Sheri - Back from the Brink

September 2006, nearly 200 pounds

September 2007, 142 pounds

December 2007, 131 pounds

I’m putting this website together to document my journey back from the ‘brink’ by using Weight Watchers Online.  I have spent many years looking at strangers who were more obese than me, feeling a little self righteous, but always with a little prayer that I would not get ‘that fat’.  Well, I just kept eating, and I kept getting closer and closer.  But I always had the magic number ‘200’ that I did not want to cross.  If I did, I was afraid I’d never get back.  That was my brink.

I grew up fit and slim, keeping my athletic body by twirling baton.  I at pretty much anything I wanted, and I never learned any kind of portion control or healthy eating habits.   Once I entered community college, I quit twirling baton, but added a few dance classes here and there for fun.  The pounds started creeping on, but that was the ‘freshman 10’, right?  Then I went away to UC Riverside, and lived in the dorms with an all you can eat meal 3 times a day.  Uh, oh!  I had gained 25 lbs by the time I was done with college.

My next big gain came after I married my partner in ice cream eating (our first fight as a married couple was over who ate more of the ice cream!) And then came my first baby, with that extra poundage.  Any exercise pretty much fell by the wayside, other than an occasional walk.  But the ice cream continued…

My only previous experience with serious dieting came back in 1990.  My husband and I both joined NutriSystem to take off what we both realized was too much extra weight.  They had centers with meetings then, but the same expensive food.  It seemed easy, with no thinking needed.  The materials and meetings tried to educate about healthy weight loss and eating, but there was no practice involved!  We lost our weight, but I was left with a powerful craving for anything based on carbohydrates.  And I had no portion control skills, or any desire to eat healthy.  The weight creeped back, and then some too when I had my second son a few years later.

And what can I say?  I took care of my family, I worked full time, and I ate my stress and frustrations every night.  And I got bigger and bigger, with that ‘200’ getting closer and closer.

What made me change?  My first step was somewhat unintentional, I got a new dog.   Our dog Daisy died in April of 2006, leaving us to pine for her, feeling her absence every day.  But we agreed to not get another dog for at least six months, both to properly mourn and also to wait until after our planned 20^th wedding anniversary cruise to Alaska in September.  So in October, we went to a shelter and picked out the friendliest black lab type dog we could find there, and named her Maggie.  She was about 4 months old, and very energetic, and loved to be an amateur landscape architect in our back yard.  So I started walking her almost every day.  I tried hard to tire her out, but even now I usually get tired before she does!  We went further every day, and added some hills near our house.  Now I also intended on getting more fit myself, but had no intention on dieting or trying to lose weight.  No way was I ready to give up anything.  And even though I TIVO Oprah, I avoided all her shows with Bob Greene or Dr. Oz talking about health and fitness.  I didn’t want any reminders about what I should be doing.

So get to the point, you’re saying, how did I start Weight Watchers?  Some health scare, or a particularly bad ‘fat’ picture of myself?  Nah, I’ve had high blood pressure and high cholesterol for years, that didn’t scare me (much).  And I am the family photographer, so I’m not actually in many pictures.  No, it was a sale!  I got an email from my health care provider (Kaiser) offering a discount, so I checked it out, found out that I could do Weight Watchers Online and never go to a meeting, and whoo hoo, save money?  I signed up for a year, since it was the best deal and I knew if I prepaid for that much, I was sure to keep with it.  I do know how to make my cash work.

I have found that the Flex Points system caters to my frugal personality very well too.  I want to get the most bang for my points, and that means eating low fat, high fiber foods, and lots of low points fruits and vegetables for snacks.  I am very seldom hungry now.  But the number one best part of this plan is that I am practicing a healthy lifestyle now, that I will be following for the rest of my life.  My eating habits will not change particularly much after I reach my goal, and I’ve gained a new exercise habit that will also continue.  I have the skills to choose foods that will fuel my body, and to make choices that will keep it fit.

So if you’ve made it this far, check out my site, and more details about what I’m doing to lose the weight. 

Status: As I write this on May 18,I’m halfway to my goal, after 17 weeks of Weight Watchers.  My next mini weight loss goal is to get down to 150 pounds before I leave for my Hawaii vacation.  My next big exercise goal is to run my first 5K race on my 45^th birthday in July.  My cholesterol is down to 184, and I’ve lost at least 13 ¾ inches.