01 02 03 I'm My Favorite: Coach Stephanie 04 05 15 16 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 31 32 33

Coach Stephanie

34
Four weeks ago, I was vegging out in my bedroom and Jim came in and said he wanted me to be his coach. I had no idea what he was taking about. After a few seconds of me staring at him with a blank face he told me he wanted to try Weight Watchers.

I could tell he was serious. So I gave him my attention. I think this was around the time I blogged about finding my skinny photos which included a couple of photos of Jim when he was 20 and may have been at his lowest weight too. He reads my blog so maybe seeing those old photos had been motivating to him to give losing weight a try.

He had just celebrated his 36 birthday and he was telling me about how it's harder to get weight off now that he's older. Usually he puts on 10 or so pounds over the winter and then he can play basketball for a few weeks and take it off. Not so much anymore.

Jim has watched me on Weight Watchers for the last year and a half. He didn't ask too much about it while I've been using this plan. He knew I had daily and weekly points, but he didn't really know what it all meant. He was ready to try it and he wanted me to help him learn how to do it.

I had him grab the laptop and we got him set up on the web site. I showed him how to use the plan manager by entering his points in for the day based off what he had eaten.

He had gone to a pizza buffet, had a bag of skittles, a few other snacky things. Once we entered everything in, he had eaten close to 70 points. His total daily point intake should have been 35 points.

Next we took a look at some of the places he likes to eat and he was getting discouraged at how high the point values were for his favorite menu items. I explained to him that if he really wanted a cheeseburger he could have it, he would just need to replace the fries with a salad. Stuff like that.

So a lot has happened in the four weeks since Jim started Weight Watchers online and I really wish that I would have been blogging about it during this whole time, but I think I will talk about where he's at with it as of right now.

Jim on July 3
Well, he's killing it actually.

He's really embracing the point system. It works for him. He is making smart choices. He's having me buy low-fat versions of his old favorite foods. He is adding fruit to my grocery list. He snacks on apples and bananas instead of cheetos and chips.

He's obsessed with points. He's looking up points before we go to restaurants. He's adding his points to his plan manager before he eats.

And it's worth pointing out that he started at a really, really hard time. We've been to cookouts and parties every weekend since he started. My brother came to visit for a week and we went to all our favorite restaurants.

He's lost 11 pounds so far. He wants to lose 20 total before our anniversary trip in October.

What I didn't expect was how much he would help me by starting his weight loss journey. The biggest thing he's helped me with is realizing how important tracking WW points is for me. I've gotten really lazy with it. Basically I wasn't doing it. So I started that again. Then he pointed out that I probably wasn't being very accurate with my points. I was using more than a tablespoon of peanut butter on my pb&js. I was just grabbing a handful of pretzels instead of counting them out. No wonder I haven't seen the scale moving fast enough.

A great benefit to Jim starting WW is that I have a partner now. We're in it together. We're working as a team when we go out to eat. What we've done a few times is either split an entree or we'll order a low calorie option like a big salad with low-calorie dressing and then order a ham and cheese sub and then we'll split both. It's been awesome. It makes it so much easier to make smart choices.

I'm super proud of my husband. I know how hard it is to make the decision to change your eating habits. I know how hard it is to ask for help. I'm honored to be his coach.

Zumba Corner
My plan was to go to Zumba Saturday morning before getting my hair done. I didn't sleep well Friday night and in the wee hours of the morning I had talked myself into skipping class because I wouldn't have enough time to come home and shower before my hair appointment. I slept in and when I woke up on Saturday I started to feel guilty about not going to class. I sat up looked at the clock and said "screw it - I can still make it." I threw on some clothes, grabbed a banana, granola bar and water and headed off to the Y. I only stayed for half the class so I could make it to my appointment on time, but I felt so good about going. I'm extra happy I went Saturday because I didn't end up going last night because I wasn't feeling well. I can imagine if I had missed both classes I would have been really down on myself.

Labels: ,

35 36 37 38