Weight Watchers Chat #356 “How to Build Healthy Habits That Stick!”

News and Reviews

Today is the first day of the “Drink Your Water!” Challenge hosted by Julie over on the If You Have an Egg Facebook Group. Hop in any time, it’s not a competition with anyone but yourself!
This shouldn’t be actual news to those of us who are just boots on the ground WW members and survivors. Yes I say survivors because many of us have lived with and through many program changes for better or for worse and have survived. Many of us have even flourished. I digress, the “not” news I’m talking about is the fact that Oprah has stepped down from her position on the WW Board or Directors and is donating her stock (and all proceeds) to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Some of you just sighed and thought well, here goes my weight loss plan. As a business owner and member of several boards of directors I say bravo Oprah! She is stepping aside and letting the new CEO and staff show what WW can do without riding on Oprah’s name or reputation. Showing they can do it (and we can too!) without her name on it. Bonus…do you really think Oprah would donate to a foundation so important as the MNAAH if she didn’t think the stock was going somewhere again?
And the best news of all, next Sunday is mine and John’s 35th wedding anniversary! But don’t worry, we are celebrating on Friday night so you all can celebrate here with me 🙂

Last week was Chat #354 “How To Stay Inspired, No Matter What the Scale Says!”

Nine. Zero. All of them.

Nine = the number of times I found previous chats that talked about our obsession with the scale (without even trying really hard). Click here to visit those past chats https://www.ifyouhaveanegg.com/page/1/?s=scale

Zero = the number of times the scale gets to decide how you did today or what your value as a human is

All of them = the number of times you should celebrate those little things that the scale doesn’t tell you!

Pro Tips for Staying Inspired:

Revisit Your Why

We all joined that first time (or 5th time or in my case 6th time) for a reason. If you haven’t thought about that reason for a while or if it’s changed over time, revisit it. Heck even write it down and post it where you can see it!

Name 3 Things

Even if the scale hasn’t budged this month, I bet you can name three things that have changed since you’ve started on this journey. Maybe you can tie your own shoes. Could be that you aren’t embarrassed when someone opens your fridge or looks in your trash can anymore. Or in my case don’t have to keep Pepto in stock and on hand, or even think about it.

Now on to a VICTORY lap!

By now you are all thinking “oh yea, NSV’s I remember those” but we haven’t talked much about them lately have we? Now’s the time! NSV’s or Non Scale Victories are all those little (and some big!) things that tell you how you’re really doing, how your week went, and sometimes just sometimes what a really great person you are 🙂

Your homework was #VictoryLap. Where are my cheerleaders? I want to hear some hooping and hollering this week as we celebrate ALL of your victories both small and large!

Vickie’s husband is seeing her success and provides encouragement and help however he can!
Kim’s clothes are a little looser and she’s having to wear a belt with her pants!
Marlene’s uniform shirt buttons all the way and even feels a little loose!

Bravo, you did it!

This Week’s Topic: “How To Build Healthy Habits That Stick!”

I’ll give you 60 seconds to grab a writing utensil and a piece of scrap paper. Go!

Now that you’re all back let’s take a little quiz and I want you to shout out your results at the end no matter what they are (this is not a test, you are not being graded or competing with anyone)

Pro Tips for Staying Inspired:

Healthy Habits Quiz

Give yourself one point for each of these you can answer YES to:

Get 7-8 hours of sleep per night
Keep comfortable shoes at your desk or in your car
Eat a variety of foods
Weigh yourself at least once per week but not more than once per day
Report in to an accountability partner whether it’s at a meeting or to a friend/family member
Track on a consistent basis (not necessarily complete, just consistent)
Stand or move at least once every hour that you are awake?
Are you setting a STAR goal on a regular basis?
Do you know what your next meal will be before you finish one?
Is your willpower strong? (for those of you not watching live this one is a trick question!)

This Week’s Homework: #NoMoreWillpower

Your homework for this week is #NoMoreWillpower. I double, no triple checked my sources on “how to maintain a healthy weight” and absolutely zero of them mention willpower. None. Zip. All you have to do for your homework this week is add ONE of the habits from our Healthy Habits Quiz for this week and let us know how you did. Now DO YOUR HOMEWORK because I promise there is someone who needs the idea you have already rattling around in your head. Whatever it is let us know, I promise your decision to participate this week will help you AND someone else! Then type it, snap it, share it however you like, and then tag me for your next cool badge!

Don’t forget to do your homework #NoMoreWillpower and tag me when you share on social media!

