Organising My Weight Loss

You will remember last week I spoke about how I am struggling with my weight loss.  In fact right now I am going back to day one and starting all over again.  Not weight wise – weight wise I am still below goal (I hope!) but I know that I have gone above my own personal weight goal.  So I have decided to go right back and complete a cleansing and a reminder post of how I can get back on track.   I thought this might be useful for some of you out there also. 

Weight loss and organisation go hand in hand!

When you start any weight loss programme the first thing that you need to do is arm yourself with all the information that you require.  

Things you need are:

Your actual weight,

Pro points / tracking,

Renewed inspiration material,

Menu plans,

Exercise plan,

Your actual weight

This is one thing at this moment in time I do not know the answer too because I was too scared to go to my weight watchers meeting and get on the scales.  Yes I am a chicken!  There I said it!  Ok so as far as I know from my last weight watcher meeting I was 9 stone 10 pounds. I am hoping that I haven’t gone above it.  However in recent weeks I am eating – when I say eating it is more picking at food! I am annoyed at myself – in fact I am furious with myself.  Even when I am taking something out of the cupboard and actually eating it - I am beating myself up. Hence this getting back on track phase I am in right now.  So I need to know my actual weight – that will wait until my weight watchers meeting on Thursday – and if you don’t hear from me on twitter Thursday morning – give me a big shout out and telling off.

I weigh myself on my own weight watchers scales earlier in the week however I got conflicting results so I am wary on using it as an actual – first I was 9 stone 11 and then I was 9 stone 9 a few hours later.  So the actual weigh in is the one that counts for me.

Pro Points / Tracking

Knowing pro points in food that you regularly eat is half the battle – the other is having a pro points
(or points plus) calculator to hand.  How you want to record these points is entirely up to you but I use an app on my phone for both points and tracking.   I am in Ireland so weight watchers doesn’t have an Ireland app – so this works for me.

The Iwatchr app for the iphone is amazing.  You can calculate your points for both Europe and the US on it – there and then so you don’t need to bring the book with you.

You can also store in points of frequently used items so that you can reference them quickly and then add on to a daily log. Yes there is a daily log and you can also calculate the points that you have from exercise.

The phone app is great – as you can take it out in the supermarket and check the pro points of a product.  It is brilliant! When I first downloaded the app the next thing I did was go through the weight watchers book and added in the points of my frequently used foods.

Tracking is the best way to discover what you are eating and how many points you are taking each day.  So from today the point tracking starts –  I can no longer avoid it – it has to be done!  

Renewed inspiration material,

 I have spoken previously about my photograph that I use as inspiration – that needs to take front and centre in my mind.  My BFF also sent me a photo recently that really is worse than what I actually thought was my worst.  So I am off to print that now as inspiration and I am going to stick it on the inside of the biscuit cupboard also so that there is no avoiding it!  Never go back.

I also have some lovely pins over on Pinterest – why not follow me.  Take a look at them and take some that will help you get through as inspiration.

Menu plans

As I said at the start of this post – weight loss and organisation go hand in hand that is why planning your meals is very important.

Sit down at the start of the week or even the start of the day if you don’t have that much time and plan what you are going to eat for your dinner each week/day. I use dinner as my main - because for me that is the most pointful meal of the day.  From there I back track on my points for the day and divide out.

It is hard to plan out meals but if you can take some time today or this week do so – look at meals that you can have and look at the points.  Taking this little bit of time will mean the most to you in the long run!

Over the coming weeks I will add some of my favourite meals up here pointed out so that you can try them as well.

Exercise plan

Exercise is important – and it cannot be ignored when it comes to losing weight. I am still walking which is my exercise of choice.  But unfortunately my food choices are sabotaging my efforts with walking.  So hopefully getting back on track with my food will help me see a loss on the scales.  Remember that everyone can find time to fit exercise in to their day  - all it takes is twenty minutes a day –  remember this can even be fitted in to your lunch hour!  It really is that simple!

I promise that I will keep everyone updated on my weight loss over on twitter – please follow me to keep up to date and I will post another update here soon.  Hopefully all good news.

Do you have any tips or words of hope for me during this struggle with my weight loss!  Please leave them in the comment section on the blog or on twitter.

Stay strong

S