Jan 7-First weigh in after the holidays..Is not gaining anything and staying the same enough for me? No!….So what am I going to do about it?….
I was so excited to get back to WW to weigh in after Christmas and New Years. I expected to lose 3 or 4 pounds, since we hadn’t had a meeting in 2 weeks. For the first holiday break ever in my life, I chose to exercise, say “no” to so many hard food choices at all of the parties we went to…I had my bell around my neck, and I totally believed that I could stay on target and not fall off for the first time ever.

I walked down the hallway of WW that Saturday morning soooo excited to weigh in and see how I did. When the woman weighing me in said, “you stayed the same”, I thought I would cry right there. I was sooo angry at the scale. Everything going through my head was spinning..I knew how hard I tried, each day of the break, I got people walking and moving along with me, we gathered together friends with dogs and kids and showed them all where we do the mile walk in the woods (which I do 5 times), I continued to share about Dr. Oz’s transformation Nation Challenge at each party, which not only helped me make great choices at parties which had incredible food, but also helped to inspire others to get on board. Then, at one party, a friend answered many of the questions I had about the possibility of joining a gym. I shared with her all of my reservations and fears regarding going to a gym, and she continued to encourage me, and even offered to go with me if I needed her to. (I tucked the idea into the back of my head).

I even chose to do a hard work-out tape that week in my home, because it was too cold to go outside to exercise. I was so happy that I actually completed the abdominal part of the tape, doing it at the most intense level, which I had never been able to accomplish before. That was another great “first”. I spent the entire break believing I could lose the weight, even at the toughest time of the year, and there I was, on the scale at the same weight…I was just totally crushed thinking, ‘that’s not good enough”.

The woman weighing me in saw how devastated I was. She knew exactly how I felt and immediately pointed out that I would eventually see the weight come off. She explained that sometimes the scale may not move because of your cycles or even the fact that I had worked out with weights, but she asked, “what are you going to do about it?” Then she stated, “Your’e not going to give up. Don’t let this discourage you, sometimes people will allow this to get them off course.  You’re going to keep doing what you are doing, and the weight will come off!”

The anger and disappointment took a long time to leave me that day, but I walked into the ww meeting with my notebook, and as usual, the amazing people in that room inspired me with new ideas and goals to keep going. I shared a bit during the meeting about the Dr. Oz Challenge again, and asked others to join that day, and a woman came up afterwards and asked me all about it, and then she went back to the sign in tables and joined. I am excited to have someone at the ww meeting in the challenge with me.

As usual, when I got home, my husband, along with everyone rooting for me that day asked how I did, and I felt like such a failure to say, “I stayed the same, I didn’t even lose and ounce.” My husband said that he had a feeling that might happen, but then just encouraged me to “hang tough”. He pointed out that we were getting healthy for the long run, so that we can live our best life even into our 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. With the people we are starting to care for in our family, we see the real effects of taking care of yourself early on, and doing things to stay strong physically and emotionally for the long haul.

So what did I do with this  upsetting weigh in?…. I got tougher…I weighed in on Saturday, and on Monday,  through wonderful circumstances, (which I do not call coincidences, I call “God-incidences”), I got together with my next door neighbor, Meg, whom I hadn’t really known that well yet, and we tried a class at a local gym, because she had a coupon to try all the classes for 1 week.
We were both so nervous to go in. It was a cardio/weight class. When we walked in through those intimidating gym doors….the men at the desk were so incredibly kind. We showed them the coupon, and asked if we could try the classes and see if we liked the gym. They were soooo friendly, and made us feel so welcomed and comfortable.   I shared with them that I was in Dr. Oz’s Challenge, and they were really excited for me, and so helpful in getting us started with our first class.

We survived the first class. During the toughest parts of the work out,  I had said that I just keep thinking about all the people on The Biggest Loser, and with all that they do, they don’t die, so if they can do it, I can do it, and I’m not going to die. The owner of the gym, who is so nice, and made us feel so welcomed and not intimidated, teased us and said, “you should have that put on a shirt. …”and I didn’t die” .”

When I wrote in my journal the next day, it was Tuesday of our first week trying the gym and we experienced “another first”…My first Zumba class!….and I didn’t die! Meg and I conquered another fear. We both shared that we always wanted to try a Zumba class, but were worried about not being so coordinated. We promised after conquering the cardio/weight class, we would go the next day to zumba, and it was soooo much fun!

Again, we were honest to let the instructor know that it was our first time, and that we were a bit anxious, and she was wonderful! I guess that is a big lesson I am learning, to put my real feelings out there, whether they are fear, anxiousness, anger, disappointment….and I’m finding out every time, that there are wonderful people right there to help me through it all, and teach me a lot in the process.

So…. was staying the same on the scale good enough for me?  NO!.., and this is what I did about it…. And as a result, the scale and the number did not defeat me this week. I was honest about my anger and disappointment, and I was inspired by the woman who encouraged me while I was on the scale to do something positive about it……I was then also encouraged by all the others in my meeting who know exactly how I feel, as they are battling the same battle and have so much to teach me and share with me, they are amazing,.. and inspired by my husband, family and friends as they continue to cheer me on and some have joined me in seeking to get healthier, and they continue believing in me, believing that I can win the Million Dollar Me challenge! What a blessing!