 Hi friends, welcome back to my channel and welcome to a Q&A video. I get so many questions on my Facebook group, on Instagram, on YouTube, through my DMs. Just questions about me personally, questions about my WW journey, about my YouTube channel. So I'm here today to share with you all of the answers to your most asked questions. So some of these questions I've been asked several times. I did put out a poll on both my Facebook group and on YouTube asking you for what questions do you have that I can answer for you in regards to anything and everything WW related, personal related, you name it, I'm here to answer all of your most frequently asked questions. So if you want to learn a little bit more about me and get some of those probing questions that you have on your mind answered, then all you have to do is stay tuned. The first question that I want to answer for you guys is a little bit about myself. Now these questions I get all the time. So I'm just going to answer them all in one fell swoop. So number one, I am always asked how old I am. People want to know my husband's name, what my occupation is, and why I started WW. So I am 43 years old. My husband's name is Troy. We have been out two years, but we've been together almost five. We actually got married in Las Vegas on his birthday, which is November 17th. My birthday is November 18th, so he can never, ever forget our anniversary because it is the same day as his birthday. So I told him he was cheating a little bit, but it made sense. We were in Vegas. So we went ahead and had a very, very simple, fast wedding. I am a human resource manager for a very well-known university here in my area called Gonzaga University. I've been there just about a year and I have over 300 employees that I am the sole human resource manager for. So it is very busy. It is very stressful and it takes up a lot of my time, which is partially what led me to have a YouTube channel to kind of have fun outside of work, share my journey with others to not only hold myself accountable, but to share valuable ideas and insight with all of you. And lastly on the personal related questions, what brought me to WW? So back in the early 2000s, I lost about 125 pounds on what was then known as Weight Watchers. Slowly over the last 10 to 12 years, I've gained a lot of that 125 pounds back. So I finally decided one day that I was going to take it off again. So I joined my local WW planned for a meeting that wouldn't interfere with my work schedule. I go Friday morning at 7am. I usually am there by 6.30 to weigh in. My workshop is at 7. I'm out by 7.30 and I'm to work by 8 o'clock. So I knew that no matter what career path I took or what job opportunity that I should be able to stay at my Friday morning meeting, which I love my leader. I love everybody in my workshop. So it was a great decision and ever since then I have been a Weight Watching Lover. So I have my YouTube channel and my Instagram and my Facebook group, which all help keep me accountable. And I'm able to share my journey and all of my recipes with all of you. So number two, I had a subscriber, Dee Dee Healthy Journey. So I'm going to be looking down on my laptop over here. And she asks, you put out videos more than once weekly. You make enough food for several weeks, but how do you store it? I feel like you make so many meals. So I do not make several meals in my meal prep. So what I do is in meal prep, I prep my breakfast and my lunches for the work week. You will never see a dinner in my meal prep because I do change up what we have for dinner every single night. My husband eats his own breakfast, his own lunch. So it helps me stay on track by prepping breakfast and lunches and snacks for the week. I'm totally okay eating the same thing every day. In the event that I have leftover, so say that I don't eat my meal one day or for some reason I don't go to work one day. I will just pop my entire meal prep container in the freezer and I have it on hand for down the road for a healthy low point meal. I will write on the lid of my meal prep container with a dry erase marker, the number of points. So in the event that I have to freeze it, I can go back, reference it later and have it for a healthy meal. So none of my food goes to waste. I eat it 99% of the time and again, what I don't finish goes into the freezer. So the next question comes from Mimi's mega life and she says, have you ever made a vision board for weight loss? No, but it's funny. I was looking on the Cari L website. You know that I have a Cari L meal planner that I love. I was on her website kind of looking around, seeing what other products she offers and she actually offers things to create a vision board. So I thought that that might be fun. It's just making the time to do it. Like I said, I work a more than full-time job. YouTube for me is definitely a full-time job. So really I have two full-time jobs and a house to take care of, property, dogs and a husband. So it's just a matter of making time for a vision board. I think they're fabulous and I think it would be super fun as a way to keep yourself on track, focus and kind of see your results. Give yourself many non-weight-related goals, non-food-related goals. I think it's a great idea. It's just making the time to do it. So next comes from Maria Perez. She asks, do you ever fall off track and feel like you can't just get back on? Please, I need to know I'm not alone in this matter. Oh my gosh, yes, you guys. As you know, I ride the struggle bus a lot. There are weeks that I totally completely bomb it as a Weight Watcher. I gain on the scale, I maintain, my gosh, yes, I fall off track