Do you remember this post on 26 October 2012 about me joining Weight Watchers? Well….all the crocheting and getting my five-a-day with the yarnbomb fruit seem to have paid off – I reached my goal weight this morning!

I lost 10% of my starting weight and now fit into my smallest jeans & work trousers again! The last time I was able to wear my smallest jean, was on my 30th birthday…. five years ago.

As of this morning I’m on the maintenance plan and have six extra points per day! I feel like I’ve won the lottery! 🙂

Pretty impressive charting hey? Okay, so there have been a couple of weight increases over the 5 months, notably over the Christmas and New Year period, but I think I did good considering John’s kidney donation operation also took place in this time (November) and I went through a stressful period at work and had a family drama to contend with.

I followed Weight Watchers Online, so there were no classes to attend and I tracked everything on my iPhone with the super fantastic Weight Watchers app. I really love tracking my food intake. It helps me stay in control and honest with myself.

By tracking my food intake I learned that even if I do go over my points in one day, I almost instinctively make up for it the next by eating less, so over the span of one week it all evens out. In the past I would have said “oh well, there goes the whole diet I might as well give up now”, but now I know I can still claw it back if I just watch (and track) what I eat the next day.

My three tips for losing weight:

1. Track everything you eat.
2. Focus on your goal weight, not the amount of kg’s you have to loose. In other words, “see” yourself weighing X kg, don’t think of the X kg you have to loose to get to that goal. There is a stressed and negative emotion connected to focusing on what you have to loose, as opposed to focusing on how you will look & feel once you reach the goal weight. We need positive thoughts, not negative & demoralising ones.
3. Reach for the crochet hook instead of the Hobnob.

If you’ve reached goal weight, and you’ve kept it that way, I’d love to hear your tips.

For now, I’m just going to bask in the knowledge that I weigh what I set out to weigh, I fit into my jeans again and I feel proud of myself.