When I was pregnant with my first baby, at the age of twenty three, I weighed 110 to 115 pounds and gained about 40 pounds with my first baby. I was able to lose that weight pretty quickly and returned to 118 pounds. This was a good weight for me with my now changed body.
Then the second pregnancy came at 26 years old, and more weight was gained, and it took much longer to lose that weight. Then the 3rd and last baby at 32 years old and even more weight gained with him. After his birth the weight came off slowly and I never really got back to the weight I would have liked.
The next weight challenge started with our first move. After that move there was a weight gain, then a second move, and a weight gain, and then the last move along with another weight gain. Now, I find myself with a body I am not happy with, and at an age that adds to the difficulty in losing weight. The last holiday season was the breaking point for me. After eating everything in sight during the holidays I found myself close to the weight I was when I gave birth to my third child. UNACCEPTABLE!!!!
I started to shop for diet plans and looked at all the regulars, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, South Beach, you name it, I looked at it. For the last 10 years I have been a member of Weight Watchers online, and I really just looked at the recipes and dabbled in the program. So, I decided that I was going to do Weight Watchers and do it properly.
The first thing I did was get my husband on board. He also was at a point where he was ready to drop some pounds. He was really receptive and supportive in going on this journey with me. I had this old food scale to weigh food if I need to, and the WW app with a scanner on it so I could find out the points at the grocery store by scanning the food items before I bought them. For my Birthday in February I asked for a spiralizer, a nice food scale (with an attached bowl) and a steamer. These items have made this process so much easier.
This has been one of the hardest things I have ever done, and I am now a little over 11 weeks into this journey and it is getting a little easier each day. I have cut out almost all sugar, and cut down on carbs, but I have found alternatives for those foods and still eat a lot of the foods I love. I have my Brother In-law's spaghetti and meatballs, but instead of pasta I use Zucchini noodles. I am a creature of habit, and one of the bad habits I had was eating ice cream. I ate a lot of ice cream. I crave it, and always joked that I needed a 12 step program to stop. I have not had ice cream in over 11 weeks, and I really think that if I had some now I would not stop eating it, lol. So, I have come up with a alternative to my ice cream, it is a container of Dannon light-n-fit vanilla Greek yogurt with a large spray of fat free Redi Whip on top. I will have this almost every night and tell myself that it is just as good as ice cream, and who knows, one day I might believe it.
I have a few "go to" snacks and dressings that I could not live without. One is Marie's Blueberry Pomegranate Vinaigrette dressing. Most days I will have a large bowl of lettuce and spinach, with a cup of blueberries and a cup of strawberries topped with 2 Tablespoons of this dressing. The whole salad is 3 points and it brings me joy.
I also make my own skinny ranch dressing, recipe below, and use it for dipping vegetables. Usually it is a snack bag of baby carrots. My new favorite snacks are Nabisco sweet potato "Good Thins". I can eat 23 chips for 4 points, but I usually eat 11 or 12 and that satisfies my chip craving.
I love pizza and that was a bit of a challenge. I found this ready made crust at Kroger called "Stonefire" that is an Artisan thin pizza crust. The crust is only 8 points for half of the pizza. AWESOME! I use a low point sauce, Kroger part skim mozzarella cheese, and I even put on pepperoni. I can make a pizza and get away with eating half of the pie for less than 14 points. That is pure joy!
I made lemon tarts from a weight watcher recipe and you are suppose to eat them in mini filo shells. You make the filling with sugar, lemons, eggs and butter. After it is cooked, thickened and cooled this mixture is combined with fat free whipped topping. This lemon treat is 1.5 points for 2 teaspoons. If you put it in the filo shells the tart is 2 points. I found that if you cut the lemon mixture recipe in half and still use the whole tub of whipped topping you can cut your points in half for the filling. I then just used the filling for a dip with graham crackers and it tastes like lemon pie. The dip is under 1 point for 2 teaspoons and then whatever the point count for your crackers. I am not a big fan of the filo shells because they get soggy after a day or two.
I also have been working out every day. I am not a runner, but I do walk at a medium pace, walking on an incline on the treadmill, and for an average of 80 to 90 minutes a day. I know that is a lot of time on the treadmill, but I watch TV and that keeps my mind off the fact I hate working out. The trick is recording favorite shows, which for me includes a lot of the original Law and Order reruns!
So far the hard work is paying off. I have been losing an average of 1 to 2 pounds a week. Some weeks more, some weeks less, but this is a marathon, not a sprint. I hope that by the beginning of Summer, I will be several sizes smaller and ready for swimsuit season. This may be the first year in a long time that I will not be embarrassed to put on a swimsuit. A girl can dream!
Skinny Ranch Dressing
(author unknown)
1 point for 2 Tablespoons
1 3/4 cup low fat buttermilk
1/2 cup Light Hellman's Mayonnaise
1 oz dry packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
Mix all ingredients together with a whisk, pour into a sealed container and refrigerate for several hours before using.
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