New Year, New Me? (First Anniversary)

So here I was, I’d reached my first anniversary of deciding to change my life and joined Weight Watchers.  Looking back on my first year, I’d lost a whooping 52lbs, several body inches and improved my activity levels.  I’d face the challenges of dealing with temptations, special occasions, plateaus, etc and muddled my way through and got backed on track.  I still had a long road ahead of me but I felt good about my progress and was hopeful.

Photo of CC after losing 52lbs
One year into my journey – 52lbs lost!

The new year is always a good time to revitalise and boast weightloss efforts.  The focus in the media shifts from Christmas indulgence to fitness and health. There is always a range of new grocery products launched to promote getting healthy.  New cookbooks, workout DVDs, equipment and gym wear all add to the ‘New Year, New Me’ feeling.  I particularly enjoy watching some of the many TV shows that explore diets and how to lose weight.  It can be fascinating to see some of the far fetched ideas and extremes that have been used to lose weight.  One of the main benefits of being a Weight Watchers member is the extensive research behind the plan and guidance given.  I know I can trust it.   These TV shows always tend to come back to the same conclusion, that in order to have sustainable weightloss and lead a healthy lifestyle, you have to eat less and move more.

While I try not to be too influenced by these TV shows because I know that a quick fix diet won’t work for me, I have been able to pick up some helpful tips on the shows that feature healthy cooking segments.  For example, after seeing how easy it is to make a healthy homemade tomato based pasta sauce, I haven’t bought a jar of ready made pasta sauce since.

After my first anniversary I went through that year with modest losses, 0.5 – 1.5lbs off, then slight gains.  It was pretty slow going through the spring and summer.  These times did get me down a bit but I persevered by reminding myself of how well I had already done.  When I reached the autumn, there was an unexpected but happy event.  I discovered that I was expecting my second child so Weight Watchers and weightloss would have to be put on hold.  I was about to gain one of my greatest reasons for wanting to be healthy. I needed to be able to keep up with the energy and vitality of a young child!

 

 

2017 Year in Review

My year review of 2017 and my goal for 2018!