Thea Thursdays

Hello all! My name is Thea and I will be a weekly contributor here at Tales from the Scales (thanks, Beth!!). For this first post, I just wanted to tell everyone a little bit about myself and how I got to where I am today on my weight loss journey.

 I am a SAHM mom to two (mostly) great kids: Jake is 4 and Emma is 2. They keep me going all the time (and I do mean ALL THE TIME). My husband is a consultant with a Mechanical Engineering firm in town which means long hours and lots (and lots) of travel. I love traveling, movies, scrapbooking, dancing around the living room with my kids, and occasionally retreating to the bathroom for some solitude (admit it, you do it, too). And after rereading what I’ve written so far, I also evidently love to use parentheses (sometimes there’s just so much to say!)

I started out using Weight Watchers before Jake was born. My family has always struggled a little bit with their weight and the related health issues (I have a history of diabetes on both sides), and I wanted to make sure I started my pregnancy as healthy as I could be. I joined WW Online and I lost about 10 or 15 lbs. You can’t be an “active member” of WW while you are pregnant, so I had to quit when I got pregnant with Jake. Six weeks after he was born, I went to my first WW meeting and over the course of about a year, lost nearly 30 lbs. I know that sounds like a long time to some of you, but I want to give you my first piece of advice: IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW LONG IT TAKES YOU, AS LONG AS YOU ARE DOING THE BEST YOU CAN.

Anyway, I repeated the WW/pregnancy cycle with Emma and I didn't gain as much when I was pregnant with her.  When I joined WW for he 3rd time (6 weeks after Emma was born), I was 6 lbs. light than I was when I joined the 2nd time (6 weeks after Jake was born.)  At that point, I knew that I had made changes that were going to stick with me for life, even if I had to remind myself what they were every once in a while.  Which leads me to my 2nd bit of advice: EVERYONE MAKES BAD FOOD CHOICES.  EAT IT, ENJOY IT AND START AGAIN THE NEXT MEAL.

I reached my goal in March of 2007, and to be quite honest, I have had a little trouble maintaining the weight. I have attended my monthly meetings, but for me I’m beginning to realize that I may need to go more often than that. My biggest motivator is accountability to those around me. I thrive on challenges and goal setting, and once I reached my goal weight, I felt that I didn’t have anything to work toward. So that is why I will be joining in with the May Day Weight Loss Challenge: to get back to the weight that feels good on me.

To wrap up this novel of a post, I want to make something very clear: this blog is for YOU! If there’s a specific problem you are having trouble with, just ask. We want to hear from you so that we know what you want to hear from us. Countless studies have shown how important it is to have a sounding board and support group when going through your weight loss journey, and that is why we are here: to help each other out day by day, pound by pound! See you next week!

Comments

[Dana]

What a great blog! I wish I'd have thought of this! As a die hard Weight Watchers memmber, and someone who works out in hopes of shedding my second self, I commend you! This blog is great! If you ever need a guest poster, count me in!

[Dana]

Great, great idea you guys! And I can relate to your post. I too am a WW former member (actually lifetime and still trying to go once a month and more when I can) I lost over 51 pounds in about 36 weeks and have kept most of it off since February 2006. WW even picked me for one of their success stories and you can find the story still on their website in the archives! Anyway, I need this extra motivation to get off the 7 pounds or so I've put on. I don't EVER want to go back to where I was!!! And the support is so important....anyway, kudos to you guys for doing this and I can't wait until next Tuesday when the challenge begins!
Dana (Sunshine)

[Kimberly]

Thanks for the inspirational nudge!

[Christine]

Yay Thea! I'm looking forward to this challenge. I'm so glad you are posting at this blog!

[Michele]

OK, so I have a question for a future post topic! It's a bit of a stumbling block for me. Ideas for easy to transport lunches to take to work.

[mich]

Nice to meet you, Thea! I'm loving this blog already....:-)

[Sharon]

I just found ya'll. I can sure use some help.
My problem? I eat too much. Period.

[Briana]

Excellent blog, thanks for the inspiration and the camaraderie in our weight loss endeavors.