No more Weight Watchers :0(

Well, Saturday, December 23rd was my last day of Weight Watchers. I let my leader in on my little secret (I'm 4 months pregnant) the Saturday before and she said I could no longer attend Weight Watchers. I wish I would have held out longer, since I'm did NOT want to quit. I begged her to let me attend the meetings without weighing in, but she said it was a liability to the company. She did introduce me to Carol, a gal in my WW class, and suggested I sign up with Carol's WW message board on google. Carol sent me an invitation to join the group and asked me to give a little introduction of myself (here's a copy).

New to the WW Group

Just a little about my WW journey...I've been attending Weight Watchers
off and on for over 10 years. As a kid, I didn't have a weight problem
until I reached the 5th grade. From then on, I always seemed to carry
an extra 10-15 pounds. I finally reached a healthy weight in high
school b/c I was very active with sports. When I began college, my
weight started to creep back between studying and socializing. After
two years at a community college, I transferred to Central Michigan
University and gained an additional 15 pounds by eating unhealthy foods
from the cafeteria, late night snacking, and drinking. I was already
somewhat overweight at the beginning of the year, so the extra weight
wasn't what I needed on my 5'4 frame. I left CMU after one year and
moved back home to attend Oakland University. I joined my first WW
class in Troy (Big Beaver/Rochester) in September 1996. I had lost 20
pounds in the program and felt great. I quit the program and felt I
could do it "on my own", but I only found myself gaining all my weight
back one year later. Year after year, I joined WW thinking this was
the year I was finally going to lose the weight, but I was never able
to keep it off for good.

I joined the WW at-work program for awhile, which I really liked b/c it
was convenient and I really enjoyed meeting new people. It also seemed
to keep me on track b/c I had the support I needed every day. Our
attendance for the at-work program didn't pick up b/c we had so many
lifetimers, so they canceled the class. We had quite the success in
our class, but I still never reached my lifetime status. In all
honestly, I was glad the class ended b/c I wasn't inspired by the
leader. Her classes were all the same...she would talk about her
family or what was going on in her life for first 15 minutes of class,
then talked about the WW topic for the last 15 minutes. The best thing
about her class was the recipes she or someone else would bring in. I
got so many great WW recipes that I still use today.

I joined another WW class in 2005 w/ a friend from work. My leader,
Sherry, had all the energy I needed to get back on the WW bandwagon. I
started following the WW points program and loved it. I became more
focused on losing weight and getting fit when I got engaged in August
of that same year. I changed my WW membership to the Warren location
in November 2005. For the first time, I felt that I finally found a
class and a leader I really liked. I actually looked forward to
Saturday mornings b/c I got my inspiration I needed to get me through
another week of losing weight. I started to lose more weight (29
pounds total) and reached a personal goal; I was at my lowest weight in
10 years before my wedding day. I have NEVER felt so good in my life.
Three things contributed to my big weight loss; healthy eating, exercise
and my WW meetings. My husband is a fantastic cook and prepares
healthy meals for the both of us. He doesn't have a weight problem,
but he likes to eat healthy. This makes life easy for me. I have my
own network of workout buddies; my two girlfriends from work who I walk
with 3-4 days a week for 30 minutes; my college friend who I meet at
Bally's 2-3 days a week, and my husband (and dog) who I walk with at
least 5 days a week.

In June, I only had 15 pounds to lose before I became a lifetime
member. When I got back from my honeymoon, I was determined to reach
my lifetime status. I only lost and gained the same few pounds over
the next two months. In the mist of my journey on becoming a lifetime
member, I became pregnant. I kept it a secret for awhile b/c I knew WW
would not allow me to continue. I started to feel bad every time I got
on the scale when the lady would say "you're up again". "We'll get you
back" and handed me a journal. I was at the end of my membership, so I
spoke my leader, Denise, and told her my dilemma. She said that I
wasn't suppose to be there and I couldn't come back until I had the
baby. This was my saddest day. She suggested that I talk to Carol and
sign up for this message broad, so here I am. I'm not sure how I'm
going to get through the next 5 months without my WW meetings, so I'll
look for inspiration here to keep me focused on gaining a "healthy"
weight. I'm already into my second trimester and my doctor said I'm
right on target with my weight gain. After working so hard to get the
weight off, it's SO HARD to watch it come back. I try not to focus on
the number b/c I'm going to gain weight regardless. I'm still working
out with all my workout buddies and I'm not slowing down until my body
tells me to. I also bought a Denise Austin Pregnancy Workout Video and
look forward to using it when the weather gets bad. If you haven't
heard of her, you should check out her workout show on Lifetime from
7-8 am. It's awesome! It's low impact and she's always changing her
routine. I have never seen a repeated show. Here's her website:
www.deniseaustin.com

I'm hoping this message board will get me through the next 5 months. I decided I was going to weigh myself every Saturday morning and keep track of my weight gain myself. I created a pregnancy weight chart and so far I'm on schedule. Gaining weight during this pregnancy has been the most difficult thing for me. I've worked so hard to get almost 30 pounds off my 5'4 figure only to see it return. I have to keep in mind this is going to happen regardless, so I shouldn't stress over it.