Saturday, October 31, 2009

How's THIS For Re-Commitment!! (Video)

First of all, one thousand THANK-YOUs to all of you beautiful people for stepping up and leaving me a comment on my last post when I needed it ;-) This is not the first time I have reached out in need of some support and you never cease to be there for me. With your support, I have something to tell yas!

video

Lynn and I are MORE than a little excited. We have been hinting a little bit that we had "details" about how we have planned to throw ourselves into the much needed accountability plan that we have felt we were lacking. At one point in time, we felt that our blogs were enough to keep us accountable, but since then I think we have gotten used to supporting each other no matter what, which is incredible because we have developed some pretty special REAL friendships through this process and through these blogs over the last FOUR years (almost 4!) and that is something that is definitely going to push us to the finish line! But we felt that we need a little extra "official" push to renew our focus, our motivation and to keep it fresh:



We were both pretty nervous! It was kind of silly considering how far we have come together online over these past few years, but we walked into our meeting as newbies, unsure of what the meetings would bring for us. I made a decision before walking in there that I was going to keep an open mind, get what I needed out of it and just plain be positive and supportive to everyone else too!



And it is official!


What a better day than on Halloween?! I don't exactly know what the significance of that is, but it's exciting anyway! I suppose I can always think of Halloween as a day of strength and not a day of worrying about Halloween candy ;-)



And this was not the fun part. I know that this is not my "real" weight, because I have felt like a helium balloon the past few days, but that is what the scale said and that is what it is! Actually, she recorded me at 190.6 because it kept flip flopping back and forth. Ugh! I CANNOT believe I am seeing that number! Buh Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





And then Lynn and I took a seat and waited for the meeting to begin. There was way more people than we expected and from what they have told us there was 60 people at the earlier meeting too!

Immediately we noticed the people chatting about food and processed treats etc. I wasn't sure how things were going to go, but I decided I wasn't going to judge the meetings based on the other members, but I would decide on how well I related to the leader and the messages that they gave us. I have never really had anyone lead ME before. I've always been the one that people turned TO for advice. I love this shift in focus!



Ultimately, I was supremely impressed with our leader and she did an excellent job at listening to the other members, regardless of where they were in their progress and regardless of what they said and her underlying message continued to be:



She pushed the idea of focusing your POINTS on good whole foods and drinking water as much as possible rather than diet drinks and other forms of liquid that are now considered acceptable under the plan to "count" as your water. One person piped up about how much Crystal Light has helped her drink her water and while she accepted her input and encouraged it, she followed it with reiterating the importance of just water! I liked her a lot and I think this is going to work out really well!

Then Lynn and I ate our late breakfast at Starbucks and fueled ourselves for a little Santa Shuffle run training and we hit the trails in Clayton Park for a light run which was a little less than 5 kms. We each had an apple, piece of cheese, half of an Amazing Grass Whole Food Bar and I had some homemade greek yogurt with some raspberries. Perfect.

We hit the trails, gabbed and chatted as we explored some of the trails around Clayton Park and packed it in! It's Halloween night and I had to get the treats for the kiddies! I NEVER buy them before Halloween because, well, you know why ;-)

On my way home, I had forgotten all about the number of my first WI and I feel GREAT!! I feel motivated, focused and EXCITED!!!

So my challenge to YOU is that if you were "thinking" about maybe joining the WW Meetings and haven't, you should JOIN WITH US!! Even if you don't live here, if you join in your area, we can keep up with each other online and post about our meetings. I never actually read much about meetings around here, so you'll be hearing lots from me!

30 comments:

Marisa (Trim The Fat) said...

Yay, Angie!!! SOOOO, SOOOO proud of you! You are going ALL THE WAY, baby!!!!!

Yay for Lynn, too!

Crystal said...

I'm so proud of you and Lynn! I too will be joining Weight Watcher Meetings ... I'm going next Saturday :) I've been thinking about this a lot over the past week and have contacted a few WW leaders that I know of!!

It will be nice to have others starting out at WW meetings and seeing your sucessess!!

Fatinah said...

I am a long time (life time) WW member - you are going to LOVE it!!

Maria said...

You're amazing and resilient and I'm excited to read along. Joining on Hallowe'en has a nice symbolism to it. :)

Happy haunting!

Alexis_foodfunfit said...

Good for you! This is my 2nd WW week. I was surprised by the lack of pure water needed to meet the "liquid requirement. I hope you continue to get something out of the meetings!

misssarahlou said...

I have been going to meetings for 43 weeks now, some weeks I get more out of it than others but its a nice way to 'start' the week. It completely depends on the leader for me, the members have come and gone, literally, I only recognize a handful of people that are still there from when I started but the leader is the one that you are there to gain knowledge and experience from the most... glad you clicked with your leader. Looking forward to hearing how your journey continues :o)

purple_moonflower123 said...

Yay!! Good for you! I have been going to meetings for over a year now and I love my leader. She is a great speaker and motivator. I think those two factors make for a great meeting! I cannot wait to hear more!

