Carol122201 & WW

[karri]

Hi Carol, I just wanted to let you know how inspiring I think your home page & success story threads are. I'm also a member of WW, have hit lifetime 2 times (after each child), but am now back to needing to lose between 10 & 15 pounds. I'm trying to do it online, but I just can't seem to stay motivated to track my food intake. I'm doing great with my Cathe tapes -- like you, I wasn't being challenged enough by Firm and Fitprime & realized when I tried my first Cathe cardio (Imax I ) that I had no aerobic endurance at all! I've come a long way in the last six months with Cathe strength & cardio work. Anyhow, to my question, do you track your food intake every day and how do you stay motivated to stay within your points? Also, would it be okay to chat with you on the WW boards (if so, what's your name there)? Sorry for such a lengthy message and thank you for posting your wonderful ongoing success story!

Karri

 

[Carol122201]

Hi Karri!! Of course it's okay to chat with me on WW!! I would love that. My name is the same as here - I just didn't want to have to remember two different ones - LOL!

Yes, I journal every single day, even when I've gone over points for the day. I also keep track of my points in an Excel spreadsheet, because I prefer to see how many points per day I average over the course of the week, rather than obsessing on each day. I still tend to average 23 to 25 points a day, even though at this weight I should be eating 18 to 23 a day. Because Cathe's workouts are so intense, I found when I tried to eat at the lower points, I wasn't losing weight. Now, I'm holding steady at an average of 1.5 pounds per week, when taken over the course of the 24 weeks I've been on it. That's fine by me!! I'm thrilled with how well this program works, and I'm VERY thrilled with Cathe's tapes!! It's so nice to "meet" another former Firm/FitPrime to Cathe convert!! I first found out about Cathe on the FitPrime forum, where some praised her, and some said she was too intimidating, if you can believe that! I found the FitPrime instructors much more standoffish and intimidating than anyone. Cathe to me comes across as very warm and human, and not in the least intimidating. I love her teaching style, and I consider myself living proof her tapes are every bit as effective as they claim to be! If this nearly 46 year old woman can do it, ANYONE can!!

How do I stay motivated? I like having to buy smaller clothes every six weeks! LOL! I'm serious. I wish I could explain what finally happened to me to make it stick this time, but I don't know how to. It's like something snapped inside, and I had simply reached my limit. I love looking in the mirror and being shocked at how thin I look! I love having size 8 jeans that are LOOSE now! I love all the energy I have from eating right and working out! I think everyone has that certain "Ah-ha!" moment that has to happen in their lives to make them stick to any program. And, with exercise, it's like it gets in your blood or something, and you HAVE to have it. It's addicting, but in a good way of course since it's so healthy for you!

I hang out mostly on the Amazing 40 year old board on WW, so I hope to see you there sometime!! It's a different group than here ... a lot more whining and complaining about things over there, and there are a couple of everyday threads that have little or nothing to do with weight loss, but for the most part they're a good group of folks, and you will find good advice and support over there. This group is, of course, much more exercise oriented and WAY more positive on the whole. There are fitness boards over there, but no one I've ever talked to on there does Cathe. I think exercise as a whole over there is regarded as something they SHOULD do, rather than something they WANT to do, but I still talk about it. They might not like it, but they're going to hear it from me!! LOL!!

Carol

 

[karri]

Carol, thanks so much for responding! You really are an inspiration. Maybe you'll be my "ah-ha"! The exercise part has really clicked for me, but not the eating part yet. I think I messed myself up by going on a diet program that really restricted calories and what you could/could not eat. It was not enough food for me considering the exercise level and I really struggled to lose weight. It took me about 4 months to lose 10 pounds. Actually, the 20 points per day on WW is not enough either. I'm about the same height as you and just turned 39. I found when I tried to stick to 20 points, the weight just wasn't coming off, but at 23-25 points it's coming off like it does for you (about 1 to 1.5 pounds per week). My problem is that I stick to it for about two weeks, lose some weight, and then "fall off the wagon" again for about a week or so. I'm a real stress eater. I'm my own worst enemy! I think because my food intake was so restricted before, now that I can have what I want (like chocolate when I'm PMSing), I go completely overboard when I'm stressed and don't count my points because I'm scared to see how much I'm actually eating.

