Bmac - Barbara
December 20, 2010
Hi! My name is Barbara Macalik. I am 49 and I have been married for 29 ½ years now to a wonderful man named Mike. I have a son, Evan 26, and a daughter, Laura 23. We have 2 puppy dogs, Sadie (8yr) terrier mix and Alex (4yr) who is a 30lb shitzsu/maltese mixed with blue heeler.
I have been a weight watcher for 20 years now. I made lifetime so long ago I can’t remember exactly when it was. In my early 30’s I believe. So that is roughly 15 years at lifetime. Like everyone I have lost and gained several times.
This particular journey started when…
In February 2005 my sister was diagnosed with colon cancer. She went through chemo and in September she finished her treatments. She was cancer free and still is.
In February 2006 my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. It was so bad that she opted not to do any treatments. We lost her in just 3 months.
Then in 2007 in February (are you seeing the pattern here?) I got up enough nerve to go have a colonoscopy. I told my husband that “I bet they don’t find anything”. Well I was wrong, I had a 5cm mass down by the appendix. Oh great I thought, now I have colon cancer too. The biopsy came back as benign. But my doctor said that it still could be cancerous underneath where they didn’t take a sample. In March I had laparoscopic surgery to remove 6-8 inches of my colon. The tests came back negative!!! We were so relieved. The doctor did say that I had dodged the bullet. That if I had waited any longer it would have turned to cancer. Someone was definitely watching over me… I had also had a breast cancer scare in November 2006.
It took me another year to finally decide that I needed to get healthy. Not just lose the weight but I needed – had to get healthy. My cholesterol was 265 and blood pressure was climbing. So I started back to Weight Watchers.
This last round started on March 29, 2008. I was at my all time high of 191 lbs. and was in denial that I needed to go into a size 18. I swore a long time ago that I would NOT let myself get as big as my mother and sister did. I did come very close though.
I was not working the program like it was meant to be done. It took me 2 years to lose 24 pounds. I was working out fairly regularly until June of 2009. After that I pretty much stopped all together. In January 2010, my husband and I joined a gym close to the house and we did pretty well for about 6 months and we have not been going very much since then. In September of 2010 we went on a weekend fishing trip with my brother in law and his wife and another couple. I thought I was making better choices and still gained 3 pounds. I kept that on and started to put the weight back on. I was so ready to just give up.
Then Weight Watchers had just announced they were changing the plan in November. I thought - this is good. This is what I need to get my behind back into gear and get serious this time. On the Monday after thanksgiving I went to a meeting and hopped on the scale. I was absolutely dreading it. I had gone from 169 back to 176 in just a few months.
I tracked my food and did well the first week but after that I was back to my old tricks. This went on until the week of Christmas when after lurking on the Seriously on Plan thread for a while, I decided to give it a try. Everyone was so nice and full of advice.
I was so amazed at how all of a sudden I didn’t need the extra weekly points and that I didn’t really need to exercise to have the weight come off. I was losing steadily each week.
I have dropped another 22.6 lbs since joining the SOP thread. My cholesterol is below 200 now and well, the blood pressure is an on going thing. I don’t have to take medicine for it so that’s still good.
Right now though, I have been yo-yoing since March but I’m not giving up… I am reading books and learning from the SOPers and STOMPers. It’s going to be an ongoing process for the rest of my life and I know that I could not do this without the ladies of the Seriously on Plan thread.
Thank you all so much!!!
B
I have been a weight watcher for 20 years now. I made lifetime so long ago I can’t remember exactly when it was. In my early 30’s I believe. So that is roughly 15 years at lifetime. Like everyone I have lost and gained several times.
This particular journey started when…
In February 2005 my sister was diagnosed with colon cancer. She went through chemo and in September she finished her treatments. She was cancer free and still is.
In February 2006 my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. It was so bad that she opted not to do any treatments. We lost her in just 3 months.
Then in 2007 in February (are you seeing the pattern here?) I got up enough nerve to go have a colonoscopy. I told my husband that “I bet they don’t find anything”. Well I was wrong, I had a 5cm mass down by the appendix. Oh great I thought, now I have colon cancer too. The biopsy came back as benign. But my doctor said that it still could be cancerous underneath where they didn’t take a sample. In March I had laparoscopic surgery to remove 6-8 inches of my colon. The tests came back negative!!! We were so relieved. The doctor did say that I had dodged the bullet. That if I had waited any longer it would have turned to cancer. Someone was definitely watching over me… I had also had a breast cancer scare in November 2006.
It took me another year to finally decide that I needed to get healthy. Not just lose the weight but I needed – had to get healthy. My cholesterol was 265 and blood pressure was climbing. So I started back to Weight Watchers.
This last round started on March 29, 2008. I was at my all time high of 191 lbs. and was in denial that I needed to go into a size 18. I swore a long time ago that I would NOT let myself get as big as my mother and sister did. I did come very close though.
I was not working the program like it was meant to be done. It took me 2 years to lose 24 pounds. I was working out fairly regularly until June of 2009. After that I pretty much stopped all together. In January 2010, my husband and I joined a gym close to the house and we did pretty well for about 6 months and we have not been going very much since then. In September of 2010 we went on a weekend fishing trip with my brother in law and his wife and another couple. I thought I was making better choices and still gained 3 pounds. I kept that on and started to put the weight back on. I was so ready to just give up.
Then Weight Watchers had just announced they were changing the plan in November. I thought - this is good. This is what I need to get my behind back into gear and get serious this time. On the Monday after thanksgiving I went to a meeting and hopped on the scale. I was absolutely dreading it. I had gone from 169 back to 176 in just a few months.
I tracked my food and did well the first week but after that I was back to my old tricks. This went on until the week of Christmas when after lurking on the Seriously on Plan thread for a while, I decided to give it a try. Everyone was so nice and full of advice.
I was so amazed at how all of a sudden I didn’t need the extra weekly points and that I didn’t really need to exercise to have the weight come off. I was losing steadily each week.
I have dropped another 22.6 lbs since joining the SOP thread. My cholesterol is below 200 now and well, the blood pressure is an on going thing. I don’t have to take medicine for it so that’s still good.
Right now though, I have been yo-yoing since March but I’m not giving up… I am reading books and learning from the SOPers and STOMPers. It’s going to be an ongoing process for the rest of my life and I know that I could not do this without the ladies of the Seriously on Plan thread.
Thank you all so much!!!
B