a lot. Sometimes I'll fall off track just for a meal and I'll be able to get right back on track the next meal. Sometimes I fall off track for an entire day, but we're human beings. Of course, we're going to fall off track. It's just getting back on track. So whether that be the next meal, the next snack, the next day, the next week, whatever it is, just get back on track. Don't beat yourself up and just move on, move onward and upward. I did just recently release a video on my channel, How to Bounce Back from a Game. I think that I addressed a lot of this question in that video as well. So make sure that you guys check that out. It answers this question a little bit more thoroughly, but yes, you're not alone. Trust me, you are not alone. Next question comes from Patches and Patches asks, do you hope to grow your family in the future? If so, how does, how do your WWW plans play into that? So no, we are not going to be having any kids. We are too old and we are dog parents and we are completely content and happy being dog parents. I thought about having children when I was younger, but as I've gotten older, I've really developed a great routine in my life. I enjoy my life, I enjoy the freedom and the flexibility of only being a dog parent. I can take them with me or I can have my mom come and watch my dogs if we want to get away. So no, I don't plan on growing my family. So Weight Watchers is going to continue to be what it has been for me. The next question I was actually asked twice, one of those times came from Lipstick and Coffee and she asks, do you have an exercise routine? And if so, what is it and do you feel like it helps with your weight loss? So as you know, I'm excited to announce finally that yes, I officially have an exercise routine. I have been walking anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes every single morning, Monday through Thursday at 5 a.m. before work and I am loving it. Now I don't know if it's going to impact my weight loss positively because last week I did lose a pound but I was sore as sore can be. I just started my exercise routine. Now I would imagine since it's calories in, calories out that of course it's going to benefit my weight loss. I just have not seen that yet. So I'm loving my walking. I get a lot of exercise on the weekends just working in my yard, cleaning my house, doing my meal prep. So I feel really good about getting in a nice 30 to 45 minute walk at least four days per week. Yay. All right, next question came from Ann Kern and she asks, how long have you been doing WW and are you a creative cook? So I started WW back at the beginning of October of last year. So it's been my gosh eight months or so since I've been doing WW and am I a creative cook? Yes, yes, yes, yes. I love to cook. I love taking non WW recipes that are loaded with fat, loaded with sugar, loaded with points, doing some tweaks on those and making them into a delitious WW friendly recipe. I pride myself on my recipes and my ability to take those non friendly recipes and turn them into friendly recipes. So if you watch my channel, you know that my channel is primarily recipes. We do so many cook with me, cook with me's, meal preps, lots of recipe series, Instant Pot air fryer, barbecue, dessert series. Love it. Love being a creative cook. The next question comes from Amanda Ellis and Amanda asks, I don't think you've ever told us how you met your husband and what kind of wedding you had. So I touched on that briefly in the beginning. We just had a super quick where I wore jeans ceremony in Vegas where we set our vows. We went out for dinner afterwards into the blue man group. So it was super easy, super low key. We've both been married before. So there was no need to spend the money on having a big fancy wedding, been there, done that. And how I met my husband is ironically, we actually went to high school together, but he was two years older than me. So I actually didn't really know him in high school and we met later in life online on match.com. So if anyone ever tells you online getting doesn't work, it works my friends. It works. Next question comes from Hayley Julian and she asks me, what's your story? How did you come to start WW? So I kind of answered this already. I let you know that I lost a lot of weight back in the early 2000s, gained some of that back. I just one day decided to rejoin WW and have been going ever since it's been going well for me. I'm enjoying it. So yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. So the next question several, several, several of you asked, and that was, how do I stay motivated? So for me, staying motivated comes from seeing results. They're not always on the scale. They are results in my clothing. They're results in how my body feels, how I can move around easier, how I don't breathe as heavily, walking up the huge hill that I walk on my daily walk. All of those things is what keeps me motivated. In addition to that, I love YouTube for that Instagram. And my number one thing that keeps me motivated is all of you, especially those of you that are in my Facebook group. You are my family and my friends, and I love you all so much. If you have not joined my Facebook group, you got to do it. I'm going to leave it right here on the screen. Make sure that you join. It is such a positive, wonderful place. So amazing. And everybody in my Facebook group is so motivational. It really honestly just continues to keep me motivated. Am I always motivated? No. I have days where I'm not, but overall, I just use my social media resources and I use the results that I'm seeing on the scale and off the scale to keep