Reader Question: Excess Skin

source

Good Morning!! I’ve received several emails in the last few weeks from people who read and follow my blog. They are people just like you and me who are in the midst of their own weight loss journeys. These people need some advice and/or encouragement to help them along in their journey.

Normally, I just email the blog reader back and let that be it. However, I think that there are other people out there who have similar questions. So, I’ve decided to start using some of my reader questions as my inspiration for blog posts. I’ll post the reader’s question and my response to their question.

This past weekend I received an email from Sarah, who had a question about excess skin. Read below to check out Sarah’s question.

"Do you have to deal with extra skin, or has your body adjusted to the new weight? I look all over the place for weight loss blogs for inspiration, I have 92 pounds to lose. However, I recently came across a blog where a girl had to have a "lower body lift" which is basically plastic surgery to remove excess skin, and this kind of scared me. I'm a big fan of your blog, so I thought I would ask you and see if you had any issues with this after your weight loss. Thanks for your help."

Here is my response to Sarah and anyone else who is nervous about dealing with excess skin.

First, I just want to thank Sarah for having the courage to email me! I love hearing from my blog readers/followers! Talking about weight loss issues can be uncomfortable, especially when you are talking about it with a stranger.

My mother-in-law asked me this same question just a few months after I reached my goal weight. In answer to your question, I did not have to deal with extra skin. I have not had any kind of "body lift" either. To be completely honest, I did not lose all of my weight and find a six pack under the layers of fat that was hiding it. My stomach does not look like anything that you would find on the cover of a magazine. It is bigger than I like and still has a few larger rolls. However, I do not have lots of flabby skin just hanging around that I have to deal with.

Now that I’ve been too honest with you, let me tell you a few reason about why I have not had to deal with extra skin.

First, I lost my weight at a slow and healthy rate. As I lost the weight my body was able to make adjustments. People who choose to lose weight very quickly often have to deal with a lot of extra skin, because their body does not have time to adjust to the weight loss changes that are taking place. I would highly recommend that you lose your weight at a slower pace. I know that it can be challenging, but losing the weight slowly really is the healthiest way to go.

Second, half way through my weight loss journey I began to exercise. I believe that the walking and running that I was doing as I lost my weight helped to naturally tone my body. If you are not exercising regularly I would highly recommend it!

Don't let the fear of having excess skin keep you from losing weight!

PointsPlus 2012 Plan Changes

{Flexible PointsPlus Target}

source

Many of you were surprised to notice that with our 2012 PointsPlus plan, many of your daily pointsplus targets have changed. When we launched our original PointsPlus program in 2010 we were overly cautious, making sure that everyone’s nutrition needs would be met with our program. Since that time we have done more research and discovered that this can still be done with a lower daily pointsplus target.

For that reason we have moved the bottom of our scale to 26 pointsplus instead of the 29. (You will notice that your etools account has automatically recalculated your daily pointsplus target to reflect these new calculations based on your age, height, current weight, and gender.) The choice to change your daily pointsplus target is completely up to you.

Why might you want to lower your daily pointsplus target?
• not losing or difficulty maintaining
• reduction in overall daily activity
• age, which may lead to slower weight loss or difficulty maintaining due to a decrease in activity
• I can’t eat all that! – Struggling to get in the recommended amount of pointsplus values

If you decide to move to the lower daily pointsplus values be cautious of the following things:
• Feeling deprived/falling into that diet mentality
• Getting in your Good Health Guidelines (proper nutrition)
• Unhealthy rapid weight loss -- what IS that? .5 lb to 2 lb per week. On the back of your newly designed weight record there is a place for you to plot your weight loss and identify if you are falling within the healthy range.

Why might you want to raise your daily pointsplus target?
• feeling too deprived, not being able to stick with it
• vacations, holiday seasons, a decision to maintain for a time instead of losing, etc.
• losing too quickly
• increase in overall daily activity, leading to rapid weight loss or chronic hunger

Now you have the option to remain at the daily pointsplus target you already have. If you are happy with your food intake, and if you are losing at a healthy rate, then you may not want to change your daily pointsplus target at all. If this is the case, and you have etools, you can adjust your daily pointsplus target under the plan manager under settings.

