WW 6 Week Update

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I am halfway through my 12 weeks of WW, and I have learned a lot. While I have learned a lot, I have not lost a lot of weight. (Before you get too far into this article and get depressed about my weight loss journey, know that I have now lost 8 lbs actually following WW, I am at my 10 week mark now)In fact, for the first time in my long WW history, I have gained 3 pounds while being enrolled in the program. This is unheard of for me, I usually joke that even when I am failing on WW I am maintaining my weight. Maintaining my weight is just a slightly less important victory in my life than losing.

How the heck did I gain doing a program that I have been raving about to other people? Well, lucky for you I am about to tell you exactly what these past 6 weeks have taught me and where to go from here.

Why Have I struggled?

Transition

For the last ten months, I have been working out, homeschooling, and babysitting 2 extra kids. Looking back, it was a crazy and busy time. I am shocked that I didn’t gain weight.

Now I am no longer babysitting, and I have less responsibility and more freedom. Logically with less responsibility I thought, “This is the perfect time to join!” Wrong! There was one thing I didn’t take into account; I am dependent on a daily routine to stay the course. Unfortunately, finding a new daily schedule has been nearly impossible because of my busy summer calendar.

I have been floundering to say the least. I quickly realized I needed to get into a daily routine, as it is an integral part of my success.

Busy Social Schedule

I honestly should have looked at my calendar before I joined and been like, “Maybe now isn’t the best time.” I had 2 solid weeks of company, planned a baby shower, then I had to attend two church camps for a week (which more power to you if you are able to eat healthy at church camp).

After that was over I had a week with no obligations, except people kept wanting to hang out, and due to the company and church camps, I did because I missed those friends. That’s fun, but it’s not conducive to creating a daily schedule.

The next week we had unexpected health issues with my son’s eyes, which stressed me out. Then my siblings came down for over a week and all the meals but one were out of my hands. It. Was. A. Lot. A lot of bad food and good times, which is never a great combination.

I believe this combined with my transition to having more time with no schedule were a recipe for disaster.

Food Switch

Less than one week into my WW commitment, my best friend convinced me to be Plant-Based, Whole Foods. Over a year of research about healthy foods to lower cholesterol combined with the documentary “Forks Over Knives” and I decided to check it out.

As with any diet, there was a learning curve. I struggled to learn the new way of eating and the thought of logging the food on top of learning it was too much. I didn’t log much of these last 6 weeks, and I went a little crazy with the healthy grains and natural sugars.

Running

On top of all those other changes, I decided to integrate running back into my life. Over the last year I have done BBG/PWR from the SWEAT app. Due to my limited time and regularly occurring injuries over the last 10 months, running had taken a back burner. Running makes me hungry so I tend to greatly overeat if I’m not careful when I run. In fact, if I don’t keep it in check, I will easily gain weight running. Haha, am I alone with that?

See the Problem?

So I didn’t log consistently, I started running, I was in a transition in life, and I had no routine… you can see where those three pounds came from can’t you? I DIDN’T DO THE PROGRAM. Since I allowed life things to shut me down, I felt like I couldn’t do it. It happens. Logging food can be a hard habit to form.

This is what I have concluded about my last 6 weeks of WW. It was a mess, a complete mess! So my advice to you is this: check your calendar, think about your life, your food triggers, how you eat during various times, and if you feel like you can’t possibly lose weight right now due to those things, then postpone focusing on Weight Loss. Sometimes trying to lose weight and failing can be so mentally defeating that you gain weight, a lot of weight, during that period.

The Takeaway?

If you want to join WW and your life is crazy, you can. You should probably set it for “Maintain” Then you can learn the program without the pressure of losing, you might even lose a pound or two over a month of doing this. Then when life settles down you can switch it over to “lose weight” and hit the ground running.

If that sounds like a lot of work, then look at your calendar, and mark a date to join WW when life has settled down. It’s OK to live your life and not focus on losing weight. Get on the scale once a week to make sure you don’t gain more than 5 pounds during that time, and just have fun. That will also set you up for WW success once you join because you have had a break from logging.

What’s My Plan From Here?

Here’s where I am right now. My calendar became 100% free of everything for the next 5 weeks. I did start a new running program that is more intense last week, so I used last week to get back into the habit of logging, without putting too much pressure on myself. I lost 2 of the 3 pounds I gained the last 6 week,s and I didn’t even log over the weekend (but I also didn’t go crazy.)

Learn from your failures, always have a plan, but most importantly, never give up!

My goals for the next 5 weeks are to actually follow the program. I will log all of my food and will report back to you with the results. If things don’t go according to plan, that’s life. I’ll tell you about that too. If you want to share your WW successes or failures, feel free to do so in the comments. If you join, I’d appreciate it if you use my link, as I will get a small commission.