myself motivated. The next question comes from Alex Thompson and she asks, how do you push through a plateau? What do you do when you're stuck? So so far, I haven't had a plateau. If I've maintained my weight, it's because of my own doing. It's because of my food choices, my lack of movement. So I really haven't encountered a plateau. I have heard that there is a program called the Wendy Plan. I guess you can Google the Wendy Plan calculator and it'll walk you through what that is. It basically shakes up your points for a week and gives you different points each day, which is supposed to help break a plateau. Another thing that I've heard that is tried and true is up your points. So if you're someone that never uses your weeklies, use your weeklies. If you're someone that eats the same amount of points or the same food every day, shake it up, add some other food into your plan, have a really point heavy day and see if that helps make a difference on the scale. But I will be back to share any other tips that I have with you in the event that on my journey, I do hit a plateau. Next question comes from Julie and she says, is it okay to use all of your dailies because I always seem to feel guilty when I do. Yes, yes, yes, yes. You guys, you guys, you guys, you guys, your points are there for you to use. You should use 90% of your points on a daily basis. And in my opinion, you should use your weeklies. WW would not give us weeklies if it was going to stunt our weight loss. They are a weight loss company. They want us to lose weight. They want us to be successful. So we stay on program. Use your daily points. Use your weeklies. I don't always eat all of my daily points. I usually will eat anywhere from anywhere from having two to four rollovers every day. But that is because I have a cheat day on Saturday. So I want to make sure that I have lots and lots of points to splurge on Saturday. Eat your daily points and do not feel bad about it. Now I'll tell you one thing. If I only had 23 points a day, you can bet your bottom dollar that I'd be eating every single one of those. I get 33 points a day right now and I still sometimes have to eat all of my points. You want to make sure that you're not giving yourself too much of a calorie deficit, that you're not starving your body. So eat your points. Use your weeklies. All right. Next question comes from Wendy Stanley and she says, what's this two to one thing that you mentioned? So you guys, this is my thing that I do. I did film a video help. I'm not losing weight on WW freestyle where I went in depth of my two to one method. But let me give you kind of a brief rundown. So what I do so that I don't over indulge on the zero point foods, because I feel like that is where a lot of the struggle with freestyle comes in. A lot of people will over indulge on those zero point foods, then they don't lose weight. Then they say freestyle doesn't work. Not everybody. And that's just my opinion. So in order for me not to over indulge in the zero point foods, I developed what I call the two to one method. That means that I allow myself two zero point proteins in a day. So that's eggs meat. I do not count Greek yogurt as one of my zero point proteins. So that's two out of my three meals can be zero point proteins. The other one has to have a pointed protein. Now if I decide to have eggs for breakfast, chicken for lunch and chicken for dinner, I will count my chicken for dinner. I will input the nutritional information into the calculator. Whatever points that nutritional information pops up. That's what I track. I also allow myself two fruits a day. That's it. If I eat more than two fruits, I again put it in the calculator and track the points. And lastly, I allow myself one zero point start today. So this is beans, corn, peas. Again, this is what I do to remain positive and see a loss on freestyle. This is just my opinion. My two to one method. Not everyone's going to agree with it, but it actually works for me and I know that it has worked for a lot of you. So if you are struggling with the zero point foods, try my two to one method. You might like it. All right. Next comes from Tammy Jarvis. She says, should you eat all of your weeklies because I'm afraid I'll overeat. So I kind of answered this. I don't think you have to eat all of your weeklies, but they're there because they won't stunt your weight loss. So if you have a special event or a special day or a special meal, yeah, I think you should use your weeklies. Again, you may not use all of them, but don't feel like you can't use your weeklies. They are there for you to use. The next question comes from Maria Melis Lane and she said, what would you suggest for a 23 point day? So as you know, I actually get 33 points in a day, but I have come to your rescue of my friends, my YouTube friends and family. I just filmed a what I eat in a day on 23 points a day. You may already see that before this video. I'm not really sure what's going to go up, but make sure that you guys check that video out. I'm going to show you what I would eat on 23 points a day. So I hope you enjoyed. It's highly highly requested. Next comes from Jennifer Jones. She said, what is your height starting weight and goal weight? So I am five nine. I do not know what my goal weight is. I don't really have one. I'm going to see how I feel is my goal weight, w w's goal weight? Probably not. My goal weight is going to be what I am comfortable in. And as for my starting weight, I don't share it. Never ask a girl what her weight is. I don't think it's necessary. I'm going to share with you pounds lost throughout my journey. And of course I'll