This is going to be a long post but an important one…
Yesterday I took some time to go through my files and to organize my paperwork (checking things off my fall bucket list, woo hoo). Among my files were my medical records from my childhood. As I turned the pages I grew so discouraged to see that at the age of 9 I was taken to a dietitian because I was classified as obese. In my charts the doctor quoted me saying “I want to weigh 90 lbs”. I WAS 9 YEARS OLD!! How did I know that weighing 124 was too high and that I needed to weigh 90 pounds?
As I continued to flip through my records I saw that I first broke 200 pounds at the age of 13, weighing in at 213 lbs. My highest weight is recorded at 269 lbs at the age of 17. Over those years I was on many diets and joined Weight Watchers with my mom many times. Still, I continued to lose weight over time, struggling to get down to a healthy weight for my age each year.
As an adult I have joined Weight Watchers roughly 6 times, including last fall. As a sophomore in college I joined Weight Watchers and lost about 30 pounds. Then right out of college (2006) I rejoined Weight Watchers and lost 54 pounds, the most weight I had ever lost on the program. At 207 pounds I was happy and stopped attended Weight Watchers as I wanted to be able to do it on my own.
Since 2007 though, I have gain 25 pounds… gaining and losing the same 10-15 pounds year after year.
As I shared earlier last week, Robyn made a huge impact on my life while at the Runners World event. Robyn lost 90 pounds with Weight Watchers but it was something she said that made the biggest impact… “JUST DO IT”.
My reasons for quitting Weight Watchers over the past 6 years have included, “I don’t want to track points for the rest of my life” and “I want to be able to do this on my own”. Although there is truth to both of my reasons for quitting, Weight Watchers is a plan that has worked best for me and is one I need to stick with in order to reach my goal weight. As Robyn shared, until I reach my goal weight I just need to do it and then when I reach my goal weight I can figure out how to maintain and live a life without counting points.
Rejoining Weight Watchers on Sunday, October 21 was exciting and difficult all at the same time. It’s humiliating to rejoin but at the same time I was excited to recommit to a program that helps me to be successful. On top of the fear of weighing in, I weighed in at 234.2 lbs which freaked me out! That’s 14 pounds more than my weigh-in on September 24. Thankfully I read that weighing yourself post running a race is never a good idea as your body holds a massive amount of water weight in order to allow muscles to heal.
My first week on Weight Watchers went extremely well and I was very excited about my first full week weigh-in.
Starting Weight: 234.6 lbs
Last Weigh-in: 228.8 lbs
This Weigh-in: 224.2 lbs
Difference: -10.4 lbs
I will be weighing in every Tuesday and will share my results here on Coffee Cake and Cardio each week. I do not know what my ultimate goal is, but my current goal is to track everything I eat, to follow the Weight Watchers plan, and to get back down to my lowest weight, 207 lbs..
As readers, what would you like me to share about each week? My workouts? Daily eats? Struggles? Non-scale victories?
As always, thank you all for following my journey, for reading my blog each day, and for being incredibly supportive. I hope that my journey helps you with your own in some way.
Ashley
