Well, I didn't see that coming. I took the weekend off of counting points. I ate healthy until Sunday night, when the husband and I split an entire Meat Magnifico pizza as we watched football. I don't generally like meat on my pizza, but man...they don't call it Meat Magnifico for nothing. Monday and Tuesday? I sort of counted points. And I sort of finished a bag of tortilla chips after my meeting Tuesday night.
So, I was not expecting much when I stepped on the scale on Wednesday morning. But there it was. Down 2.4 pounds. This is not good.
Why wouldn't I celebrate a 2.4 pound weight loss? Because I lost it while cheating. And cheating via half a pizza. Who knows how much I would have lost if I had just stuck to the plan.
There is part of me that now thinks that I can follow the plan most days and lose weight. And I would probably be right. There was an article years ago that talked about just this thing. That if you change your eating habits 5 days a week, you're still making enough of a change to see results on the scale. Which is probably what happened. And it's probably what I'm going to try again for this week. I want to lose weight and I want to be healthier. But I also want to live my life, which includes having a piece of my dad's birthday cake on Saturday. Guess we'll see how it ends up on the scale.
Showing posts with label weight watchers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weight watchers. Show all posts
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Day 2: The Hatred Continues
So after yesterday's debacle, I woke up this morning with a renewed energy. I can do this. Right? Or not.
I made what I thought was a better breakfast. Still had the coffee and creamer (again, I'm a mom), but toasted a bagel thin and made a sandwich with a piece of breakfast ham. Nothing fancy, more protein, fewer carbs. Should be good to go. Nope. Same 9 points for breakfast. Great. And went with a lower point lunch - one of those frozen Kashi meals that everyone talks about as being so healthy. Really, just an emergency "I need to eat something in the 5 minute window that my daughter is content" lunches, but still, a healthy choice. 110 calories less than yesterday for whopping a points saving of 2. This just isn't right.
So, what did I do? Other than blow the rest of my points for the day on a bag of microwave popcorn? I went to the Weight Watchers message boards. Apparently if you are an online member, you get access to pretty much nothing. I have the calculator and the online journal, and then I am on my own. Though they do have message boards for all of the support and answers a girl could ever want. Except that Weight Watchers is fiercely protective of anything that they could charge someone for, and since their message boards are free to use, you aren't allowed to post any actual points information on them. And questions are not answered by Weight Watchers staffers; you are at the mercy of the other members who happen to be hanging out on the message boards. So what happens? I posted some questions, and watched as people just posted what they wanted to. I asked for breakfast ideas that didn't involve eggs (since, again, I don't eat them). What did I get? Six ways to cook eggs. I asked about the fact that it didn't seem like I was eating enough calories; I got lots of people telling me how great Weight Watchers is. And when I posted that I was planning on eating the dinner I had already made - spinach lasagna rollups - but was concerned that a 360 calorie dinner had so many points, more than one person told me to make it with fat free ricotta and add more veggies. Perfect information to use once my time machine starts working again. You have got to be kidding me. THIS is the most popular weight loss plan in the country? Maybe this is why we're all so fat.
I made what I thought was a better breakfast. Still had the coffee and creamer (again, I'm a mom), but toasted a bagel thin and made a sandwich with a piece of breakfast ham. Nothing fancy, more protein, fewer carbs. Should be good to go. Nope. Same 9 points for breakfast. Great. And went with a lower point lunch - one of those frozen Kashi meals that everyone talks about as being so healthy. Really, just an emergency "I need to eat something in the 5 minute window that my daughter is content" lunches, but still, a healthy choice. 110 calories less than yesterday for whopping a points saving of 2. This just isn't right.
So, what did I do? Other than blow the rest of my points for the day on a bag of microwave popcorn? I went to the Weight Watchers message boards. Apparently if you are an online member, you get access to pretty much nothing. I have the calculator and the online journal, and then I am on my own. Though they do have message boards for all of the support and answers a girl could ever want. Except that Weight Watchers is fiercely protective of anything that they could charge someone for, and since their message boards are free to use, you aren't allowed to post any actual points information on them. And questions are not answered by Weight Watchers staffers; you are at the mercy of the other members who happen to be hanging out on the message boards. So what happens? I posted some questions, and watched as people just posted what they wanted to. I asked for breakfast ideas that didn't involve eggs (since, again, I don't eat them). What did I get? Six ways to cook eggs. I asked about the fact that it didn't seem like I was eating enough calories; I got lots of people telling me how great Weight Watchers is. And when I posted that I was planning on eating the dinner I had already made - spinach lasagna rollups - but was concerned that a 360 calorie dinner had so many points, more than one person told me to make it with fat free ricotta and add more veggies. Perfect information to use once my time machine starts working again. You have got to be kidding me. THIS is the most popular weight loss plan in the country? Maybe this is why we're all so fat.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Day 1, or, why I hate Weight Watchers
Be warned. I have been on Weight Watchers for less than 8 hours and I am hungry and cranky. Really cranky. Probably because I am hungry. But I feel like I have made a horrible mistake. Either that, or I have bigger food issues than I thought I did.
