Weight Loss Jars - Have I lost my marbles?

Whenever I've lost weight in the last 2 decades it's with someone else acting as a cheerleader. I've worked out with a personal trainer, joined a weight loss group at work, done weight loss challenges with my friends and joined Weight Watchers. All these methods have worked because I've been accountable to someone. 

Our move to Singapore changed a lot of things for me. I no longer have access to Weight Watchers meetings, I don't work and while I do have friends here none of them need to lose weight. I did take a few personal training sessions but at $80 SGD or $61.50 USD a pop that starts to get pretty expensive. It's not easy to justify $123 USD a week for twice a week sessions when there's a perfectly good gym in our condo building and plenty of walking trails a short train ride away. So what's the alternative? Working out on my own is a necessity that I'm trying to figure out but in the meantime I figured some visual inspiration would help give me a kick in my pants.

Enter a hundred plus images from Pinterest all showing these very cool Weight Loss Jars. They're easy to make and can be as colorful or classic as you like. This is what I created last night from stuff I had in the house.

The recipe is simple:

Take 2 containers- mason jars, acrylic cylinders, glass vases - whatever tickles your fancy. I have used square polycarbonate canisters.

Label the 1st - Pounds to Lose

Label the 2nd - Pounds Gone

Fill the 1st container with as many marbles as pounds you need to lose. I got these beautiful marbles at Daiso (a $2 SGD Japanese store in Singapore). You can use buttons, pebbles, lego pieces, erasers, pompoms - again whatever tickles your fancy. 

And that's it! Lose a pound, move your marble from Container 1 to Container 2. 

You can't tell from my pic but I would like to lose about 15 pounds. Will I get there? Here's hoping!! In any case I will have some colorful imagery to cheer me on. 

Oh, and one more thing - I plan to keep my containers on the dining table since that's where I sit and eat most of my snacks. You could put yours in a more obvious place - the kitchen perhaps? Or how about next to your snack cupboard? I have a teeny-tiny kitchen with zero free counter space so unfortunately those aren't an option for me. 

Let me know if you decide to use any fun containers and if this tip works for you!! 

 Cheers,

A

Didn't I write about this before?

Have you ever had that moment where you step on your weighing scale and think - wait a minute, that just can't be right!! I used to blame it on "that time" of the month but now almost in my mid 40s "that time" doesn't come around quite as often. It is what it is ~ eating my 6 year old sons leftovers, too many treats, mindless snacks, and definitely not enough exercise. It is a little sad when you're asked the question ~ did you just have a baby and your answer is ~ Yes, 6 years ago!! 


I have been fighting the good fight for the past 30 odd year. As a fairly inactive teen I thought I was pleasantly plump but little did I realize how quickly what's cute as a teen can be jarring as a grown up. In all my years of dieting and exercise I have tried the Atkins Diet, joined Nutrisystem and Weight Watchers, gone sugar free chocolate free, gluten free. I have never starved myself - I love food way too much for that, but I have definitely been tempted to try diet pills.

Luckily commonsense won out and I used a food diary and joined a whole bunch of exercise classes to lose the pounds. All of this occurred when I was 28, and 30, and 32, and 35, and 40, and most recently 42. Since then we left the comfortable lifestyle of Dallas to move to sunshine filled Singapore for the Hubs work. An adventure ~ yes, a more active day to day lifestyle ~ yes, a thinner me ~ No.

Blame it on the multitude of cuisines out here, the heat, the lack of cheap gym options and personal trainers but in reality it comes down to one word ~ Malaise. I need to shake off the inertia of my day to day life and revisiting this blog is part of it. 

So welcome to my journey - Part Deux. Let's get to know each other as I chat about weight loss, parenting, trailing spouses and potential career changes. It's time to begin again!!