{Free eTools}

source

Congratulations to all Zero paying Lifetime members. As a reward for your hard work, you are now able to receive free etools! Each month when you weigh in no more than 2 lb above your goal, you will receive an 8 week free etools voucher! WOOOOHOOOO! You guys deserve it!!

{PowerStart}

source

Probably the biggest change that Weight Watchers is announcing this year is in how we are helping you get STARTED with your weight loss. Research shows that getting off to a GREAT start is critical to long-term weight loss success, so we’ve vamped our “getting started session” into a new 3-part POWERSTART! You’ll notice that on the front of your new weight record, there are 3 boxes to record when you’ve completed each of the great new sessions. I invite you ALL to stay for these 3 looping sessions. You do not have to take them in any order.

source

Don’t forget that our new 2012 enrollment products are now available with more information and with new updated pointsplus values. Pick your copies up in the meeting room!

Trusting God Anyway

source

Preface: Two posts in one day! I know that this rarely happens, but I have a lot on my mind.

Part One: A Big Decision

All week, I have been praying for wisdom and clarity. I have been asking the Lord to show me what He wants me to do with my life. You see I have to make several big decisions. The first decision I have to make is about whether or not I want to pursue my Master’s degree at this time. I was accepted into the Master of Psychology program and even registered for classes. Earning my Master’s degree has always been a part of “the plan”…my plan, but is it God’s will for my life? The timing seems perfect, because everything has fallen into place so neatly. Well, if it is so perfect why have I doubting whether or not this is what God really wants me to do?

Yesterday, I had a bad afternoon which came on top of a stressful week. I ended up crying a lot. It got to the point where I was not sure if I would ever stop. I did my best to pull myself together before choir even though my heart was still heavy. Later that night I asked my friend Meagan to pray for me and that I would have wisdom and clarity. I feel like I’ve been praying and praying, but not really getting anywhere this week. Last night, I didn’t feel any closer to making this decision than I did the night before. Why wouldn’t God answer me!?

Part Two: An Encouraging Blog Post

As it turns out, my prayer request inspired my friend Meagan to write a blog post titled “for when the clarity never come”. Please take a moment to read it now and then come back for part three.

Part Three: My Response

Thank you Meagan for writing that blog post because it was just what I needed to hear!

I did not have the “aha” moment that I was hoping for, but apparently I did not need it. I now understand and know the answer to my prayer. In fact I think that I have known the answer all along that I should not go to school right now. However, I do not understand why the Lord is leading me away from my very well thought out plan.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him and he will make your paths straight." - Proverbs 3:5-6

Even though I do not understand what is going on right now, I am trying my best to trust God anyway. I wanted clarity, so that I could be confident in the decision I made. If God were to give me the clarity I desired, I would not have to trust Him and walk by faith. God wants me to take a risk, step out in faith and trust Him to lead me in the right direction.

I need to be willing to trust Him even if I don’t understand what He is doing. Deep down inside I know that God’s plans are the better than mine and I have to trust that He has equipped me to make the right decision. I guess God has other plans for me that I do not know about. Until God tells me otherwise, I am going to rest in the truth that HE KNOWS.

Melanie's Success Story

Today and tomorrow are really busy days for me, because I am trying to get ready for graduation. I don't have a lot of time to blog, but I wanted to share this success story with you.

I have blogged about this couple before, Tim and Melanie Howie, because they were interviewed this past Spring. Tim and Melanie are an incredible couple and I am so glad that they have been able to share their story with others! They are so inspiring!!

Tim and Melanie can fit into Tim's jacket that he wore when he first started Weight Watchers.

Tim and Melanie also participated in our Success Event. As a result, Melanie was interviewed and featured today on TV!! Please click the link below to read Melanie's success story story.

Melanie's Story: Losing weight for herself and her son



I hope that this helps inspire you to continue to stay on track! Have a great weekend!

Local Success Stories

Last month, my Weight Watchers center hosted a huge Success Event. To read more about the Success Event, click here.

At the Success Event we had several Weight Watchers members share their weight loss success. The local newspaper got wind of the Success Event and recently decided to interview two of our successful Weight Watchers members, Barbara and Irene.

Irene sharing her weight loss story at last month's success event.

