National Weigh-In Day

I saw a commercial the other day for Special K’s National Weigh-In Day, which is today, January 2.
I remember this from last year. I love the commercial where the women step on the ginormous scale and the results are things like pizzazz, confidence, sass … you get the idea.
The campaign is what will you gain when you lose?
The Special K Gains Project website says, At Special K, we believe we should choose a word–a way we want to feel–and let that be our motivation.
As I was researching for this post only last year’s story was available about the campaign. So information comes from the Jan. 2, 2012 article.
The article said, from a survey, 64 percent find a lack of support the reason for getting off track from a weight loss plan.
Lack of support makes me sad. You finally decide to lose weight and/or become healthier and you have no support? That’s not right. That’s one of the many reasons I love Weight Watchers. There is so much support in the meetings and even online. And even though I am not going to meetings right now I have many friends who are currently on Weight Watchers or have been in the past.
For me my successful weight loss came from support from my husband, family and friends (though as I started losing weight the support from friends altered as jealousy set in and rude comments were common, and that still happens now), tracking my food, eventually adding exercise to my program (where 6 ¹⁄₂ years later I am still regularly exercising) and going to Weight Watchers meetings. It was nice to talk to other women who were going through the same issues you were and didn’t judge.
I don’t attend meetings now. But what keeps me maintaining (or losing when I need to lose a few pounds to get back to that goal weight) is tracking my food and exercise. It keeps me honest.
What will you gain when you lose? As I lost weight and became healthier I started to feel better about myself. I definitely gained confidence. I had to buy new clothes–cute clothes, I might add. My new wardrobe created  my shoe fetish. I received compliments on my weight loss and clothes and confidence. I feel better about myself. I look at pictures from before and can’t believe it. Confidence and feeling better about myself are good things. And I was proud of myself. But I think the most important is my health.  My cholesterol is in a healthy range as is my BMI.
I highly recommend Weight Watchers for successful weight loss and maintenance. Special K seems to have a similar online tracking and mobile app. The Special K Challenge challenges participants to lose 6 pounds in two weeks.
But from what I know healthy weight loss is 1-2 pounds a week. (If you quickly lose weight then you can quickly gain it back.) According to this MayoClinic article: Over the long term, it’s best to aim for losing 1 to 2 pounds (0.5 to 1 kilogram) a week. To lose 1 to 2 pounds a week, you need to burn 500 to 1,000 calories more than you consume each day, through a lower calorie diet and regular exercise.
From another MayoClinic article on weight loss: But don’t forget the bottom line: The key to successful weight loss is a commitment to making permanent changes in your diet and exercise habits.
I couldn’t agree with this more. Permanent healthy lifestyle is key. And once you start on that path you feel better in so many ways. We need to take the time to develop new habits and tools to help us stay on track.
Are you ready to make a change?