LONG overdue update!

Good Day Everyone,
  This blog seems to be the MOST difficult thing for me to get done for some odd reason.  I have two YouTube channels, two Facebook accounts, a Twitter, three email accounts, a Mypoints account, I'm a BzzAgent and the list goes on.  The one thing that seems to get left in the dust of all that is...this.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe because the other things are so much quicker to update, I can update most of that from my cell phone and so many more people follow me on those things.  Or...maybe it's just the writing that seems a daunting task here.  Whatever
the case may be, please forgive me and know that I am trying to put forth more effort to update this blog.  :0)
  I have been following the Weight Watcher's Points Plus program since January 7th, 2011 so almost six months now.  In that time I have lost a grand total of 33.4 pounds.  I have lost for several weeks in a row. I've gained a few tenths here and there.  I have gained over two pounds two weeks in a row and through it all I have been learning a lot.
  One thing I have learned is that I AM capable of persevering with weight loss and being successful even on the weeks where I don't lose.  The last few times I did this "lose weight" thing I was NOT capable of doing that.  I assumed I was just doomed to fatness for the rest of me miserable life.  (or something to that Eeyore effect)  I gave up when "me" took over and blamed it on the fact that I was just NOT one of those people who could do this.  I have found out over the last 5 months that I AM in fact one of those people because I choose to be.
  Another thing I've learned is that there are natural ups and downs to weight loss.  That you can do all the right things, exercise, eat right, drink more water, eat less sodium etc and STILL gain weight.  Even up to 2.2 lbs in one week!!  But if you keep going, if you push as hard as you can to get through it and force yourself to stay on track...IT DISAPPEARS almost as if it were magic!  I was doing all of that and gained 1 lbs one week and 2.2 lbs the next.  WHAT??  I nearly lost it.  And had it not been for the amazing support system that is my family, my YouTube weight loss family and my Facebook family I would have thrown in the proverbial towel.  But I kept going and doing what was right and...low and behold!  The following week I lost 4.4 lbs!  So you see, I hadn't really "gained" anything at all those two weeks.  It all "comes out in the warsh" as my Mom always says.  Translation for my Northern/Non-Southern friends and family: It will all even out in the end.
  So if you find yourself believing that you are the "forever fatty", the one who just can not lose the weight and be "one of those people who lose it all" and/or are on the rollercoaster of up and down weight even though you are trying with all your might to do what's right and healthy....keep on moving, don't stop.  My Weight Watcher's Leader is a sweet, Southern lady of approximately 68 years old.  One of the things she loves to say is this: "Winners never quit and quitters never win.  Success lay just beyond the point where most people give up"  You won't know if you could have made it if you give up.  We CAN DO THIS!
Here are a couple of pictures of me after my last weigh in on Friday, June 24th, 2011: (I "gained" .4 which is nothing but a sneeze!)

Quick Update and Promise

Hello All,
  I am so sorry I have dropped the ball on my blogging here.  I have been mainly focusing on doing daily food vlogs, weekly weight loss vlogs and Weight Watcher's meeting content videos for my YouTube channel.  Check it out if you are interested in my progress etc at: Journeytothinify.
  As for this blog, I will start taking weekly photos and updating on my progress here once again as of TOMORROW.  Friday's are still my weigh in day so I will take a full body shot after my meeting and post it ASAP.  Thank you all so much for subscribing to this blog and once again, I'm sorry for not posting sooner!  Here is a quick photo of myself and my Hubby the weekend of our 11th Wedding Anniversary in May:

jeanisancey's webcam video May 4, 2011 05:27 AM

This is my good friend, Jeani. She's also on a journey to lose weight and this is her response to my "tag" video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAVNevsdfhY) about 10 things I am looking forward to when I lose all this extra weight. Please watch her video, comment, rate and subscribe. She's a great, interesting, sincere and knowledgeable person.

It's the big 20 time! (ALMOST)

Today I weighed exactly 19.4 lbs less than I did on January 7th, 2011.  That, my friend, feels good!  That's just six pounds away from my %10 goal.  (you celebrate your %5 and %10 goals with Weight Watcher's).  And when I hit that %10 goal I will be at the weight I was when I first did Weight Watcher's in 2005 when I lost over 80 lbs.  Which to some may seem like starting over but to me, it's a great accomplishment all things considered.

Here is a picture of me today:                                            And this is me on January 7th:

You guys probably can't see the difference but I can certainly feel it! :0)  My pants are now getting too big, YAY!

I'll be writing another post tonight about the things we discussed in the meeting today.  They were very helpful and I think they will help a lot of you as well.  I will also be uploading my weigh in video today and I'll insert it here when it's done:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5uAqMnX-UA

Love you all!  Thanks so much for supporting me.

