I Was SOOOOOOO Wrong!!!

Weight Watchers meetings are GREAT! hahahaha

I attended my 4th meeting today...I also got another sticker...a BIGGER sticker... so I guess that means Petey will get to laugh at me even more! I still don't mind = )

I got my 5% sticker today...meaning I've lost 5% of my starting weight...8 lbs. total. (7 pounds was my 5%)

I will only get 2 more stickers before I hit goal weight...a 10 lb. one and a 10% one. The stickers are really fun...it's fun cheering for the others who have reached these milestones and hearing them cheer for you too.

I also declared my goal weight today...124 pounds, like I mentioned to you last week. I also learned that you don't get penalized for going under but you are encouraged to try to maintain in that 4 pound range...122 to 126 for me.

I also learned that as long as I am maintaining, ALL the benefits are free! I knew that I would have free access to all the eTools but I didn't realize that all the meetings would be free also. And I DO really enjoy the meetings!! Have I mentioned that???

The information that the leader gives us (and I LOVE my leader, Kim!) is so interesting, motivational and especially useful. Just like I feel that all these things I've learned over the years are tools that have been added to my "healthy living toolbox", I get another tool or two each week to add to my collection.

This week we talked about what kind of person we like as a friend. We listed characteristics that draw us to a particular person and then we listed qualities that repel us from someone.

Kim (leader) then explained how that voice in our heads is like a friend who is always there. If we've had a bad week and maybe gained weight instead of losing, which kind of person would we call...the positive, encouraging one or the negative one?

Of course we'd call the positive one! So why do we listen to that negative voice in our head telling us how bad or weak or lazy or dumb we are for messing up?! If we had a person in our life who only beat us down when we failed, it wouldn't be very long before we decided to not be around that person.

Kim also listed several phrases that the voice might say that we were all familiar with...

- you'll never lose the weight, you might as well give up!

- you did all that work to lose 2/10ths of a pound?! what a waste!

- you're nothing but a big fat slob and you'll always be a big fat slob

- yeah, you might've lost 2 pounds this week but I know you can't keep it up, sooner or later you'll start gaining again and end up fatter than you started

Unfortunately, we can't "escape" the voice in our head but we CAN decide to listen to the positive one...

- that's ok, it's perfectly normal to have ups and downs...you know what to do, you're good at doing it, just keep on doing what you know is right!

- you're strong and capable... you've lost this much weight already, I KNOW you can keep it up!

- it's 1 pound...tomorrow let's take an extra long walk and choose lower-points healthy foods

I have that negative "friend" in my head and it's said those things and worse to me over the years. The worse comes in usually when I'm standing in front of the mirror = (

So this week I'm going to work on squashing that negative voice and listening to the positive one...and I hope you do too!