In the photo below is Annie, a phenomenal Weight Watchers Leader in California. She lost 40 pounds in 1990 and has been helping others do the same ever since!! Thanks, for letting me visit your meeting Annie!!!
This week at Weight Watchers we are talking about setting summer goals. This topic couldn’t come at a better time for me, personally. As some of you know, my husband accepted a phenomenal new job…..woohooo for him….that requires him to live in California….boohoo for me!! It’s a terrific opportunity our for him and I’m thrilled, but I’m staying in Illinois, so it will be a quite a change for our family. Chase, our son, is going to start his senior year at Kaneland High School in the fall and I have my real estate business and Weight Watchers meetings here, along with almost of our family, so it makes the most sense for us to stay in Illinois and Darin to commute back home as often as possible.
Change can be hard and there is a lot that goes into a transition like this…finding him a place to live, getting him moved in, taking on most of the responsibilities around our home without him and the worry about missing him a great deal. All of it adds up to a form of stress and I’m sad to say, for me, still translates into overeating if I’m not careful.
I spent last week driving with Darin to California and getting him situated. On Monday, he started his first day of work and I headed straight to the closest Weight Watchers Store for a meeting. I hesitated to go at first….so many reasons not to go …had to take an Uber because he took his car to work, I didn’t know where I was going, I didn’t know anyone, I felt fat from the 30 hour road trip and lots of eating out….blah, blah, blah. In the end, I made myself go to the meeting and what do think I’m going to say next??? It was the BEST decision I could have made!!!
I left the meeting not only feeling cared for and not alone but I also had an action plan…or the beginning of one…on how I want this summer to go. My day to day, week to week will be different with Darin living in CA and I want to make the most of my own time to take care of myself. I don’t want continue on this path of eating out of stress or fear of the unknown and the best way to keep that from happening is to set a couple of small, manageable goals that will put me back in control of my eating. I know what to do….we all do…..but having a group of supportive, like minded people on a similar path helped to put me back on track and determine what those steps look like for me at this point in my journey.
Food has no power. We hold the power. I needed a Weight Watchers meeting 2000 miles away from my home to remind me of this fact. And there it was!! I just had to reach out and take the step to go. How awesome is it that I got what I needed from such caring strangers who I now consider friends??? I. Am. Blessed. And so are you. If you want to start this summer off moving in a healthier, happier direction let’s create a customized action plan for YOU. Nothing tastes as good as Healthy and in Control feels!!! Let’s help each other get there this summer!!!
Don’t let anything get in the way of feeling your best…especially fear. When you’re feeling good, it will positively affect everyone around you. Don’t hesitate……”Just Do It”!!!!!! I promise you’ll be glad you did!! I sure am!!
All is well!
Love,
Terra
Good morning my friend!! Lisa Stultz Davis here (or Lisa Phillips…Madison and DeLanee’s mom..lol) Yes, I am on your blog from my office here in Greencastle IN when I should probably be recruiting and hiring people.(that’s my new career for the last year and a half !) And WOW do you have a lot going on! I have followed you on FB and found out a few things from our sweet Yvonne DeBair. I’m writing to you to let you know I am going to hop back onto WW. I have tried to do this weight loss thing on my own and well let’s be honest…have failed miserably. I’ve tried the no gluten, the no sugar, the drink alchohol instead eating food (that one was NOT good and to mix that with a relationship that was horrible…so NOT good!) Anyway, from what I have seen, this new Freestyle program looks awesome and here in my little town, there is only 1 meeting and I can’t do that due to work. (I’m a full time gal now.) So for me, the app would work best. I know I am a very self motivated person in general (I trained for 2 of my half marathons totally by myself and do most of my workouts alone) But I know what the encouragement from a support group does.:) I am getting myself healthy and I’ve had no alcohol for 15 months and that feels great. My hubby Brad is a recovering alcoholic and he has done well for so many years. We don’t have any in our home at all. It was a real problem for me for awhile. Self medicating but really it just replaced emotional eating with emotional drinking. Uggh! I have my first 3D mammogram this coming Monday and had my first Dr visit for a physical 2 weeks ago. I now have awesome insurance and can take better care of myself. Had no health insurance for years. So I am on this journey to better health at age 52. I want to be a healthy grandma, nana, mimi…whatever, when that day comes! Sorry, I didn’t mean for this to turn into a Lisa Novel, but wanted you to know how special you are to me and I think of you often. In life, we come across certain people who just stick in our hearts and make us smile and you are definitely one of the few who has impacted me in ways you’ll never know! I love your enthusiasm and zest for life! I am going to set up my new WW app this weekend and get started. I wish you every bit of joy, love and happiness with all your new beginnings in CA and your current ones in IL. Keep putting that smile out there for all of us to see!!! Love ya and I will be stalking your blog all the time now! LOL
My daughter, Cheryl and her husband Ed lived in Calif. Eight years ago she became pregnant and said I am moving home. Ed has been commuting to Calfornia for all this time. She has had three kids now and it works for them. He is there one week and then home for a week, sometimes two. You will adjust and survive, just think how much fun it will be to visit him in the winter when it is ugly here. You will be tan year round. Just keep positive, you will need to stay thin for your
California bikini.
Thank you, Claire!!
Your emails are very helpful, I’ve been receiving them for several years. Finally in February I rejoined WW here in NC. I have lost 17 lbs and am loving Freestyle. I have learned I can’t have baked goods at home. If I’m craving a cookie I go to a bakery and buy one. While your husband is in CA maybe you could keep your trigger foods out of the house. Good luck, Patty
Way to go, Patty! 17 pounds down is amazing! Very good advice….if the trigger foods aren’t in the house, we can’t overeat them. I find in situations out of our control, the one thing we can control is our own behaviors. It feels good to exercise control over food and be forced to deal with emotions head on rather than hiding from them with food. Thanks for reaching out!
Thank you Terra. I have had a bad past 2 weeks and was thinking about not comming tonight. I am definitely coming after reading your post! I now feel more confident and like its easier to get back on track.
Thank you for all you do!
So nice to read about other people’s lives and the stress that comes with change. Life can be hard and eating is always there to “help” us get through. Your post couldn’t have come at a better time in my life! Thank you!!
You’re welcome, Terri! Hope to you Thursday night
Glad I read your post. I am here at Wendy’s eating lunch thinking how I have to get back to WW. I have gained 10 pounds since my last weigh in 4 weeks ago. My health is not good right now with this weight gain. I know I need to loose weight and WW will do it but I struggle to stay on the plan I go to Saturday morning in north aurora and Jen is a great leader and so are you Tera how can I help myself reaching out for help.
You. Can. Do. This. Jan!! The fact that you lost 10 pounds before proves it! Start again….that’s what we all do each day. Reflect on where you go off track and determine what the most difficult part of the plan is for you then brainstorm new ways around it. Take your challenge to your meeting and ask the other members for new ideas on how to make the hard part for you easier. There is always another way. Use the meeting for insight and to lift you up with positive energy. I wish you all the best❤️
It sure does, Lynne!!! Hope to see you tonight! Thanks for the comment!
Great blog and oh so true! I needed that this morning. Glad to hear the program works 2000 miles away from home.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and actions! This was just what I needed to hear now.
Great blog posting! Good luck on your summer journey.
Thank you, Marybeth! So good to hear from you!