I'm Not An Influencer

I'm not an influencer.  I'm not a famous blogger.  I don't have endorsements.

I'm a normal everyday person that wants to lose weight; that needs to lose weight.

But I'm always starting over.  I'm always failing and starting over.

No one is going to be influenced by me; look me up everyday to read; nor want me to endorse their product.

I'm just me and I bet there are more of you like me, then not.

Remember when WW would have celebrities endorse their program?  The celebrities would be the spokesperson after they lost the weight.  I could never understand why we didn't see the whole celebrity journey rather than just the aftermath.

I was never encouraged by a celebrity's weight loss.  Why? Because they have options the rest of us don't: nutritionists, cooks, personal trainers, etc..  You know what I'm talking about!

I always thought WW should choose normal everyday people of various ages and sizes and then do the commercials about them, from start to finish.  The people who have to cook their own meals; the people who can not afford a gym membership; the people like me and you.  Oh, I know there were commercials with regular WW members - but it was after the fact - you had to have lost the weight to be in a commercial.

I use to read the blog of one person who had been in a WW commercial.  When she started to put weight back on; she stopped her blog.  I was sad because that's the part of the journey I really needed the help with.  I guess she thought she had failed and didn't deserve to lead anymore.  I couldn't disagree more.

Ups and Downs, Ends and Outs.....it's all part of a weight loss journey.

Starting Over

I'm starting all over.

I know what you're thinking; who in their right mine decides to start Weight Watchers on Christmas Eve?

I can answer that.  I've been a Weight Watcher on and off since 2010.  Yep, 15 years and counting.  I was only successful the first time and became Lifetime.  It didn't last though and I've struggled since.

So why back to Weight Watchers?  The program does work (in all it's various versions) if you work the program.  I've dabbled with the Healthi app ( I do highly recommend it) and the Lose-It app (another great recommendation) but I always find my way back to WW.  WW hasn't offered an in-person meeting in some time in my area (there is one during work hours) so I can only do the app version.  I do realize that there are virtual meetings, however, I have not found them useful for myself.

Why now?  Well, Jean-Luc & Nick's Kickstart program begins in January and I've been part of this program for some time.  Kickstart is totally FREE and offers support and fun along the way.  So Kickstart is my "meeting" group!  Thus the word "Kickstarting" in the blog title.

I've been writing under another blog "Finding My Laura" but I've restarted that blog so many times to restart with my weight loss journey that this time I decided a new blog was needed.  I'll reuse some of those posts, but for the most part this is a new journey.

Why on Christmas Eve?  Well, I probably won't really start until Friday; actually weight loss can be started anytime!

Merry Christmas Eve to all of you and see you on the other side of the holidays!

NOTE:  Postings prior to this one are old posts from my other blog. Pay attention to dates as some are from other years.

14 Years Ago Today.....

 14 Years Ago Today - I Made Lifetime Status With Weight Watchers.

I remember being so proud of all my charms that led up to that.

That was quite a while ago.  I only remember this date because it popped up on my FB memories.  That weight loss is long gone - it came back.

Weight loss is hard, maintaining is harder.  I've had many other keychains and charms through WW, but none were even close to the success I had back then.

Saturday!

 I like Saturdays because I'm off work....I hate Saturdays because I normally overeat!

CC is in Niagra Falls with her hubby, son and his partner this weekend so I'm kind of on my own.  We would normally be at yard sales and eating out.  I could yard sale myself but it's so hot & humid out and well, yard sales are just more fun with her!  However, I will have a little more control over my eating since I won't be eating out today! Not blaming CC, I'm totally responsible for what goes in my mouth!

Hubby is still dog sitting as well.

This morning I opted for a Big A** Waffle from the Mudhustler website.  I've made this before but haven't in quite a long time.  It was okay, I mean they are good, it just wasn't quite what I wanted though!

It does make a good waffle though.  The above picture is an older photo, I didn't have the banana on top this morning (and forgot to take a picture). And it is filling, banana or not!

I haven't decided on lunch or dinner yet.  It's Saturday and I kind of don't want to cook!

Later.....

I've decided on Gorton's Haddock Fish Sticks, Crinkle Cut Fries and Watermelon for lunch. Some comfort food seemed to be in order: 4 sticks, 20 fries and 1/2 cup watermelon comes to 459 calories; and though that may be higher in the carb department.....I'm only looking at calories at this point.  My breakfast was only 281 calories and I still have 801 to use for dinner and snacks.  I'm thinking that dinner will be bbq chicken tenders with 1/2 cup baked beans.

Rotisserie Chicken

 May seem like a weird topic, but rotisserie chicken became a huge discussion on one of the FB groups.

A person posted they had called Weight Watchers wondering how to count skinned rotisserie chicken they were going to buy at Costco.  The answer?  Throw that away, Weight Watchers doesn't want you eating that - make your own. (not exact words, but very close)

I really find it hard to believe that a WW rep responded that way; and even with the wrong information!

However.....you couldn't tell this person that because "I'm paying for WW and they are the experts and this is what I was told by an expert."

Yeah, you read that right.  I was able to go right to the WW website and find a snippet about rotiesserie chicken.  With the exception of the wing, any part of the chicken, as long as you remove the skin, is zero points.  Now I realize the person was asking about skinned chicken, which would have points; but the person didn't want to hear about it in any way.  We were all doing it wrong; and she was trying to pass on the expert information.

All she had to do was call again, ask the same question and she'd find out she'd get an entirely different answer.  So they really aren't trained well, nor are they experts.

The snippet from the website didn't matter, others called or chatted online and got different information - but that didn't matter.  Only her so called expert was correct.

After awhile I was thinking we were dealing with a spammer; mostly because she started with Costco, then Sam's, then chicken breasts that weren't even rotisserie.  The influencer had to shut the conversation down.

