What has helped me this week?

I was motivated this past week but what motivated me? Definitely eTolls! I've been tracking everything as I eat it. Since I'm home most of the time and on the computer a lot anyway, I have no excuse for not tracking what I eat an drink. I love the eTools is real time. It's up to the second. I don't have to figure anything out really. eTools figures it all out for me. When I plug in a food in the tracker I know right away whether I want to eat it (way too many points!) or not. It's helping me to look ahead and plan. It only takes seconds to figure things out so it's not an obstacle, it's a help!


I also like the weight tracker. When I weigh in on Fridays at the WW meeting it's automatically entered into my eTools. It was so nice this week to come home and look at the weight tracker, see the downward trend on the chart and a star for my 5+ pound weight loss milestone. It's a little thing but seeing that star was very motivating. When I weigh in it also automatically updates my weekly point values. Because I lost weight my weekly point value went down 1 point to 43 from 44. I thought I would panic if that happened but I didn't. I know I can eat a lot for 43 points and look forward to that number dropping so I can stay at a good weight.


There is also a section where you can track your measurement inches for arms, thighs, waist, hips, and bust and dress size. I did do that the first day and yesterday, the beginning of my 2nd week I measured again. I've already lost some inches which is fantastic. For me that's a real good way to tell that things are changing. Weight doesn't always go down every week so to see changes in measurements is encouraging.


What else has motivated me this week? The WW community. I'm blogging every day, usually multiple times per day. That's keeping me aware, accountable and plugged in to the community. I'm also posting on and reading the message board. I have friends online and followers for my blog. I feel like people are paying attention and that motivates me too. I know I'm going to have bad days but I also know that I can use those days as motivators and encouragement for me and for others. So plugging in to the community has been key for me.


Probably the biggest motivator for me has been the actual weight loss this first week. I've been eating more than I normally do but the choices are healthier and I'm watching portion sizes. So I'm not feeling hungry AND I'm losing weight! Who could ask for more.


There have been some difficult things this week too. I'm having difficulty drinking the required amount of water each day. I did look on the message board and found a good post about tricks and tips for drinking water. I'm going to go back to that post today and write down some of the suggestions. They seemed very helpful and I am going to try them. I've been drinking Hawaiian Punch to get in some liquid. It takes points but I'm not drinking too much of that either. I know that when I start exercising/hiking I'll be drinking more water but I need to be doing it now too. So the WW community is a big help with that.


The other difficult thing was one night I woke up and just started eating potato chips. Not sure why I did that but I did. I also had a WW lemon bar. Then, after a WW meeting, I stopped at the 7-Eleven and got a two 20 oz. Hawaiian Punch drinks and 2 glazed donuts. Right after a meeting!! The good thing is that I did track everything and didn't go too far over my points for the day (I had to use a few of the 49 PP weekly allowance points). So even though my eating was "out of control" I was able to fit it into the plan and save the day.


With WW it really is a brand new day every day. I don't feel like just because I messed up I have to blow the whole plan.


So those are the things that have helped me this this and the things that have been challenges. I dont' want to forget to mention weekly meetings. They are a great motivator too!