January, Week 2

I have tried what feels like every diet/exercise routine to lose weight. I always remember overeating and having a problem maintaining my weight. It wasn't until I started Weight Watchers that I saw changes happening. Not only changes with my weight, but changes in my confidence. The bottom line is that the program works if you work it. I worked the program for 6 solid months last year (alongside therapy every week.) I lost a total of about 26 pounds, and I thought, this is it. I'm finally going to get to my goal weight and everything will be fine. Then, both of us got new jobs and we moved. I always underestimate how much changes affect me. It didn't seem like that big of a deal at the time, but my weight loss suffered. Soon, I would lose a little one week, just to gain it back the next week. Some weeks I didn't even follow the plan at all. I was frustrated in myself, and I didn't realize why I was losing control. Pair that with it being the holidays and suddenly I was putting a lot of the weight I had lost back on. However, I told myself at the beginning of this that I would not give up anymore. As long as it takes me, I will get to my goal weight. Along the way I hope to pick up new habits and tricks. I have no idea what this blog will turn into, but I missed writing, and I thought this outlet would be great to keep track with pictures.

It's a new year, the holidays are over, and I am feeling optimistic. I made it out of last year still maintaining a loss of about 15 pounds. I am happy with it because I know without a doubt if I hadn't joined WW, I would have gained 15 pounds or more. This year my goal is to lose 30 pounds. I thought about it a lot and feel that is a reasonable goal for myself.

This week my loss was 2.4. This is not an average weight loss, I feel it was a little inflated because I gained back weight last week (due to not counting my points in Portland.) This brings my total weight loss to 17.8.

I plan to take pictures every week to keep track of the changes. I only took pictures in the very beginning of my journey last year and I wish I had taken pictures along the way. Pictures (usually) don't lie. It will be good for me to have a visual of my journey.

Oh, the name of the blog. The name of this blog relates to a point our pastor brought up between the difference in happiness and joy. Happiness is often temporary and depends on circumstances. Joy is a mindset, a state of being, that doesn't change with circumstance or hardship. My middle name is Joy, yet I don't know that I have ever been a joyful person. A lot of my negativity in life has come from my weight and my lack of control over food. So I'm using WW, this blog, and therapy to try and learn to be a joyful person. It's less about weight loss and more about taking control of my life. I believe once I unravel what has made me so unhappy through the years, the weight will come off, and I will feel joy.