In my first post, I mentioned how I wanted to focus a little less on the weight loss, i.e., the numbers, and a little more on everything else. But of course this blog is about weight loss. It is definitely a big part of what this blog is. I just don’t want to reduce my progress to numbers.
I have been thinking about how to incorporate it into my blog. I do weigh in every week on Wednesdays, and I record my weight in the Weight Watchers plan manager.
Because of my weight gain, I have considered resetting the plan manager because I am currently over my starting weight. I’d have to lose nearly 30 pounds to get to where I was (in December 2010) to even hit any new milestones with Weight Watchers. That idea is a bit daunting – I loved hitting new milestones, they were a great motivation to keep going. Have you hit the reset button on WW Online before?
I used to have a separate page dedicated to my weigh-in results, but I am not sure I want to put that much emphasis on them anymore. I will still be weighing in weekly, but I remember how I ended up having to update my weight in five different places which definitely got too much. I definitely want to simplify things a little as I don’t have as much time for blogging as I used to and I’d rather use the time I do have for writing actual content rather than just updating numbers.
How do you handle the numbers? Do you track your progress in your sidebar? Have a separate page for it? Use one of those graphic tickers? Do you publish your weigh-in results for every week at all?
I didn’t know you were doing Weight watchers! Are you doing the whole thing with the points and their products and the weigh-ins, or are you just using their website?I don’t know anything about Weight Watchers but when I first started losing weight and I knew that I still had 40kg to go, I felt like I HAD TO focus on the numbers. I was so over-weight that I didn’t FEEL losing 1kg or even 3kg – it made no difference to my body and how it felt. So the only way to stay motivated was to fixate on the numbers. I kept an Excel sheet where I documented my weight once a week.
Now that I “only” have 10kg to go, I can “listen” more to my body, if that makes any sense. Because I’m not as over-weight anymore overall, losing 2kg now really makes a difference in the way I look and feel and so I don’t care as much about the numbers anymore and no longer keep a list or anything like that. But I always have my current weight in mind and check about every other day just because. I also still have that goal weight in mind and regardless of what I look or feel like, I will be ECSTATIC when I see that number on my bathroom scale.
Also, I hope you’re feeling better now! Stomach flu sucks (except for the weight loss).
I do WW online, so no meetings for me. In my opinion the meetings are too expensive. I went to one once a couple of years ago and didn’t think it was that great. I just didn’t learn that much and the meeting was way too big for each member to really get to participate individually (the meeting was about 45 minutes with about 30 members there). Online costs €15/month (which still adds up when you’ve been paying for the past 1.5 years without actually permanently losing the weight like I have), but is much more affordable.
As for the numbers, I will definitely weigh in and keep track of my weight as I need that as a motivation for myself but I am not sure if I want to focus on it so much on my blog anymore.
I am feeling much better now and will be back to work tomorrow. Thanks.
Oh, I forgot to mention, I did sometimes buy some WW products at their meetings, because while they are expensive they have some pretty good chocolate bars for few points. But honestly, it is probably better for me not to because:
a) they really are expensive (€3 for 5 bars – I think they are about 25g each).
b) they are only few points if you eat one, not two or three.
c) there are other snacks that are much better for you and plain old chocolate isn’t that bad in terms of points either if you stick to a small portion (and it is also healthier and cheaper).