Battle of the Bulge

I had this big dream that I would be able to fit into my jeans by Nicky's first birthday and be back to my pre-pregnancy weight by Christmas.  Well Nicky turns 1 in two weeks and let me tell you - I've tried everything - from wishing really hard that the weight will come off all the way to sometimes watching what I eat and occassionally doing a bit of exercise and for some reason, none of this has worked!  Surprised?  Ya, neither was I.

So last week I bit the proverbial bullet and joined Weight Watchers.  I did WW back when I lived back in Canada to great success.. but I vowed I'd never do it again because I didn't like their idea of it being a simple equation between energy in/ energy out... that eating chocolate could be the same as eating an avocado simply because of the fat content.  I disagree with this.  I think that it's about total health and eating the right foods to feel good and look good.  BUT then I realised that WW has done a revamp and is now doing what is called ProPoints (which I find a bit confusing because their old way was Points but regardless..) which  takes in to account the type of food you eat.  So I went to a meeting last week and found out all about it. I  have to say, I thought it was really good.  I am actually eating way more that I did on the Points version but lots of healthier foods....  I was a bit sad to see that when I got to the meeting and stepped on the scales for the first time in ages it turned out that my hoping and wishing actually got me to GAIN 4 kgs.

But I've been doing the program for nearly a week now and my husband is totally on board too.  With me having had pnd we both really let our eating habits slide and have done little exercise.. which we both know wasn't the 'right' thing to do, but we were just trying to survive.  It obviously would've been better if we'd have been healthier and maybe I wouldn't have gotten so sick, but we did what we could with the knowledge and the tools that we had at the time.  And now we're getting back on track.  We've both stayed within our 'propoints budget' every day and we're quite excited about the food we're eating!

I've also found that even though it's only been a week, we've both felt more control in our life.  It's like everything is related.  You know, I used to drive my husband to work in town (half hour away) a lot because I hated the mornings and I hated having to get the kids out the door etc so we used to all go together and get a 'treat' on the way.  So we'd rush around and try to get the 4 of us ready by 7:30 am and then we'd stop for our treat - a latte and a muffin.  By the time we got to town, the kids were bored and starting to cry, husband was late and I was stressed... and it ..turns out that my 'treat' was 17 points which is about half of my daily allowance.  Seems like all I was really 'treating' myself to was growing in to a size 16 pant!  So now this week I just stayed home - no need to drive him, I can't get my muffin haha!  So instead I started the day off relaxed and calm and none of us were rushing around. 

Also, because we are doing WW we are not buying take aways, eating out all the time, buying things here and there to feel better... so we'll be saving money.. .it just seems like everything is more under control now. I've also started a 3 week budgeting course today at the Lower Hutt Women's Centre so it seems to me that everything is falling in place nicely.  Time will tell... and tomorrow is my first weigh in so wish me luck!