Sometimes, getting healthy can be hard. Even worse, sometimes it can be downright discouraging! Last year, prior to the start of our contest, I decided to change how and what I ate. I hoped to lose weight, but I really didn’t know how much a few simple changes in diet might change my weight. So, about a year ago, I started eating breakfast, ate only when I was hungry and only as much as I needed to be full, and tried to eat higher protein, lower fat foods. Although the weight didn’t melt away, over the past year it has certainly come off – slowly but surely. Then, a few weeks ago, my doctor suggested that if I wanted to drop some weight I should join Weight Watchers. I am a big believer in the Weight Watchers program, but after my first week on the program, I spent two weeks GAINING weight even though I was following the plan religiously. Of course, for me, feeling bad or stressed makes me want to splurge on food which just makes the slide worse. So, instead of making the wrong decisions for my diet, I decided to take a look at what I was eating on Weight Watchers that was different than what I was eating before. After a review of my food choices, I realized that the biggest difference was that while I was staying within my WW Points, I was eating sugar where I hadn’t been before. Once I cut out sugar again, my weight loss continued.  So the moral of my story this week is this: our journey isn’t just a 12-week contest. We have to figure out what works for each of us individually. We have to forgive ourselves for the mistakes, learn from them and start fresh the next day. Most of all, we need to do what we do best: support one another!

Here are your week 6 results. Almost all of us lost weight this week!

And your week 7 results. Four of us gained weight. NOT a good week!