This Moment

A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Your Weight Watchers questions, Our answers and more!

First of all, we are seriously humbled by the messages and support regarding our Weight Watchers success. Thank you to all of you for the continued support! There are so many factors as to why we have been so successful with it, but rest assured we're not done yet! ;)
The messages that we've received on FB are pretty much the same; People have been asking... What's working for you? Do you attend meetings? Planning? Tracking? etc.. so here it goes. This is a compilation of responses and we just thought for those of you wondering yourselves it might be a good place to get some info.

1. The biggest thing has been doing it together for sure. We are each others biggest fans.
2. The next would be earning activity points. From riding my bike to work to Nicole getting up at *gasp* 6am to workout before work, we earn approx 12-17 activity points per week on average.
3. Planning, this includes but is not limited to a meal plan then grocery shopping based on that.
4. Attend meetings!! We go to the BEST meeting, hands down. Tuesday nights @ 545pm in Roseville. There, the support and recognition is priceless and the tools you learn help you at least through the next week and beyond.
5. Tracking using eTools - this is a must. When tracking doesn't take place, it's guaranteed your body still knows!
6. We weigh and\or measure practically everything we put in our mouths
7. Just being committed! With the end goal of starting a family, this has come naturally for us. We want Nicole to have a healthy pregnancy and want to be the healthiest Mommies we can be.

Fun facts:
We enjoy exercise now.
Nicole is in size 10's and 12's down from 16's
Jen is in size 12's and 14's down from 16's
Our rings are loose, like scary loose
We feel "brand new"
We are 60.2lbs less today than we were 11/1/10
We no longer own 2XL clothing and just barely any XL's
Though it costs us 80 per month to be members, we're still saving tons!
We do not feel deprived of anything, if we want it we have it! (see the steps above on how)

Then (Sept 2010) and Now (April 2011)

March = no dining out

As most of you know for the month of March we didn't dine out once. We did this for a few reasons... we were up for the challenge, wanted to break some plateaus with our weight loss and to save money. Well, the results are in.... we compared March to February, same year:

Jen
2/1 to 3/1 -1.2lbs
3/1-3/29 -9.8lbs **

Nicole
2/1-3/1 down 3
3/1 - 3/29 down 7.2 **

Saved approx $320 on dining out and we actually spent 100 less in groceries as well. We attribute this to planning!

I encourage anyone to do this. It's healthy in more ways than one and we're proof it can be done!

Tuesday Weight Update (& other things...)

Tonight was our latest WW meeting and we have some good news. We both lost weight! Here are the current stat's:

Jen:
     This week: -.8 pounds
     Total: -32.6 pounds

Nicole:
     This week: -2.2 pounds
     Total: -26.2 pounds

Grand Total: -58.8 pounds!

We got lots of love from our meeting and it felt great. We went into the meeting thinking that this week might be a maintaining week and were pleasantly surprised by the drops!

On other topics...
Jen's mom's move went really well and she is settling into her new home. It is such a cute house and she will have it all personalized in no time! We are really happy for her and Jon and are grateful to all of her friends and co-workers for their help and support, it made the whole thing go smoothly and you could really feel the love in that house! We know that she will be JUST FINE.

We are so excited about the weather clearing up, Jen especially, because she will get to ride her bike more and is going to get to start riding it to work regularly in no time! The boys are going to enjoy the extra playtime as well! Logan has a slight ear infection right now but we hope that it clears up soon.

We are also excited about some new blog friends (Hi Momma L, Momma B and Tiffany!)

Not so wonderful

Sorry in advance for the pity party... I won't announce this blog on FB... So let me preface this by saying this is not an attack on anyone, just my feelings exposed as my family goes through this tough time.

Been feeling some anxiety in the last week or so and I think I've finally pin-pointed it. Seeing my mom move for the 3rd time (in my life) following a divorce (albeit official or unofficial yet) is hitting me pretty hard. Today is the official move day. We've been to the house a couple times now to help and it's getting the best of me. Feels like we just got her\them settled in there, into her new life, and celebrated a beautiful wedding, but now that's over. Just like that. I mean I'm not discrediting their attempts at trying to make it work or whatever, but really another marriage over, done. Trying to see the positive right now seems so distant. Watching her hurt one day, but then solid the next... it's natural to be all over the place and I try my very best to be there for her as much as I possibly can in both ways... but it's not easy is what I'm trying to say. I know I'm strong, I know she's strong and I also know Jon is strong, but sometimes the weakness prevails. It is a fact that they will make it through this difficult time, but man it hurts and is just so hard from a daughters perspective.

We saw her new home yesterday. Very bittersweet, but for she and Jon it really is just perfect. I guess that's a really good thing. Ugh this is just so hard to write, I suppose I should just stop now...

So here's to you Mom even if you never see this, to your new life, hopefully happiness shows up for you and your new home very soon cause you deserve it. Your kids and your family love you more than words could ever say, just keep laughing and smiling it's what you do best! There is hope!

~ Jen