Birthday Shmirthday!!!!!!!!!

**CORRESPONDING VIDEO WITH FULL BODY SHOT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4dr0sAQdlg**


And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Galatians 6:9

Hello and welcome back to another weigh in day!  Last week was 2.8 gone and this week it's 1.4.  On my BIRTHDAY WEEK might I add.  The reason I am adding that is...well, lets delve into a little history before we begin that explanation shall we?
I started Weight Watchers for the first time in December of 2005.  My self and a friend decided we didn't want to be fat anymore.  She had done WW before but I had not.  I stayed on plan for a year and lost over 60 pounds.  After we moved from MI to NC I "fell off the wagon" so to speak and allowed myself to be consumed with..self.  I was depressed and going through a very hard time and decided I "deserved" to eat what I wanted because that was my only "happy moments".  Of course now I know, thanks to God, that living for my self and doing what my self wants only brings harm and pain and suffering.  And I got what I deserved out of it alright, FAT and UNHEALTHY.  So...once again (because it worked so well the first time) I went back to Weight Watcher's with a new friend from my new church.  I don't remember how much I lost that time, I think it was around 25-30 pounds.  Then all "hell" broke loose in my life and I literally did not have the strength to fight for my health.  It took all I had just to fight for some semblance of sanity.  I sank lower and lower and my weight climbed higher and higher.  I ate whatever I wanted and whenever I wanted.  I think sometimes I was trying to smother the pain of what was happening with the pain of being sick from eating like that.  I was always ill to my stomach.  Always had indigestion and headaches.  I felt lethargic and couldn't get the energy up to even think straight most days.  A year and a half went by, in that time I tried a few different ways to lose weight but always gave up.  Things started getting better with the situations that had been occurring for so long.  Healing came, freedom from anger and resentment and bitterness came.  But I still couldn't get myself back on the train of weight loss for some reason.  Then I realized that it was because I was still holding on to some resentment toward the people involved in the "situation" that occurred the previous year.  I can't really go into details because it would be wrong of me and I absolutely do not want to even if it wasn't..but I will say my weight was a major factor in what had happened and I felt like "YOU WON'T EVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!"  And so I kept gaining..until I reached the highest I have ever been in my life.
I kept praying and asking God to help me let that go.  He did.  Once I opened my hand, He took it out and threw it as far as the East is from the West.  I've never felt so motivated, in control of my eating habits or "steadfast" on any eating plan I've ever done...ever.  There are no words to describe the difference in how I felt before and how I feel now.
Back to the explanation:  Any time I've been on an "eating plan" of any kind I've always used my Birthday as an excuse to blow it bad. Then it would take me a week, sometimes two, to get back on track if ever.   This time around was very different and for that I give the credit to God.
So here are a few pictures of me this week.  My total weight loss is 16 pounds even since January 7th.  In the video (link at the top of this post) I show you a full body shot, front and back, and I'll try to do that more often so you can see more of how I'm doing.  God bless you all.  I pray you are having a great week and that there is less of you this week than last. (unless you are already thin of course. ;0))
Nicole

I thought a picture of my face would be good so you can see the difference between now and when I started.

Zippidee Do Dah

My oh my what a wonderful day!  I LOST 2.8 POUNDS THIS WEEK.  Man that feels good! I knew last week when it "appeared" that I only lost .4 of a pound that it would show up this week.  Not sure why but it kind of "catches up" with you sometimes.  Same goes for weight gain.  You can eat bad this week and not have it show up on the scale till next week when you've done better.  Very odd...sometimes annoying.  But either way we get there, right?  RIGHT!

We discussed this week about celebrating.  The leader went around and asked who wanted to celebrate how much they've lost to date and that is so encouraging!  Some lost five pounds, some 15 others in the 50's and 60's and so on.  It always helps to hear that people DO lose weight.  Several were Weight Watcher's Lifetime Members meaning they have lost to their goal weight and kept it off so they no longer have to pay and only have to weigh in once every six months I believe.

My Husband went with me today because he took today and Monday off to be with me for my Birthday weekend.  It was neat to have him at my meeting with me.  I think he kinda thought so too.  ;0)

A nice lady came up to me after the meeting and said she could tell in the way I talk about my weight loss etc that I've got that "this is it, this time is the time I will lose it all" look and sound.  That was SO encouraging to me I about cried right there!  She also said the way I share in the meeting is very encouraging to her.  Thank God I can be a blessing to someone else who's traveling this long long road.  (we even got to invite her to church and she's been looking for one, YAY God!)

