The WW Project

Like a lot of people, I've gained and lost weight several times in my life. For years, I've said that I want to be in the best shape of my life at age 40. I will be 40 this December.

Through Pinterest, I've discovered so many wonderful blogs by women that have succeeded at weight loss. Admittedly, I read some of them while eating Girl Scout cookies. Reading their stories made me start looking at my own life and what has got me here.

I don't have a sad story as to why I'm overweight. My short story is that for years, I've put everything else ahead of my health. Some of my family and friends would tell you that I'm a workaholic. Some would tell you I'm lazy and others may tell you that I'm my own worst enemy because I love to bake. Then there are the ones that would tell you that I lack willpower when it comes to things for me.

All the success stories and my own self reflection inspired to begin what I'm referring to as The WW Project. The project kicked off about 30 days ago and will wrap up around December 2013. Only a few people know about the project. The following for my blog is minimal, so I feel okay sharing the details of the project.

The WW Project is how I've chosen to look at my journey to a healthier me. The realization for me was that I need to look at achieving my weight loss goal as a project. I can manage a work project great, so I decided to apply my project management skills to becoming a healthier me.

Weight Watchers online is the program that I opted to use to get me to my goal. You guessed it the WW represents Weight Watchers. The online tools are great - the app for the iPhone is also great. There was still something missing for me, so I created an Excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet has formulas, so it is easy to identify milestones and how long it will take me to get to my goal weight. It's a quick visual that makes sense to me because it's set up much like a work project plan.

I'm thrilled to share that I've lost 11.5 pounds since I signed up (April 22) for WW.

Key Takeaways for the First 30 Days

• A small scoop is a must have for things like peanut butter, cream cheese, sour cream, mayo etc. Get one that is 1 Tablespoon. It makes it so easy for portions.
• I can make a delicious PB&J sandwich for around 11 points.
• Adjusting to low sugar and natural sugar items is an acquired taste. These low sugar baked oatmeal cups from Sugar-Free Mom are okay with a little honey on them. You have to know going in they are low sugar and the texture is a little different. The win is that they are only 3 points (4 points with the honey) and they are extremely filling.
• The reduced fat Philadelphia cream cheese is the tub is 2 points for 2 Tablespoons. A wedge of Laughing Cow Lite Swiss is 1 point - a wedge is about 1 Tablespoon.
• Thin Mints are 1 point each - Who can eat one cookie? One sleeve, yes ... one cookie, no.