Barbara sharing her story at the success event.

This past Tuesday, a photographer stopped by our Tuesday evening Weight Watchers meeting to take pictures of Irene and Barbara for their newspaper article!! This morning their article was in the local newspaper!!

Irene and Barbara's weight loss article.

I know that this can be a challenging time of year. You are being tempted to eat more than any other time of year. If you are in need of some encouragement please click here to read their newspaper article.

Slow Cooking in December

Last night, Jon and I made Skinny Taste’s Baked Potato Soup. The soup is currently cooking in the Crock Pot and will be ready for us to eat when we get home later tonight!

As we were cooking last night I was reminded of two things that I love! First, I love cooking with my Jon. To be honest he is a better cook than I am. Jon helped me make this soup according to the recipe. When we had almost finished it, I told him that it was now his turn to add whatever kinds of spices he felt would make it taste even better. He added salt, black pepper, garlic, Italian seasoning, and more. If it was not for him all of our food would be bland and boring, at least according to Jon’s standards.

I first used this picture with my Crockpot Maple Ham recipe review.

Second, I love my Crock Pot! I am so thankful that we received our Crock Pot as a wedding present almost 5 years ago! Here in Texas, it is finally starting to feel like Fall and Winter, so now is that time of year when I pull out my Crock Pot and let it do most of my cooking for me!

My two favorite Crock Pot recipes are Crockpot Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti and Crockpot Maple Ham (which I will be making for Christmas). To see my collection of Crock Pot recipes click here and scroll down to the slow cooker section.

Do you enjoy Crock Pot cooking? What are some of you favorite Crock Pot recipes?

PointsPlus 2012

This week in the meeting room Weight Watchers will be launching their latest program PointsPlus 2012! You have probably already noticed some of these changes when you logged on to eTools.

This new program offers an increased amount of flexibility to help make the program work better for you. These are not huge changes, but you don’t want to miss this week’s meeting to get all of the details!

In the meeting room next week you will receive a completely redesigned pocket guide featuring some pointsplus changes to several foods. Every time the FDA reevaluates the nutritional information of foods, so do we. For that same reason we will also be selling our new 2012 editions of the Complete Food Companion and the Dining Out companion. These new editions are going to have the best and most accurate information available.

You will also be receiving the new getting started guide titled Meet Points Plus 2012.

We will be featuring our newly designed 2012 starter kits. Good news is they will still be featured at the discounted price of $34.95 for the deluxe kit and $19.95 for the essential kit. This is a great way for you to obtain the updated companion guides.

We will also be featuring a newly designed PointsPlus calculator. The new calculator has been renovated to provide larger buttons that are easier to push as well as updates to the new daily pointsplus flexibility options. The new and improved calculators will be featured for $5.95 for the first calculator just until January. After January the first calculator you purchase will be $7.50 and any additional purchase will be $14.95 a piece. $14.95 is the regular price for the updated calculator. What I like about these calculators is that we are now going to be offering skins for just $1.95 each that you can add to the top of your calculator to help accessorize it and make it more custom to your style. (No more birth control looking calculators!) Aren’t they awesome? It will be hard to choose just one!

With Points Plus 2012 we are redoing the way we do our getting started sessions for new members. It is now titled power start, and will take place in 3 (highly recommended that you attend) sessions. At each of the 3 sessions you will hear the program essentials as well as focus specifically on a much needed skill for success. The 3 power starts are titled Power Spaces, Power Choices, and Power Plans. At each of the 3 sessions you will receive a very unique colored tracker that not only includes a shopping list, food guide, and a power foods list, but it also includes an activity. At each powerstart session you will complete the activity and help incorporate that week’s skill into your personal life. The only way you can receive this exclusive fancy tracker is by attending these power start sessions. I highly recommend that all of you take these 3 refresher courses to help you start fresh and really be successful over the rest of this holiday season!

Remember that January will bring lots of new faces, so you may want to knock them out now so that you do not have to fight the crowd. You do not have to take them in any particular order. In fact we will rotate them over and over again. Every meeting all across the country will be offering the same power start session week to week.

Be on the lookout for new products in the meeting rooms as well!

I'll be blogging more about these changes so be sure to check back for the latest information on PointsPlus 2012!