So all in all it was a very good boost of "power" today to keep me going on this road.  Kind of like a "power up" in a video game.  Not that I would know or anything.....I mean it's not like I play them or something.  I mean COME ON, that's for kids....ahem.  Isn't it?  (tee hee hee hee)

I was definitely reminded today that we have up weeks and we have down weeks.  We have really great and encouraging weeks and we have weeks when all we want to do is crawl under the bed and never come out.  But it WILL happen if we continue to be strong and push on and pick ourselves up and dust off when (not if) we fall down.  If we just stay down there in the dirt we will be nothing at all but...fat and dirty.  Oh, and unhealthy.  Because health should always be our number 1 goal.

So here's me this week, you probably can't tell but my clothes are finally starting to get a little more roomy.  YAY for clothes that are too big!  I hope you all are encouraged this week and that you can see the end of the tunnel ahead of you because it is really there!  Have a big and roomy clothes kind of week.
Love,
Nicole

The low down on my low down Week Eight

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVy4FHDU8pw
Good Morning, Afternoon, Evening, (whichever it may be when you so choose to read this little bloggie of mine)
  I completely freaked myself out this morning and I shant be doing it again!  The weapon of choice was a metal contraption that I have had since 2008.  The contraption in question would be one digital scale which has been moved from place to place, knocked over, the glass chipped and so on.  I chose to step on said scale this morning to "check" my weight before going to be....WEIGHED.  Why, you ask, would I weigh myself before going to be weighed on a scale that is regularly maintained to guarantee accuracy?  Well let me answer that for you, AS SOON AS I FIGURE IT OUT MYSELF!  I have no clue why I decided to torture myself but alas, I did.  So here is the sad tale of the morning of unnecessary torment for Moi.

  My morning began at exactly 6:15 AM when the theme from The Muppet Show began blaring from my not so smart smart phone.  I dismissed the alarm and promptly jumped...to the other side of my pillow where I drooled for another 10 minutes.  Upon arising (very slowly as my back is hurting from rockin' the Zumba a bit too hard I suppose) I lumbered to the bathroom with my eyes still half closed and the half that was open was blurry. Flicked on the light so as to ensure I didn't fall asleep sitting on the potty and began thinking "hmmm, maybe I should try it ONE MORE TIME and weigh myself before I go to my meeting this morning just to see if my scale is accurate even though it was off horribly last week".  So I quickly flitted about (as quickly as one can flit with their eyes half open and still half asleep) looking for the perfect LIGHT WEIGHT outfit to wear, threw it on and grabbed the metal monster.  Placed it gingerly upon the same spot I always set it, tapped it with my heel and waited for it to reach 0.  I stepped on the scale and the number jumped off the scale, grabbed me around the neck and began choking me until I stepped off of it.  "What!?!?!  I EXERCISED regularily this week AND I ate more veggies AND...I was good!"  The scale was telling me that I had GAINED almost two whole pounds this week.  As I'm sure you can guess I was more than a little upset.  Had I slacked and sat on my rear eating baked Lay's all week I can see that but I just didn't!

  So I went about my morning routine, got dressed, brushed the teeth, washed the face.  Got lunch ready for the boy child, started the make up application and so on and so on until the children had gone off to school and I sat staring at the floor thinking "do I even want to GO to Weight Watcher's today??".  That thought was immediately followed by "YES, of course you do!".  So, I gathered myself, painted on the rest of my face and decided I was going to be happy no matter what the outcome because I had done the right thing all week and walked towards health instead of running into the land of death, obesity and all the other horrific things that come with that..  This, of course, was after getting a magnificent pep talk from my favorite male cheer leader (AKA my Husband).

  And now we arrive at the meeting place.  I remove my sweater, set my purse down, take off my shoes and wonder if anyone will notice if I take off my pants and shirt so I don't have to weigh them.  But I decide that's a very bad idea and I proceed.  The lady weighing me says "how was your week?" so I launch into my explanation of the morning as I step on the scale and watch her face for any sign of a twitch or the ever dreaded "down cast eyes".  But instead, as I spill my guts, she looks up and says to me "well that ole scale was wrong this week!".  I have lost .4 of a pound, that's almost half!  And that totals 11.8 pounds lost.  YAY.

  Yes, I went through all of thee above torment for NOTHING.  All because I chose to use the scale that cannot possibly be working when last week it told me I had LOST almost two pounds only to find out I had "gained" .2 of a pound.  So the moral of the story?  Well, there are a few morals here now aren't there?  1. NEVER use a digital scale (or any other for that matter) that has been dropped etc because they are no longer useful.  2.  STOP worrying about the number on the scale and focus on becoming healthy in my eating habits, exercise habits and thoughts.  3. Keep your pants and shirt on in public.

  I hope this is helpful to you all and that you have had a great week and have accomplished what you need to accomplish to get that much closer to being the healthy you that the Lord created.  God bless you!
**SORRY FOR THE LACK OF PHOTOS, I COMPLETELY FORGOT!**