When I saw what the scale had to say about my efforts last week on WW, it took me a while to figure out why I went up 1.2 this week. But this time, I will not let the scale tell me how I am feeling at this moment!

I have several Non Scale Victories to share with you folks. The first of which is my pants are starting to fit me a little better. The second NSV is that over the past couple of days, I did well over 2 hours of outdoor walking while catching up on some of the errands I could not get because of the recent snow storm that has hit NYC. Plus, the weather outside was so enjoyable, I had even got in a walk on the Beach Boardwalk, which is almost empty when I got there.

However, However, my slip up was at the office when I was trying some food that I rarely eat out of curiosity. That has led me to my third and final Non Scale Victory last week on WW. That was eating only the breaded chicken breast and half of the Tater Tots on my plate. But I had tracked it, then got back on track immediately.

On top of that, I have earned 5 out of 7 days in which I earned a Blue Dot. I had chosen to take advantage of my Weeklies and eat a little more. But this new WW week, I am cutting my weekend eating in half by having only one day that I eat more Points by either more food or foods that are higher in Points. That strategy has helped me lose some weight the week before and I hope to do it again at my next weigh in.

We will see what happens as my WW journey continues toward my Goal & Pre-Pandemic weight of 203!

I am very happy about what the scale had to say about my efforts last week on WW. Especially since I have now figured out the trigger foods that may have been causing my weight to creep up on me not only during this Pandemic, but also in General. That has helped me saved some Weeklies that I did not need to eat or drink. I have also been earning 6 Blue Dots in a row on my WW app. Speaking of WW, I have been experimenting with a few of their products to find out what will work for me and what will not work.

For my brand new WW week, I am going to focus on continuing to add more variety to my food. In other words, when I cook Brown rice, I will add lean pork chops to that. When I cook Whole wheat pasta, I will add grilled chicken breast tenderloins to that. I also have 93% lean beef burger as my food treat to enjoy with Tater Tots. As per usual, Activity depends on how I organize my time and the recent rounds of snow storms had made it a challenge for me to get in my outdoor walks. But I still get out there and do whatever errands I need to do, including groceries.

By the way, the trigger foods I was referring to earlier was coffee creamers by Coffee Mate, International Delight & Dunkin’ Donuts. When I was a sale at the supermarket on one of those products recently, I Thank God I had passed up on those. Especially now since some of my pants are becoming less of a struggle to button up. But I still have a ways to go before I return to my new Goal and Pre-Pandemic weight of 203. But 16.9 away is now more doable because I have reached Goal once and returned to Goal twice. All I have to say to myself now is that I am still here and continue to trust the process & the journey.

I am sure most of you folks have enjoyed The Super Bowl last Sunday and Congrats to the Tampa Bay Bucs. But I have scored a touchdown after Super Bowl Weekend! Not by being mindful of what I was eating that weekend. Well, sort of. The big thing I did on Super Bowl Sunday was I had identified my issue with the sugar! For me, I can no longer have regular creamers from Coffee Mate, International Delight or even Dunkin’ Donuts in my house. The whole bottle would be gone in just 2 or 3 days. The same thing I used with regular soda back in the day when I was 231 pound heavier. That is why these days, I do not even have Diet or Zero Calorie soda. They all must be on the outside as a food treat. In WW language, regular creamer is a trigger food and I may have also figured out why I have been a heavy coffee drinker in recent years. I was not craving the caffeine. I was craving the sugar. Instead, I have lower in Points and Sugar options to add to my coffee. They include Unsweetened almond milk, Low Fat Half & Half and even low calorie creamers by Silk and Splenda.

Of course, I was mindful of everything else I was eating. I did a little treating myself to a slice of Buffalo Chicken Pizza and a Beef Patty with regular soda for lunch. But got back on track the next meal. I was focusing more on fresh fruits and Low Points cheeses as a snack at work flow. But occasionally, nuts or fat free popcorn.

So now, I am not out of the 220’s yet. But I will take this weigh in full stride. Especially since it is becoming less of a struggle to fit into some of my pants. I am most proud of myself for my two Major Non-Scale Victories last week on WW and now, I am going for my next NSV! That is to be out of the 220’s once and for all and ultimately, get rid of these last 18.7 pounds to return to my Pre-Pandemic weight of 203. And now that I have acknowledged my behavior with certain foods, this is an awesome first step towards getting back there!