share with you when I get to my goal weight. And I guess by then you'll be able to do the math and figure out what my starting weight was. Next question comes from Michelle Roman and she says, what are your favorite supermarkets and what staple foods do you have to have in your refrigerator and pantry? So you know I'm a big proponent of Trader Joe's. I also shop at Fred Meyer, which is a Kroger store. And often I will do Walmart grocery pickup. No offense, but I don't really like Walmart. I don't like the people in Walmart. I just don't like Walmart. So for me to get the foods that Walmart carries that I can't get elsewhere, I will use grocery pickup. I have so many staples. I cannot even begin to tell you what those staples are. Actually, that's a great video idea. So if you're interested in me doing a video on what my staples and my refrigerator and pantry are, it's too much to put in a Q and A. I would be happy to film that. Leave it down in the comments. Let me know if that's a video you guys would like to see. Next question comes from Hope Layman and she said, what is your why and what inspired you to begin WW? So my why, honestly, you guys, is my health. I want to be able to move around more. I want to be able to be more active. I want to feel good in my skin. I want to be healthy and live a long, healthy life. And in addition to that, my husband's my why. My dogs are my why. Just my everyday life is my why. And that's what prompted me to start WW. Let me know in the comments what's your why. All right. Next comes from Karen Green. She says, I need some advice. I am 2.6 pounds from goal as of April 30th. I've had some days with binge eating and now I'm 3.6 pounds from goal. I always want to know how you can stay focused and keep my binge eating under control. So as far as binge eating goes, I don't know that I binge eat, but you guys, I can eat a lot. I can eat a whole pack of cookies. There's not even a question about that. And I have been known to do that before, especially before WW. I don't really know what you can do to not do that. I guess my best advice would be to be mindful of what you're eating. Really think about what you're putting into your body. I mean, you can even go as far as pre-portioning out your food and throwing away the rest. It's okay to throw it away so you don't eat it. And better yet, don't bring it into your house. I think that that would help with bingeing. And of course, when you get close to goal, I've been there. I've been there back in the early 2000s. You kind of slack off and you kind of start thinking, you're like, yeah, I'm looking good. I'm at my goal weight. I'm three pounds away. What's three pounds? And you kind of reshift your mindset and you're not as on point. You don't track. You don't exercise. You're not as diligent as you were when you were losing. And I think that that's something to think about as well. So my best advice for you is congratulations, first of all, on almost hitting your goal, but be mindful. Be mindful of your food and be mindful of what you've learned on WW and continue that until you hit goal. And of course, on maintenance. Maintenance I hear is harder than losing weight. Okay. Next comes from Lori Landfield. I was actually asked this question by two people. Is there anything that you make in any of your vlogs that you didn't like? Now I'm assuming you're talking about recipes. Yeah, there's been a few, but overall, most of the recipes that I've prepared, I've really liked now. On the other hand, my husband has not liked everything that I've prepared. He's kind of a baby about certain things, to be honest, which I know a lot of men are. He is a spice wimp, which he's the first to tell you. So if it's a little too spicy, he doesn't like it. He's not a big fan of ground turkey. He gets tired of chicken. So he would probably be a better one to answer this question. But honestly, most of what I've made, I've enjoyed. There's been things that I've liked better than others. There's been things that after I cook it, I have to add a little more seasoning to make it a little bit more tasteful. But overall, I've honestly liked almost everything that I've made. All right, guys. The next question comes from Jacqueline Brandt and she says, where are you? So I'm assuming she wants to know where I live. So I live in the beautiful Evergreen State, Washington State. I live in Spokane, Washington, which is actually on the east part of Washington State. And let me tell you, it is gorgeous here. Our neighboring states are going to be Idaho and Oregon. And then we're close to Montana as well. All right, next question from Ronnie Waterend. I don't know if I pronounced that right. She asks, what is your biggest non-scale victory so far? And do you have any non-scale victory goals? So my biggest non-scale victory so far is I went down an entire size of clothing. I definitely feel more comfortable in my vehicle. I feel like I there's more room. I feel like there's more room kind of around me in my vehicle. I also have more room in my chair at work. So I know those are weird things and I can almost completely cross my legs. I'm getting there. That is the non-scale goal, you guys. That is a goal. I want to be able to comfortably cross my legs. In fact, I want to be able to cross my leg and tuck my leg by the other leg. So those are things that I'm looking forward to. Of course, I will share those with you when I achieve them because I promise they're coming down the road because I am on WW until I hit my goal and from then on after because this, my friends, is my lifestyle. Next question comes from Alex Thompson. She kind of asked