Nicole in D.C.

In the summer of 2005, I dropped nearly 20 pounds doing Weight Watchers, eating properly and exercising, and having a very active job as an intern at a concert promotions company. The weight came off in a matter of weeks and then I started to slack and begin ‘rewarding’ myself. Not too long after that, I started dating and stopped eating healthily and making time for the gym.

The other day I had one of those realizations that, in 10 years, I could be one of those people on The Biggest Loser who wakes up and is over 200 pounds. I’ve slowly gained all that weight back – and more – in a matter of 4.5 years. Keep it on this pace, I could be more than 250 pounds by the time I hit 34, and that’s not something I’m okay with.

One of the major issues I have with my body is that I’m completely proportional and I hold my weight well. Yeah, that may not seem like a bad thing, but, when you gain and lose, nothing really changes. When I tell people what I weigh, they’re completely floored thinking I weigh at least 15-20 pounds less than I actually do. Maybe that has do to with my athletic background as a child and having a muscular build, but being proportional has a lot to do it with it, too. There’s no “oh, hey, my gut’s getting out of control” or “wow, my butt looks big in those jeans.” Unless I can’t buy a pair of jeans in the store, I never really notice that I’ve gained or lost much weight.

So, what am I doing now to lose weight? I haven’t changed my lifestyle that much, actually. Here are the things I’ve focused on so far:

• Getting to the gym no matter if it’s crowded or not. I love watching the activity points rack up on Weight Watchers. An hour on the elliptical is rewarding in many ways – it’s worth 8 activity points, I get a very good sweat on, and it wears me out so I can go to sleep. Also, it relieves the guilt of having a late-night snack.
• Choosing skim milk when drinking coffee/Don’t drink your calories. One of my long-term goals is to completely rid my diet of unnecessary/empty calories, especially those consumed through drinking. They offer very little nutritional value and don’t even come close to filling you up.
• Making sure to evaluate food at home before choosing to eat at a restaurant. I have a lot of food in my house. I could survive another snowpocalypse without having to worry about groceries — I really shouldn’t be getting takeout from the Thai place or Chipotle on my way home three times a week. Not only is it bad for my waistline, but it’s also bad for my wallet.
• Eating leftovers. For anyone who knows me, they know I basically can’t stomach leftovers. I blame it on the fact that I basically only at three things for the bulk of my childhood. This week, I cooked a pack of chicken up one night and vowed to eat all of it over the course of the week. I just seasoned it with pepper and salt when I cooked it so that I could use it in a variety of ways – on a sandwich, in tacos, or just plain… hot or cold. I wound up finishing the entire pack in four days.
• Setting an alarm for counting my points three times a day. I’ve actually been on Weight Watchers since my birthday and, six weeks later, I’m just beginning to count my points. There’s no bigger motivating factor than tracking your points and realizing “wow, that Pop Tart has 1/5 of the calories I’m supposed to consume in a day.” Even if you think you’re making a ‘sacrifice’ by eating Pop Tarts without the frosting (I did a calorie check in the store; some flavors without frosting have more calories than their frosting-less counterparts).
• Not counting daily routine in activity points. I generally walk 2-3 miles a day, but if I were to stop exercising, this wouldn’t change. While WW suggests that you track all activity, I’m not going to go with this method because it inflates how much actual exercise I’m finding the time to do.

When you can eat things like this on a diet, why would you not diet? (I apologize for the slightly blurry picture)

That’s a mozzarella, tomato, and arugula panini on whole wheat artisan bread with a chickpea, pepper, carrot and onion salad on a little bit of spinach. Grand total: 6 Weight Watchers points.