Happy Valentine’s Day, by the way! I will be my own Valentine this year and treat myself to the gift of health and wellness.

I do not even know how to start talking about because I am too upset about how the scale did not move in my direction this week. But I am going to anyway. Last week was one challenging week on WW if there ever was one! With the frigid cold, the continuing Pandemic, a recent Nor’Easter and changes in my schedule, I had a lot of challenges and I have conquered them all to the best of my ability.

Unfortunately, I think I have paid for it with the scale because last weekend alone was crammed with overeating and getting in less than 10,000 Steps on Saturday & Sunday. The scale also made me pay for my slip ups. But only half of certain foods I have not had in years. Aside from that, I did more meal prep to add more variety to my meals and I am working on having Peanut Butter less often with my breakfast. I am crying to myself right now because I am not happy with my recent weigh-ins since my birthday and WW anniversary had passed. However, I am still here and I am still working the program.

I still have clothes that I cannot fit into right now, prior to this Pandemic. I will just have to work a little harder to get one step closer to where I want to be. The scale has got to start moving again in my favor!

Okay, so I am Up another 1.5 this week and Ugh, that number looks scary. But, last week on WW, I had left behind 5 Weeklies, as opposed to the week before where I went over my Weeklies by a whopping 26. However, last week on WW brought some hug challenges. From cold Winter weather to changes in my schedule and I had picked the wrong day to take a Day of Rest in the exercise department. In other words, I was not as active as I wanted. However, I was most mindful of the food since I had tried some new things to cook at home and were Delicious!

My brand new WW week has brought those same challenges. But I am well prepared with everything I had to restock on and I had joined a WW Virtual Workshop recently to get started on the right track. I am additionally going to challenge myself to not have Peanut Butter with my breakfast the rest of this new week. I do not know if it will work wonders for me on the scale. But with my schedule ahead, I had already Pre-Tracked in my mind what my meals will look like.

Here’s to a new WW week as my mission to return to my Pre-Pandemic weight of 203 continues!

Last week on WW was my vacation for both my 49th birthday and 15th WW anniversary. However, I only celebrated with food on two occasions. First last Friday, when I enjoyed Chinese Food for the first time in years with beef, white rice, broccoli and some egg dinner as a dinner with regular soda. And of course, my birthday when I enjoyed a couple of slices of pizza and ice cream birthday cake. I got back on track the rest of my meals last week. I also did as much walking as possible. I had also put a workout every day I was on vacation. I also noticed less of a struggle buttoning up some of my pants. So in time, I know the scale will catch up. But in the meantime, it is time to back to the business at home and do everything I got to do to return to my Pre Pandemic weight of 203!!

….I was attending my then gym in Brooklyn to ask the reception area for directions to the Weight Watchers meetings they held there. On January 21st, 2006, I had walked into the doors for the first time and I weighed in at a whopping 418.8 pounds. I was unhappy. I was miserable. I did not know what being a healthier and healthier person would look and/or feel like because most of my time, I was isolated, low self esteemed and taking care of my grandparents, who were sick for a long time. It was my choice of living at that time because they raised me when my late parents were not around.

To make a long story short, my very first Weight Watchers meeting (now known as WW workshops) was my birthday gift to myself and it would become the best birthday gift I had ever given myself. I had met so many wonderful coaches and members and learned so much about eating healthy, being more active & building habits out of them. By May of 2009, I had lost a total of 231 pounds and became a Lifetime Member of WW, keeping most of it off since then. Life started happening over the years. Some were for the better and some were for the worst. However, I had returned to my Goal weight twice. First in 2012 to my original Goal weight of 188, then again in 2018 to my then-Goal weight of 200 even and maintained there for over a year.

So now, here we are in 2021 and I had just wrapped up my 15th anniversary on my journey. I had also turned 49 years young the day before. I am most proud of myself because I made WW a part of my lifestyle. As I mentioned, my life right now is much different than what it was than when I first started. However, I had chosen not to wait until my 49th birthday or The Inauguration of the new President of the United States or even my WW anniversary to begin again my third climb towards returning to Goal. That started the very moment my living arrangements began to change and I had made the choice to take over and take back control of both my life and my WW journey. As of this moment, my new Goal weight is 203 even, which was what I had weighed in before the Corona Virus Pandemic became the big news story all over the country. But now, I am 14.5 away from reaching my Goal weight once again.