about the plateau. How do you push through a plateau? And she's been stuck at the same weight. So I kind of answered that already. Change up your food. Change up your exercise and up your points. Use your weeklies and up your calories. I'm telling you it's proven that that will help you break a plateau. So the next question is actually a very good one. Several, I mean several, a handful of you asked this question. What are you like and dislike about doing YouTube and what do you do with all the trolls and haters? Okay. So first of all, what I like about YouTube is the accountability. I love, love, love sharing my recipes with you guys. I love engaging with you guys, reading your comments. And honestly, I feel like I've made some wonderful, wonderful friends by having my YouTube channel. I actually love it. I look forward to it. Although it's a full time job for me. It really truly is a full time job. It doesn't feel like a job. And honestly, if I could, I would love to do YouTube full time. I just need to really build my subscribers and get a little more watch time on my videos so that I can make a little bit more money. And then maybe down the road, far, far down the road, I can do YouTube full time. So help me, help me do YouTube full time. What do I dislike? I dislike a lot of the negativity on YouTube. There are other YouTubers out there that are so negative. They're jealous. They cause a lot of drama. And that is the part that I don't like. They pass judgment. They make assumptions. They don't really know their facts and they go spreading all this negativity to other YouTubers. That's what I dislike about YouTube. But I just don't pay attention to it anymore. I've either blocked them or I don't watch their channels or I don't engage with them. Because honestly, my channel, I wanted to be a positive place. I don't want it to be a negative place at all. So negative comments are left from the haters and the trolls. I delete them and I block the person. I've actually removed the thumbs up and thumbs down from my video because a lot of you have messaged me and you guys are so cute. I love you so much. You guys get so upset when someone thumbs down my video. You're like, I don't know how they can thumbs down your video. Your videos are the best. You're the best YouTuber. Thank you guys. Thank you so much. It means a lot to me. I spend a lot of time on my videos. I'm not one of those. Just film it and upload it. I spend a lot of time filming and editing my video to make it the best for you guys. So I removed the thumbs up and thumbs down to save the drama that comes with that plus. It's not as fun for all the haters and trolls to thumbs down your video when they can't see it. When you're subscribers and when the people watching your videos can't see who thumbs up and who thumbs down to you. And honestly, you guys, it's the same people. So I don't really get worked up about it. I have a general idea of who those people are. So yeah, I don't get worked up about it. I just ignore it because I take pride in my content and I do the best that I can for you guys. So thank you for loving me and my videos. And thank you for being such a positive force in my life. It honestly means the world to me. And the last question comes from Rose Cummings. And she says, are you supposed to have veggies and fruit with every meal? And how much water a day should I be drinking? Someone said half your weight in ounces. So as far as fruits and veggies go, I don't think that there is a requirement that you have fruits and veggies with every meal. However, I think that you should try to incorporate a large amount of veggies in your day. And you know, I stick to two fruits per day. But I think if you're hungry, it's better to go to a fruit or vegetable than it is to go to any other kind of snack. So I would say try to incorporate vegetables in the majority of your meals. And also, again, if you're hungry, have an extra piece of fruit, it's not going to kill you. And it's zero smart points. As far as the water goes, I drink a ton of water. Sometimes I have plain water. Sometimes I put in lemon or lime. Sometimes I use a water enhancer. But I feel like I drink a lot of water. And I believe, yes, you are supposed to ideally drink half of your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 100 pounds, you would want to drink 50 ounces of water. If you weigh 200 pounds, you want to drink 100 ounces of water, so on and so forth. But honestly, water helps with weight loss. Water helps with water retention as weird as that sounds. And water helps with bloat. And water definitely helps you with results on the scale. So I think water is very important. I do drink diet soda. I drink iced tea. I drink other things as well. But the majority of what I put into my body is water. Water has so many benefits on your weight loss that I think it is a absolute must for WW. That's it guys. That is all your questions and my answers. I hope you enjoyed this Q&A video. I did do one quite a while ago, but it was time for another one. Lots of new questions coming from you guys to me. So I hope you enjoyed this Q&A video. If you're new to my channel, make sure that you subscribe. Hit the little notification bell. That way you'll be notified every time that I upload a new video. Give this one a thumbs up. Comment down below. Let me know what you thought of this Q&A. And of course, honestly, if you guys have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer those down in the comments below. I love you guys. Thank you for supporting my channel. Thank you for being the best part of my day. And I'll see you guys in my next video. Bye.