With Weight Watchers, exercise, and motivation, Lori is making great progress in her weight loss journey

May 07 2007

Lori W.

Suffering a knee injury has made losing weight just a tad more difficult for Lori since it curtailed her mobility somewhat. But it hasn't affected her motivation, her acceptance of dietary mistakes she sometimes makes, and her willingness to move on. She gives some tips on avoiding opportunities to give in to the munchies and shares some of her day-by-day motivations.

City & country: Central Virginia, USA
Age: 47
Weight before diet: 306 lbs. and I had managed to keep about 34 pounds off my absolute highest, which was 340 for about two years.
Weight now: 243.8 lbs.
Target weight:  No real goal but to get below 200 some day.

-What finally made you decide to start with a weight loss program? 
I don't know. It wasn't one specific thing. I had gone through an ugly breakup, walked for a week at a friend's house (she worked on a hilly campus) and started losing. Then I buckled down a bit more with exercise and just try to banish certain foods from my house. I'm not always successful.

-What type of weight loss program are you following?
I'm paying for the Weight Watchers Flex plan. That said, I'm not a poster child for it.

-Why did you choose this weight loss program? 
I had done it before and lost a lot of weight several years ago. One of my friends was going to it and I went so I could see her. Now, she's a poster child for WW. She's lost over 80 pounds. 

-How long have you been on your weight loss program? 
Since March 2006

-What kinds of physical activities do you like doing to help you lose weight and stay fit?
Before my knee injury, I walked on the treadmill, did ellipticals, weights, and swimming. I had started tennis lessons and want to do more.

-What were the most difficult obstacles you had to overcome or are still overcoming?
My three most difficult obstacles were: learning how to swim because I was so terrified of water, going through a "plateau" from October to January, and now my obstacle is rehab for my knee which I injured in a snowstorm. The biggest one that I will always have is maintenance.

-How do you keep yourself motivated? 
Writing and reading comments from other people's blogs and writing/reading my own blog, I've made a number of good friends from these sites. My motivation varies from time to time. Some days it's wanting to stay in smaller clothes, staying healthy, fear of regaining weight and being a burden as I grow older to wanting to look good. Every day there's a different motivation, to be honest.

-Do you have any weight loss tips for our readers?
We all have black or white thinking, or that you're either tremendously successful or you stink at losing weight. It's not that way; every day we face temptations and every day we have the opportunity to start over. The point is to learn from these experiences to try and minimize future mistakes. You have to forgive yourself because I don't believe anyone can lose weight or keep it off without having some slip-ups. I still work hard on this. It's not just about the food or exercise. It's about forgiving yourself when you make mistakes and liking yourself. I am very bad at this still but better than I was a year ago.

The other thing is to try and minimize having the trigger foods in your house or your life. I know some people say that they need to have cookies for their children or their spouses (I hear this from my mom all the time) but if you're eating it, how does your kid/spouse get any? It's an excuse and most likely whoever else is eating with you can benefit from not having it around in the house too. (My dad could do without it, trust me.)

-Do you think it will be easy to fall back into your old lifestyle pattern? How do you prevent this from happening? 
I hope not. Right now, I'm not able to go to the gym because of my knee injury except to ride the bike for 10-12 minutes and to do some upper body weights. I only go to PT twice a week. I've been more diligent than usual about my foods and points because I'm afraid I will regain the weight. So far, though, I've been incredibly lucky to have lost about 13 pounds since my accident in March. I know what foods are dangerous to have in my cupboard or refrigerator.

Do you have a favorite Web site or blog that helps or inspires you to lose weight?
This is hard because I have so many of them.