The Events which Lead to my Decision to do Weight Watchers

So one of my New Year's resolutions was to loose weight and be healthy this year. Over the past few years I have been struggling and it always seemed like I was just gaining.  I tried other diet programs such as South Beach, Juicing, simple calorie counting.  However, I always found an excuse of why I want to quit.  Last year was a crazy year with a lot of stresses.  I found I would eat what was convenient and not what was healthy.  This first part will be about a recap of last year's events which did effect my eating and diet.

First, the year started off with a horrible winter and I was stuck indoors for quite a while.  With Dave on travel a lot, it was hard to motivate me to just go outside and be active.  Then we had our lovely trip to the Bahamas, which although a fantastic time, also brought home a souvenir of 10 lbs!

We then found out we were choose to relocate for Dave's work all the way across the country from Maine to San Diego.  We had six weeks to;  get all of our affairs in order, pack up our whole life, and say goodbye to our family, friends, and life back in our home state of Maine.  Through out this time there were a lot of farewell parties, with lots of food, we also ate a lot of prepared or restaurant food because it was convenient, and we also didn't have access to everything in our kitchen.

We were on the road for a whole week.  We usually sat and drove for 5-7 hours each day.  Our longest day we actually drove for over 10 hrs.   Even though we did make sure to do things outside the car.  We went to Niagara Falls. (Note: Canada has the better view, we went across the border for a while) We also walked around and viewed the St. Louis Arch, and Grand Canyon. It was a great trip, lots of fun car ride memories.

Did I mention we had two cats in the back seat???  Moe and Ziggy were fantastic the whole trip. They surpassed our expectations, and even in the hotel rooms, with a minor event the last day, they were superb. Eating wise we didn't do horrible, we tried to be healthier.  We grabbed fruit and veggies at rest stops, tried to make healthy choices for dinner, and had some yogurt for breakfast.  We couldn't really eat at restaurants. We couldn't leave the cats unattended in the car or very long in the hotel rooms.  Finally we arrived in San Diego during rush hour.

The hotel we would call home for the following two months was located smack dab in the center of the Gaslamp district of San Diego.  We lived on the twelfth floor, in a studio apartment, with our two cats.  The hotel was amazing.  I used the pool a few times a week, worked out in the gym, and walked around the city a lot. We also got zoo and Disney passes so we were getting in a lot of exercise...but then there was the food.  We originally planned to eat in our room.  For one-it was cheaper, and two-healthier.  This quickly backfired when we realized the set up and cooking items weren't really made to be used together.  The two burner stove was side ways so you could only put one pan on at a time.  I did purchase a smaller pan, however, the way the stove was positioned it was very hard to cook on.

Which we didn't mind too much.  We were in the middle of the Gaslamp district!!! Surrounded by hundreds of new restaurants, and with his work paying for our food at the time, we indulged quite a bit. From Greek, Irish, Mexican, Indian, we tried a lot of cuisine in those two months.  I also gained almost 20 lbs!!! Finally the time came in September to move to our permanent residence.

I love our apartment; we have four pools, a gym, tennis courts, and there is a park with a track next door.  I love the pool, I swim quite often. The other amenities, not so much.  We again were surrounded by new food places, which we had to try out.  I started working part-time, which I love.  Our life was finally getting some normalcy.

It wasn't long though, until Dave was selected to travel again.  In October he traveled again to Virginia for two weeks.  Through out this time I unpacked, and set up our new place. He was back for a month and then went to Hawaii.  I love that he gets to travel.  He is exhausted from working ten hour days for 14-20 days straight, but so far he enjoys it.   I was a little happy this Hawaii trip in November was cut short.  It was annoying at first because we didn't know what was going on.  However, he was able to be here when my parents arrived.

I loved having my parents here.   We went to the beach, Safari Park, Pool, and even celebrated my Dad's Birthday on a Dinner Cruise.  I also have to thank my mom for actually bringing me to the park next door.  We went there a couple times when she was here.  We celebrated our Thanksgiving with them a week early.  It was a great week, however, sadly they did have to go home. 

Thanksgiving came along with a trip to Disneyland.  Dave and I really enjoyed our weekend together, before he went off to Japan.  He was gone two weeks, and this trip for some reason was really hard for me.  The time difference was difficult to talk to each other, and I would stay up until 1-2 AM so I could hear his voice. I made it a point to go out to Meetup groups, trying to be social. 

I also went through a lot of pictures from the past year.  I couldn't believe how big I had gotten.  My stomach I never really knew how big it had gotten.  But the thing which got me, was how big my arms were!!  I saw a side view, and my arm was twice its original size!!! I knew I had to do something, I wanted to feel better about myself. 

After a lot of research and homework I decided to try something different.  I was watching TV and saw the ad for weight watchers.  I looked at testimonials, looked at the plan, and decided why not?  I paid for a three month membership for Weight Watchers Online, and decided to give it a shot.  I also want to say it was the best $60 I spent in a really long time.

If you are still reading at this point: Thank you!! My next post will be my results after five weeks on the program!!! Results are real!!