I discovered Cathe through the old Firm website forum and the Firm Ya-Yas. I've gotten real serious about doing her stuff in the past nine months. I just haven't been able to get myself to do a Firm or Fitprime tape since then because I know I'll feel like I'm just wasting my time ;-) I still cannot get through Imax 1. I don't know if I'll ever make it through that tape! I posted on the WW site about six months ago looking for any other Cathe fans and just couldn't find any either and got the same impression about the attitude toward exercise. Oh yeah, do you go to weekly WW meetings or just do it online? Again, thanks for being such an inspiration and I'll definitely look for you over at the WW site.

Karri

 

[Carol122201]

Hi again Karri! It's so good to find a kindred spirit, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who got that feeling about exercise from the WW site.

I do WW strictly online. We live in a small town about 25 miles SW of Cleveland, and I don't have a lot of time to drive around to things like meetings. I'm an RN who works nights, and my schedule changes from week to week. Not only would it be difficult for me to maintain a specific weekly meeting time, but for the same reason I don't drive to a gym to workout, I don't want to spend time driving to someplace for a meeting. To be fair, I went to a couple around here. We only have two places within 15 minutes driving time where there are meetings. I didn't feel comfortable at either place. The first place I went to was last summer, way before I joined. I was about 188 pounds, and two women (total strangers!!) said to me, "You don't need to lose weight". WHAT??? LOL!! I was in size 18!! I most certainly DID need to lose weight! Of course, they were both much larger than me, but that's not the point. The second one was at a local church, and the room was small, the people seemed to have known each other forever, and they sat there and debated the points in a slice of frozen pizza. OMG ... not my style at all, if you know what I mean!!! I realize they're not all like that, but with such limited choices within what I consider a reasonable driving time, I made the decision to do this myself online. I haven't once regretted it. When the message boards start to annoy me, all I have to do is log off the site - LOL! I get all the support and information I need for the day, the points tracker is accessible from any computer, and there is more information on there than I have even had time to explore.

As for sticking to the points and not over-eating, I find having water next to me at all times really helps. I love sugar, but I know now that once I start, I can't stop. It's really an addiction for a lot of people, and I'm one of them. My trouble doesn't come at home because we no longer have anything "bad" in the house. I have WW ice cream treats, but I limit myself to one a day. Not always easy, but it's one of my "unbreakable" rules that I know I have to stick to, or I'd sit there and eat the entire box. My problem is at work. People bring food in all the time! Families of patients give us cookies and chocolate, and there's always someone bringing in something they baked! I have to be VERY careful. My simple rule at work is .. if I break down and eat it, I have to journal it. I've done a few ridiculous things some nights, but I have also found overall it does very little damage to indulge once in a while. After all, the program is about learning healthy eating habits FOR LIFE. The whole idea of nothing being truly "forbidden" is that its teaches us to make healthy choices. Eating one piece of chocolate is not an unhealthy choice. Eating the entire box is.

Don't beat yourself up if you go over points one day. Just cut back the next. At the end of the week, you'll find you haven't really gone over! In fact, I've seen enough posts on those message boards to really believe varying your points from day to day will actually help you lose more quickly, than eating the exact same amount every single day. If you find yourself wanting to binge, figure out first how many points you'll be eating. I do that at work A LOT when I'm tempted by the cheesecake someone just brought in, or the blonde brownies one of our nurses makes all the time! I figure out how many points I would be eating, and ask myself if it's worth that many. Usually, it's not, and I grab my water and get back to work. Or, I have a very small piece of something, journal it, and then move on.

It's a constant battle of wills .. with yourself! LOL! It's an everyday thing. Small baby steps. One day, you'll find it's an automatic thing to eat this way, and you won't remember a time when you didn't. You'll get there! I know you will!! And the exercise will make all the difference in the world! I am so amazed by the results I'm getting from Cathe's tapes!

Carol