weight watchers: one year later

Hello everyone!

The other day I noticed that it's February, ha - yes I'm a bit late noticing it, I know... Anyway, the special thing about it is that one year ago, at the 1st of February 2012 I started putting my plans to lose some weight into action.

At this time I had been complaining about my weight and body for some years and finally had enough of it. The years before I had slowly gained lots of weight due to changing from a job in retail (running around all day) to an office job (sitting on your butt all day).

So one year ago I had 80,5 kilos and was really unhappy with it. For the record, I'm not saying it's wrong to have 80 kilos or more, because everyone has a different body and different proportions and a different "feel good weight", but I knew that this was not my personal feel-good weight and that it was high time to change the situation. Looking back I still think that I always looked good and dressed nicely, but still I also remember how unhappy I felt about myself way too often.

Now, after one year I have lost 15 kilos and can proudly say that I have reached my ideal weight and that I feel more than fine with my body in general. Of course there are always little details I'd still change about myself if I could and I admit I'm eager to try losing another 5 kilos only to see if my upper arms and calves might be a little more in shape afterwards, BUT in general I feel very good with 65 kilos now.

To show you the difference I dug out an old photo.

I have to underline that I am the most undisciplined and most unambitious person I know. I love food, I love to eat, also or especially when I'm not even hungry and I hate to work out.

I definitely wanted to lose weight without having to work out that much - yes I'm super lazy.

So here is how it actually worked for me.

For me it was and still is Weight Watchers. But I only registered for the online programme because I was not interested in regular meetings and all that jazz. Here in Germany it costs about 15 € per months, which is cheaper than most gym memberships.

Their online programme calculates a point value for every food and it calculates your personal daily point value that you are allowed to consume (they calculate it based on some personal information like height, weight, age etc.).

This point system is not for everybody, there are lots of people who prefer counting calories or simply go for other kinds of diets, but for me it was perfect. I needed one or two weeks to get used to it, but after that I was "in the flow of things" concerning point values of different foods.

I still have no clue how exactly it worked, but with this system I unconsciously changed my eating habits bit by bit. I automatically replaced unhealthy stuff with fruits and vegetables because they don't have any points at all, so I would rather eat a cup of fruit salad instead of instant pot noodles.

The main effect was losing weight of course, but a very nice side effect is that my digestion got much better and that I had less problems with an upset stomach. Luckily I'm not allergic to any kinds of food, but in the past I sometimes had problems with flavour enhancers or with meals that contained too much oil, cream and stuff like this.

I felt healthier - I had never thought that I would be able to notice these improvements so fast but I really did. I don't get a cold so often anymore and my constantly returning cystitis disappeared completely. Of course I treat myself to pizza, Mc Donald's and other fast food from time to time, but I don't live on microwave food anymore - and the very thought of this makes you feel healthier immediately.

Like I said above: I hate to work out. I'm way too lazy for this crap.

I admit that after a good long workout you really feel better and fitter - but most often I was too unmotivated to drag myself to the gym.

So you maybe won't believe it, but: during the weight loss process I went to the gym only once or twice a week and each time I only stayed on the cross trainer for 30-40 minutes and then went back home. And I lost weight though - so it is possible you disbelievers out there! I think if I had worked out more, I would have lost the weight quicker - okay, but I was not in a hurry anyway.

I cancelled my gym membership a few weeks ago because I simply hate the gym. I go to a 2 hours Wing Tsun (martial arts) class once a week regularly now and sometimes on days when I feel extra sporty I go running for half and hour or an hour, but that's it.

15 kilos less but still a couch potatoe - some things never change!

Oh and by the way, I have managed to maintain my weight for a couple of months now. Thanks to Weight Watchers there were not even the slightest signs of a yo-yo effect because when you have reached your goal you can easily switch from "lose weight" to "maintain weight" in their system.

Now you know my story.

I hope this helped, motivated, made you interested or at least aware of that it can work when you put a bit of effort into it.

I know other girls who had great successes in losing weight with other methods, but I'll stick to this one here because it turned out to be the healthiest and best-working one for me.

Until next time,