For one; I buy a rotisserie chicken weekly and eat off of it all week.  Sometimes with rice or make soup or make pot pie or just pull it off and eat it as a snack.  Rotisserie chicken from the store is not the reason I'm fat - potato chips are!

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Meal Prep - I can't do a whole week of meal prep; but yesterday, I did prepare for today!

Breakfast was baked oatmeal.  I use a very basic recipe for this and it makes one serving:  1/3 cup oatmeal, 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 pack sweetener and 1 tsp baking powder.  I then throw in any fruit I want, in this case it was blueberries.  Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.  I'll eat this with a side of strawberries all for 0 pts.

For lunch I chose a throw together:

This one comes to 7 pts. due to the crackers, babybel cheese and green olives; but that's okay! It will still be yummy!

I'll probably have the same thing for breakfast and lunch on Tuesday with the exception of the shrimp - I'll replace that with that rotiesserie chicken that caused so much conversation, lol!

Dinner this evening will be steak and corn on the cob.  Tuesday probably pork chop and corn on the cob!

And I want to get my walks started again and some other type of exercise!

A Great Weekend

 I had the best time last weekend at The Living Dead Weekend in Monroeville, PA!  It was an extremely busy weekend though.

Friday I did the 3 hour drive to Monroeville arriving way before I needed to.  Standing in line I was able to get this:

That's Greg Nicotero and Tom Savini!  I just love Greg Nicotero!  He is so very nice.  You can read about last year's event here:  2024 Continues.  After everything opened and Greg finally showed up at his table I took my stuffed Greg Nicotero from The Cuddle Cult to have him sign:

He told me a story of how he gave one of these in a Christmas gift exchange at work and that the guy who got it, put it on his Christmas tree!  I also bought a large coin he designed with his 13 favorite horror movies on it (I've yet to identify all of them).  We did a selfie - for some reason he has to do the selfies - anyway he took my phone and then told me he couldn't get it to open; I rattled off the code to him and he said "You do realize you just gave me your phone code."  I told him all that that would get him is about 600 photos of Duran Duran.  He shook his head and said "You and my wife....."   LOL!!  Totally made my weekend!  Though I did get more photos of him from a distance; I didn't get the opportunity to talk to him again.  It was very crowded and he had people around all the time, even at the VIP event on Saturday evening.  And though being a fangirl, I didn't want to come across as stalkish either.

Friday evening I saw the original b/w version of Night of the Living Dead on the big screen finally!  Some of the cast was there to watch it with us.  It was great!  It was in line waiting to get into the theater that I met Dave.  Dave is a school teacher from New York; he's married with a 6 year old son.  He was also at the event by himself.  We would run into each other several times during the weekend - the Dawn of the Dead mall tour, various discussion panels and the Day of the Dead brunch.  The majority of the people at the event were very nice.

I also met Alice B. Sullivan, an author of apocalyptic novels.  I had downloaded one of her books but never read it due to the dog on the cover.  She assured me the dog doesn't die in her books - LOL!!  I bought some books from her - go check her out!

From the hotel to the event - everything was great!  I think they are planning another one in October.  Walmart has bought the mall and it is expected that it will probably be torn down and replaced with a Walmart; because that's the crap that Walmart does!  So they are trying to get another one in.  Will I go?  Not sure, it takes a lot of money for that!  But we will see.

The worst part of the weekend was the drive home in all the rain and fog; but it was worth it.

Not A Weight Post

 Sorry that my posts have been few.  Kickstart kind of has gone to the side as I'm dealing with a dog with a neck injury and it's just been way too stressful.

But with this post, I want to discuss the Bay City Rollers.  Yeah, you heard that correctly, the band from the 1970's famous for the song Saturday Night and causing young girls to run around in plaid and scream their heads off.

I was one of those girls:

Yep, that's me in my Roller Gear too many years ago! 😁 Eric was my favorite.

When I first got the internet, the Rollers were something I looked up.  There were many fan sites and I was able to reconnect with a few penpals.  When FB rolled around, I found some more, connected with new ones and rehashed my Roller days.

I became a fan during what is known as the "classic" line-up:  Eric, Les, Woody, Alan & Derek.  I am very much aware that Les replaced the original lead singer Nobby Clark and that fans in the U.K. are very familiar with him.  Though Nobby was with the band since the start and recorded songs with them, he left before the really big break and the worldwide Rollermania (I'm not saying there wasn't any when he was in the band, but the classic line-up is what most remember).  Nobby sometimes comes to fan fests held throughout the world and it is my understanding that some of the early recordings are actually his voice and not Les' as there wasn't time to dub them over.  I don't know if that's true or not.  What I do know is that Nobby wrote a book, Nobby comes to fanfests and Nobby, in my opinion, has never gotten over not being part of the big break.  He's a little quieter these days but it was there for a long time.

The fan pages these days, for some reason, are in competition with each other.  Keep in mind this is a band from the 70's that hasn't been together in quite a long time.  Of the classic line-up only Eric, Woody and Derek are still alive.  Both Alan & Les passed a few years back as well as Ian (who replaced Alan for a short period).  I must mention Ian as he and his wife Wendy were always very nice to fans on FB.  Wendy still shares pictures (and stories) from her private collection.

Anyhow, there's bullying, there's threats, there's accusations......and I can't help but wonder; why?  Why is it so important for one group of people to try to be named "The Only True Bay City Roller Fans"?  And these groups join with the band member's wives/significant others/children, who apparently don't really get along that well with each other.  So it's a divided group.  There doesn't seem to be any middle ground and for some reason I can't enjoy my band from my childhood because of it.  I can't understand why grown women behave like that!!  I can't really understand why anyone would behave like that over anything.

Grow Up People!