August 31, 2020

Lifestyle Changes!

 The end of October 2019 my wife decided to go on Weight Watchers (now called WW). After about a week and a half, she asked me if I would join as well. Admittedly, I wasn't totally on board with the idea. It was, however, difficult for her to do the program with me NOT being on it. I decided that I would compromise with her. She had a huge Starbucks habit. I figured if I could offset the cost of going to Starbucks nearly every day with paying a monthly plan fee for WW, I would come out ahead. Never would I have believed that I would become a huge WW proponent.

I initially didn't think I would be thrilled to be doing the program with her. We attended the in-person meetings (pre-COVID). My first weigh-in I was down 2.4 pounds! I started November 1st and was thinking that the upcoming holidays would be a bust. Well, at the November 22nd weigh-in I was down 5.6 pounds! I was floored. I wasn't working out, or walking, or doing cardio. All I had done the previous three weeks was change what I ate.

By this point I was wholly on-board with what we were doing. I wasn't going overboard and probably "cheated" more than I should have on the weekends. Yet, I was still losing weight. I was pretty amazed at that point. After the holidays I began doing some workouts. I did ten minutes or so on the elliptical every day for a while. That kind of trailed off as I began to start using dumbbells for an upper body workout. I would alternate dumbbells one day and bodyweight exercises the next.

Fast forward nine months. I'm down forty three pounds! I've been at somewhat of a plateau for a couple of months. I'm hovering around the 180 pound mark. Having started off at 221 pounds, I am still in awe at the progress I achieved. I never could have imagined that I would have lost this much weight in this amount of time. Having someone to share the journey with definitely helps! I think trying to do it alone would have been much more difficult. 

I'm ten pounds from what WW says is my goal weight. I think I can make it. I may need to focus on some cardio. Not my favorite thought but I am certainly willing to try. This has been a life changing experience and I am very grateful that I chose to participate with my wife!