weight Watchers member can make Weight Watchers their own within the construct of the program.

I've always eaten a mainly whole foods diet and have been able to continue that easily with Weight Watchers. I do eat a more fat than most people I know who do Weight Watchers. This is how I feel my best, and I adjust my Daily PointsPlus Target to account for this.

And that's the thing I love about Weight Watchers. If I feel like having a banana with peanut butter, I can. Dark chocolate? Sure! Full fat cheese occasionally? Yes! I even sometimes put whole milk in my coffee (I prefer it black ).

I have really grown to love the meeting environment. I love hearing others' success stories and what works for them, as well as getting to share my own experiences. I have found I also need the accountability of getting weighed at a meeting.

Still The Same Joyous Brenna
Though I have struggled with my weight for about 25 years, I still lived a very full, mostly happy life before losing weight. I cannot say, as some do, that my life began because I got thin. Far from it. I have an amazing, blessed life now as I did 2 years ago.

I share this mainly because Weight Watchers is a tool that has worked for me and empowered me to have a more sane relationship with food than I have had in the years since the eating disorder. Weight Watchers has taught me a lot, and I've found new habits and hobbies that will carry me for a lifetime.

Here are some more recent pictures of me. It seems the only time I get a full-length shot is at a race! I did get my husband to take the nice, sweaty shot below :)

Close-up, it was our anniversary :), December 2011

Half of Quincy with Heather of Run Faster Mommy, March '12 (we both PR'ed!)

Today, after walking home in the 90 degree heat carrying too many groceries, looking very serious

I'll talk more about the work of maintenance, my final weight goal and my newly discovered love of running in a separate post :)

I'm Still Here - And I'm On A Diet!

I'm alive! I took a couple weeks off of "Mostly Raw Monday" for several reasons:

1. The "aquapocalypse"(I don't think it's considered "raw" to wash your produce in boiled water that takes 12 hours to cool down because it's 85 degrees outside)
2. I'm on a diet.

Yes, you read that right - this crunchy head, former eating disorder struggler is on a diet!

I gain a lot of weight while pregnant. In my first pregnancy, I gained over 65 pounds. I lost it all, plus 10 more pounds, in about a year. I then gained 10 lbs during my 2nd pregnancy & miscarriage. This 3rd pregnancy, I was more diligent with my eating, but I still gained about 50 pounds. That just seems to be what my body does during pregnancy.

Then after Monkey Bear was born, I was only down 15 lbs from the birth, and my body promptly gained another 10, leaving me at 55-60 lbs more than I was in the fall of 2008. I lost those 10 lbs with quite a bit of effort, but was having trouble getting my weight to budge any more.

So, I'm unofficially doing Weight Watchers. This might strike some as ironic since Weight Watchers was my first diet - and my first diet was a catalyst in sending me toward an eating disorder. But since I know eating disorders are not about food, but about state of mind, and the Weight Watchers plan appeals to me, I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm going to join officially once I have a scale that works (I dropped mine on Friday and broke it).

That said, my diet hasn't changed too much. I increased my protein and decreased my fat (I have trouble self-regulating my nut intake!). I'm still eating tons of fruits & veggies, and since greens & cabbage are "free" or "zero point" foods, I can still drink huge green smoothies and eat tons of homemade kraut!

I also bought myself T-Tapp for my 35th birthday (which was on Mother's Day). Some ladies on my mom's message board I'm part of convinced me to try it. I'm still getting the hang of the various moves, but I think it will be fun. And it only takes 15 minutes!

So there's an update. I'll keep you posted on my new, reduced-fat recipes, as well as my weight loss journey.

National Eating Disorder Awareness Week - My Story

It's National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. Read my story of overcoming an eating disorder.