I am still here!! I will never give up!! What did not kill me made me stronger!!

Yes Indeed, last week on WW started with a Non-Scale Victory when I had my first annual Check-Up since The Pandemic with my brand new doctor, who gave me some great advice about staying healthy, losing my Pandemic weight and taking care of myself during my Winter season. Last week on WW ended with a Non-Scale Victory when my Podiatrist told me that my feet and the calluses are very much less of an issue each time I see him. They were bad when I first walked into his office almost 8 years ago. But more importantly, they my calluses were worse when I started my WW 15 years ago this Thursday because I struggled to walk even one mile.

However, I had a couple of challenges along the way which not only caused me to slip up. But also forced to take two days of rest in a row in the exercise department. However, another major NSV came out of it when I am having less of a struggle to fit into my Uniform pants at work flow and a few other clothes I had not been able to wear in quite a while.

All of that, and I had enjoyed my first slice of Pizza from my favorite Pizza restaurant in a long time. I have not been eating out that much because of The Pandemic. But at the same time, I cook most of my food at home in order to save money.

So for my brand new WW week, I am on vacation for both my upcoming birthday and WW anniversary celebrations. So for now, I look forward to having extra hours of sleep and hopefully, more time for longer workouts. My birthday will be most special because of some big event going on. But I have discovered in recent years, I will be careful about bringing that up.

In the meantime, I am still 14.5 away from returning to my new Goal and Pre-Pandemic weight of 203 and as long as I keep going with my WW journey, I will get there!

I feel like I am on a roll now. But of course, I do not want to get carried away. One of the things I was most mindful was the sugar. In other words, I did not bring sweets or candies that sound like a good food treat now, but pay for it with the scale later. As far as activity is concerned, I did a lot of walking and doing more Abdominal Training with my Fitness DVD library as I had noticed my Belly got a little bigger doing the Pandemic. But at the same time, get some exercise in before bedtime.

My brand new WW week got off to a great start when I had my annual physical with my new General Doctor and was informed that everything with me is normal. That is one big Non-Scale Victory I am proud of. In addition, I am also in the middle of restocking on what I need to stay successful including a brand new Dairy and Almond Milk Blend from Real Farms, which is 3 Points per cup that I absolutely love. Now, it is all about the meal prepping.

So as of this moment, I am 13.7 away from my New Goal & Pre-Pandemic weight of 203. I focusing more on the water by having both Bottled and Sparkling water in my side of the house. Of course, honest tracking with my food, measuring my Portions and being as active as possible will all play a role in how soon I will return to 203. However, no matter how long it takes, I will never give up!!

Up 0.2 or Maintaining is not bad for this week’s weigh-in and an excellent start to 2021!!

Last week on WW, I was working on changing things up a bit with meals mixed some of my favorite WW products and I even enjoyed some of my cousin’s Christmas dinner. However, I took a couple of days of rest in the exercise department. So even if I was not exercising as much as I would have wanted, I was getting more rest. One day of rest was focusing on walking out in the bitter cold for restocking on my food and 2 weeks of meal prepping. The other day was because I did not get enough sleep the night before.

Now, please do not ask me what my New Year’s resolution is because since starting my WW journey, I did not feel the need to make any. However, I am focusing to losing these last 18 1/2 pounds to return to my Ultimate Goal weight of 200 even. But lose enough weight so that I can fit better into my clothes.

For my brand new WW week, I have recently treated myself to a brand new bathroom scale (pictured here) and I love it already because it reminds of the scales at the WW In-Person workshops, which I miss so much. I will continue with any Virtual WW workshops that my schedule and time permits me to attend. In the meantime, I am getting rid of my old scale, which I had just noticed was lying to me. Of course, the food department, I will continue to mix things up and continue this journey to getting back the happy me that I was before this Pandemic started!!

I wish to you all of you Folks a Happy, Healthy, Joyous, Blessed and Safe New Year. May God bless you all in 2021 and let us crush our WW Goals!!