H-woman said...

I've been going to meetings for 6 years (holy moly--I didn't realize it had been that long!). Some leaders I've clicked with, others not so much.

Good luck! You'll get there--all the way!

H =)

sarah said...

Awesome, Angie! You know, I was going to go and go back to meetings today but I didn't. I've been doing okay on my own but lost 5 pounds in the past 3 months. Yes I've lost but 5 pounds could be 10 or even 15 if I was going to meetings, no? So next Saturday I may just go and rejoin. Money is tight but hubby knows how important this is. I am so happy for you, sweetie. You are beautiful inside and out no matter what the number on the scale reads.

Knock 'em dead!!

When I go back it will be to my leader who lost over 100 pounds and has kept it off. Yet she is just like us and struggles daily to stay on track. She is human after all.

Susan said...

Aww, I think it is SO wonderful that you and Lynn have each other to do this with! Also incredibly brave, because as much as I wanted to do Weight Watchers in the past, I never had the guts to. I'm so excited for this next step in your journey! Damn straight "all the way"! ;)

Dree said...

I'm so happy for you that you joined WW when you felt you weren't going all the way online. It is so inspiring to see someone so determined on their journey. Thanks for that- I can't wait to hear and share your successes as you go all the way!!

Jaime (Embracing Balance) said...

Congrats girls!! So excited for you!!!

Clayton Park trails? Wha?

Mary said...

WAY To go!!! And what a day to join!! I am so proud of you! I LOVE WW and will be doing some revisits to meetings myself over the next few months to be "on track"! I wrote about my WW experience here:

http://www.fitthisgirl.com/2009/10/my-weight-loss-journey-part-3.html

I LOVE reading your blog (and your tweets), I can't wait to read your journey as well. You're an inspiration!

Angie P said...

CONGRATS on one giant step FORWARD...I know it was hard to make the choice, I've never been to a meeting either. You may be the inspiration I needed to try it too.

Sarah said...

Good for both of you! You will do great!

Jenny from da' rock said...

That is absolutely awesome that you guys went to WW Meetings! I totally admire that! And, I totally get what you mean about people talking about foods that are high sugar, high chemicals and little to no nutrition. Thankfully, there is extremely healthy alternatives (ie REAL food) LOL!

I am seriously considering going back to meetings, this post may have given me the kick I need.

Congrats to you and Lynn!

Peabody said...

I love my meetings. I think the leader makes all the difference. I have a great one.

It is hard because often the people around me live off of popcorn and processed foods. But I have to remember that everyone has to get where they are going in their own way. They support me, so I support them.
I find that when people first start out they are looking for something to help them transition. So they eat a lot of Fiber One Bars and WW foods, etc. But eventually they come around to eating more whole foods.
My leader is very good about pushing eating real food.

Life, Health & Fitness said...

Like I said, we're doing this Ang, getting the weight off for good!

We both have reached our breaking points and yesturday was a real fresh start to get the rest of it off once and for all.

I had a great day yesterday, love that we're going meetings together. In just one day I seemed to have cleared my head and have re-focused on the goal. Nothing is going to stop us! :)

I think we should try to have a coffee/run date after everyone meeting too!

hrclark said...

So proud of you, you will complete you goal!!

Syl said...

that's so great Ang, on so many levels, it's great that you have recommitted but what's even greater is that you knew you were needing help to achieve your goals. That's not easy, you continue to inspire so many including me. I know that you will go all the way!

watchmeshine said...

Way to take the next step to make sure you get where you want to go! I skipped my weigh-in yesterday...boooooo me! But I'm proud of you for going and doing it, and dealing well with your number.

Can't wait to see what next week holds for you! I am inspired to go next week and I'll face the scale and I plan on feeling great afterwards, and not letting the number determine my feelings.

Me, Only Better said...

Good for you Angie! You are inspiring me to get back on track!

Amy said...

You are so friggin cute.

I may just have to make an appearance at WW sometime in the very near future.

I can't have you, Lynn and Cat all fading away to skinny mini shadows without me!

Do I have your permission to copy you?

marie said...

Great job, kiddo!

Angie All The Way said...

OMG having ALL of this support is going to make a HUGE difference!

THANK YOU!!!!!

Amy, yes my darling, you must fade away with us and I was kinda sorta directing the challenge at YOU the most ;-)

Lex said...

Soooo happy for you two!!!! I love the vid post also, girl! too cute!!

You two are going to rock the casbah as 'they' say (who are 'they' anyway?) lol

I have no doubt that you two will be super successful at this! :)

Eszter said...

Hi Angie, I've been your active reader for quite a while but I never really commented before. I just wanted to say that I wish you luck with WW, and everything and thanks again for your blog, it's a real inspiration!!! (: cheers, eszter

Laura said...

you are awesome..seriously.

Jen said...

Awesome job to both you and Lynn!!!

I won`t be joining meetings, but I guarantee I will be there with you guys in spirit!!!!

Kim said...

Congratulations! I know you will do GREAT! You always do!