Tag @ifyouhaveanegg on Instagram
Tag @ifyouhaveanegg on our Facebook Page
Tag @Kelly Green Milligan in our Facebook Group
Tag @ifyouhaveanegg on WW Connect

Extra Credit: Awake (my word of the year)

Do you remember what you were doing on January 2nd?

Those of us in Gwen’s in person workshop in Powell were asked to come up with a “word of the year” that would represent how we would want this year to go. I heard all sorts of inspirational things like Success, Win, Forward, and more. Me? I was on the downhill swing of the flu and didn’t choose a word. It wasn’t because I had been sick or because my head was foggy, I just couldn’t think of a word that wasn’t a Sunday School “Jesus!” which is our standard response for anything you don’t know the answer to here in the Bible Belt haha.

Gwen asked us again this last week what our word was. My little hand didn’t go up, I didn’t have one. But her question just kept digging into my brain the whole drive home…and nagging…Kelly you need a word of the year. It’s already March for heaven’s sake and you don’t have a simple theme to focus on.

And then it hit me, Awake. My word of the year is Awake!

Please humor me and take a little trip back to 2020. If you’re here you lived through the epidemic and have your own stories. Here is a little of mine and why now it made me revisit 2017 and chosen the word Awake for this year.

2015 was when I finally got to my goal weight. Still rocking along in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and then… the brakes hit in 2020. Everything and everyone was shut down and the world froze.

Suddenly, I lost my walking time. I was walking at least three times a week with Karen and once a day downtown. I wasn’t able to do that anymore.

I wasn’t getting the variety of foods I was used to either! I couldn’t just walk down to the grocery store and grab something, I was ordering more and more through apps and online.

Tracking… forget it! No one was there to talk to about my weight or my tracking goals, so I didn’t bother. I was giving myself so many excuses for little “splurging” meals or eating outside of what I knew would be in my points for the day.

So back to last week when Gwen asked us what our word was… it hits me. I’ve been sleepwalking the past 4 years! I have let the pandemic tell me that I wasn’t strong, brave, tough enough. I have been on autopilot since 2020.

My word of the year is OFFICIALLY “awake” and I’ll explain what that means for me.

Back when I was at my goal weight in 2015, I found it “easier” to lose the weight than it was to maintain my goal weight. Now, I’m not saying that losing weight is easy. It was just easier than maintaining. Everyone was complimenting me, I was getting my confidence back, and my clothes were getting bigger. I kept trying to lose more to keep those results that I enjoyed.

It took me 2 years to finally hit a good rhythm with eating. I struggled to let myself eat, because I was terrified I would just gain it all back again. So 2015-2017 was me attempting to find my balance and keeping myself at my goal weight.

Now, from 2017 – 2020 I was rocking it, I knew exactly how to navigate my daily points, even if I wanted to indulge myself. I wasn’t terrified to eat a treat, because I knew what I had to do to keep at my goal weight. Then when COVID hit… I crashed and burned. Because I was bitter. I couldn’t go to Planet Fitness with Kc anymore. I couldn’t go walking with Karen. I couldn’t just go on a walk downtown. But what do you do with that bitterness when there are people all around you struggling and some are dying from this? I ate my bitterness. I shoved it down with my food.

I went back to 2017 when I realized Tuesday night that my word was going to be “awake.” Not focus, energized, hopeful… all of them are great. But I realized that I’ve just been sleepwalking through the last four years.

So why did I go all the way back to 2017? This trip back helped me refocus and find myself again.

I went back through my phone. Scroll, scroll, scroll… and I saw all of the fabulous and pretty foods I was eating back then. I was shocked to see all of the meals that I used to make all the time. There was a ton of variety in the foods I was eating, and they all were plated well and they looked gorgeous.
I went back and looked at my activity logs. I was getting at least 10,000 steps every. single. day. I was walking multiple times a week with Karen, I was walking at least 20-30 minutes every day. And I was going to PF with Kc. My activity was off the charts. Today… if I get 1,500 steps on days where I’m not walking with Karen, I’m doing good. That’s the definition of sleep walking.
Not paying attention to my body. I’ve not go so far off the rails that my stomach is upset or I eat until I almost throw up. I’ve just not been paying attention to my body. My shirt buttons are a little tighter, and I ignore it.
Too many relaxing days and food choices. Letting the “creep” come back in, and not measuring things out that I need to track. Little things like that can quickly lead to worse and worse decisions that can easily get out of control. I need to stop it now.

I’ve been sleepwalking through the last 4 years but now I am Awake! My word for 2024 is Awake! What’s yours?