It began oh so slowly and I tried to ignore
That I was so caught up in it
But I realized so quickly like never before
That I couldn't escape from it

Other benefits of breastfeeding

One of the other benefits of my personal experience of nursing Bear has simply been becoming so aware of what I put in my body. When I had IBS years ago, there was a time that I was lactose intolerant. I only avoided obvious dairy, though, and still ate dairy that was in prepared food in trace amounts. Since we discovered that Bear is sensitive to dairy, soy, corn, wheat & nuts, as well as most seeds, the entire way I eat has changed. I've always tried to eat whole foods, including lots of fruits & vegetables, but now, 95% of my diet is made from scratch. I even started making my own rice milk (though it's not very good!).

I have also become quite the label reader. High-fructose corn syrup is in everything. It's actually quite frightening. Soy is in everything. And why does food have so many fillers in it?

My tastes have changed. I ate peanut butter for the first time in at least 8 months, and it didn't taste that good. It used to be my #1 favorite food! I think I'm going to have to get some of the grind-your-own kind, rather than the roasted-peanuts-ground-up-with-salt-added kind. I also think back to some of my formerly favorite foods & wonder if I'd even like them anymore.

All in all, I wouldn't change anything that I've been through in the past year. I'm thinner than I've ever been naturally (as in not because of IBS/sickness or anorexia), and I feel pretty good. I think I'd feel great if I could get 7-8 hours of straight sleep, but you can't win 'em all :)

In Defense of Food

I'm reading "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan.



It's quite interesting, and he's really bringing me back! Remember Snackwell's?



I don't know if anyone of you bought into the whole "fat-free is better" belief system, but I sure did! Remember when you could get fat-free everything? I remember that even Taco Bell had fat-free & low-fat cheese for awhile. Anyway, you should pick up a copy of the book from the library if you can (I had to wait a couple of months for it; it's quite popular!). It goes into all the theories behind "nutritionism" and why so much of what we believe about food today in America isn't really based on fact, but rather bad science and politics.

Speaking of food, Trader Joe's has this roasted plaintain chips that are amazing! I don't know if they're new or I just never noticed them, but they are good!

Walking in the Heat

So I got this brilliant idea around 2 PM that we (Bear, Noodles & I) should go for a walk. The loop that I generally walk is 1.4-1.6 miles, depending on if I add a couple extra blocks at the end. After going the 1.6 mile loop, Bear started to fall asleep in the jogging stroller, so I decided to walk the loop again.

Bad idea.

First of all, it's over 95 degrees out with about 50% humidity. Second, I didn't bring any water for me & the dog (Bear doesn't generally drink water & he was well-hydrated). Third, did I mention it's hot?

Almost exactly halfway through the 2nd loop, Noodles decides to lay down on the a nice, shady, grassy knoll & not get up. Usually, if I pull on the leash, he'll eventually follow me, but pulling on his leash only made it so I was dragging him on the grass. After a few minutes of coaxing and a limp Noodles laying in the grass, I began to get concerned. Roy & I used to watch a lot of "Animal Cops" ("Detroit" was our favorite), and I remember that a dog's temperature is actually higher than a human's, so I stuck my finger in his mouth to feel his gums. He was cool, so then I picked him up to make sure he could stand. Yep, he could stand. I contemplated taking the baby out of the stroller and putting the dog in there, but that would mean I'd have to carry the baby home; plus, I couldn't really see Noodles fitting in there. After some more coaxing, Noodles begrudgingly walked home.

I need to remind myself that he almost never drinks water. When we got home from church yesterday, he'd barely touched his water, though it was close to 90 degrees in our house. Even today after we finally got home, he didn't have any water until I reminded him to get some, at which point he drank a bunch, and then kept going back for more drinks. I made myself a green smoothie with apple, grapefruit, banana, spinach, broccoli, blueberries, red chard, swiss chard & what I think was collard greens. Yum!

I've decided to weigh myself every week or two and see if that sits OK with my head (I used to have an eating disorder, so I have to be careful). I have lost 2 more pounds, again without trying. That's cool :) I've also made some progress on the book I'm writing. I figure even if I can only write a few paragraphs a week, I'll be done in a couple of years, and that's fine with me. I'm in no rush :)