January flew the coop and with it went my first four weeks as a Weight Watcher. The month seemed to pass quickly and I guess that’s a good thing when you are embarking on a lifestyle change.

Being on WW truly has made an impact on my life and I like to tell people that it’s turning me into a “foodie.” Gone are the days when I can fall back on my basic, I-can-do-this-in-my-sleep meals; I’ve traded them in food planning and prep, but with a pretty payoff. I am trying loads of new recipes, eating some awesome meals and I’m losing weight! From shrimp fried rice and grilled chicken to salmon and turkey chili, I’m eating it all (and my husband thinks he’s partaking quite nicely too).

So just how much am I losing? Here are the numbers: My first official weigh-in put me at 168.2 pounds. Okay, yes that embarrassing but I’m trying to be upfront with y’all. . . so there it is. Week one I lost 3.6 pounds and week two I lost two more pounds. That put me down a total of 5.6 pounds, which was enough to earn my first WW charm — the five-pound charm.

I stayed the course in week three with a loss of another 2.2 pounds, but in week four I only took off .8 pounds for a total of 8.6 pounds lost. I was a bit disappointed in that final January weigh-in but I gathered a lot of support at my weekly meeting, especially when I announced that I cinched up my belt one notch. Apparently plateaus are common and sometimes we might see what they like to call “beyond-the-scale” victories (i.e. smaller belt size). At any rate, according to my home scale I’m on the other side of my first plateau, so I’ll let you know how it goes at Tuesday’s meeting.

I also earned my second charm of my Weight Watchers journey at the four-week mark because I attended four of my first five meetings. I have perfect attendance at this point because, other than the great personal support, I really love to step on that scale and see the numbers go in reverse!

STARTING WEIGHT:  168.2
JANUARY 2018 :  -8.6
CURRENT WEIGHT:  159.6