So, like I said before, this is not my first time with Weight Watchers. Or diets in general. I have a good sense of what to eat and I thought I had a good sense of how to estimate my points. For those of you who aren't familiar with points, Weight Watchers assigns every food a number of points. You get a certain number of points to "spend" each day, and you just subtract as you go along your day. Fruits and veggies are "free" foods - you can eat as much as you want. Everything else will cost you. I have no idea how they figure the points. You put info into a calculator and it spits out what seems to now be a totally arbitrary number. Under the old system, points were loosely tied to calories; the points were based on calories, fat, and fiber in a food. Not a bad system. Now? Now you put fat, fiber, carbs, and protein into the magical calculator and it spits out a number that seems to punish people who like to eat.
Anyways, back to my day. So, I started my day with coffee (I am, of course, a Mom...what mom DOESN'T start her day with coffee?) and because I don't like breakfast foods (I don't eat eggs...it's a whole different story for a different time) a cup of Easy Mac. Yes, I eat those little cups of instant mac & cheese for breakfast. Don't judge me. They're only 220 calories, they're filling, and it's a nice mix of warm breakfast, carbs, protein, and easiness for my morning. I put my sugar free creamer in my coffee as usual (I use a lot of the stuff, but I measure it out so I do know exactly how much I use) and sat down to enter it all in my little online journal. Keep in mind, that my breakfast was exactly 310 calories. It's right around where you should be for breakfast - 300-400 calories is what most experts recommend - even though a chunk of them were for my coffee. Anyways, because I know that I should probably be eating 1500-1600 calories a day to lose weight, I figured that this would be about 1/5 of my points for the day. That makes sense, right? To a normal person. To the person who designed this program? This was nearly one THIRD of my points. Yes, you read that right. My measly little 310 calorie breakfast burned 9 points - ONE THIRD of my total for the day.
My first thought? "Well, that can't be right." So I soldiered on with my day. I went grocery shopping, celebrated because my daughter was remarkably well behaved (even in the produce department, which is usually the site of our meltdowns...way too much to try to touch...), and came home to make a salad for lunch. Not a crazy salad; a 400 calorie salad. And when I put her down for a nap, I went back to enter the points. 12 points. Apparently zero point vegetables aren't such a great deal if everything you put with them eats at your point budget like a hungry crocodile. This is ridiculous. How could I already have eaten 21 points? I did have two zero point snacks - a banana and a few handfuls of sugar snap peas - but I have still eaten barely 850 calories, and have 8 points left for the day. If you recall, my Easy Mac & coffee was 9 points. This does not bode well.
I am hungry. Probably because I have barely eaten anything today. And I am feeling some serious buyers remorse about this whole Weight Watchers thing. But I'm signed up for 3 months. I wonder how many points my furniture has in it.
So, like I said before, this is not my first time with Weight Watchers. Or diets in general. I have a good sense of what to eat and I thought I had a good sense of how to estimate my points. For those of you who aren't familiar with points, Weight Watchers assigns every food a number of points. You get a certain number of points to "spend" each day, and you just subtract as you go along your day. Fruits and veggies are "free" foods - you can eat as much as you want. Everything else will cost you. I have no idea how they figure the points. You put info into a calculator and it spits out what seems to now be a totally arbitrary number. Under the old system, points were loosely tied to calories; the points were based on calories, fat, and fiber in a food. Not a bad system. Now? Now you put fat, fiber, carbs, and protein into the magical calculator and it spits out a number that seems to punish people who like to eat.
Anyways, back to my day. So, I started my day with coffee (I am, of course, a Mom...what mom DOESN'T start her day with coffee?) and because I don't like breakfast foods (I don't eat eggs...it's a whole different story for a different time) a cup of Easy Mac. Yes, I eat those little cups of instant mac & cheese for breakfast. Don't judge me. They're only 220 calories, they're filling, and it's a nice mix of warm breakfast, carbs, protein, and easiness for my morning. I put my sugar free creamer in my coffee as usual (I use a lot of the stuff, but I measure it out so I do know exactly how much I use) and sat down to enter it all in my little online journal. Keep in mind, that my breakfast was exactly 310 calories. It's right around where you should be for breakfast - 300-400 calories is what most experts recommend - even though a chunk of them were for my coffee. Anyways, because I know that I should probably be eating 1500-1600 calories a day to lose weight, I figured that this would be about 1/5 of my points for the day. That makes sense, right? To a normal person. To the person who designed this program? This was nearly one THIRD of my points. Yes, you read that right. My measly little 310 calorie breakfast burned 9 points - ONE THIRD of my total for the day.
My first thought? "Well, that can't be right." So I soldiered on with my day. I went grocery shopping, celebrated because my daughter was remarkably well behaved (even in the produce department, which is usually the site of our meltdowns...way too much to try to touch...), and came home to make a salad for lunch. Not a crazy salad; a 400 calorie salad. And when I put her down for a nap, I went back to enter the points. 12 points. Apparently zero point vegetables aren't such a great deal if everything you put with them eats at your point budget like a hungry crocodile. This is ridiculous. How could I already have eaten 21 points? I did have two zero point snacks - a banana and a few handfuls of sugar snap peas - but I have still eaten barely 850 calories, and have 8 points left for the day. If you recall, my Easy Mac & coffee was 9 points. This does not bode well.
I am hungry. Probably because I have barely eaten anything today. And I am feeling some serious buyers remorse about this whole Weight Watchers thing. But I'm signed up for 3 months. I wonder how many points my furniture has in it.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
The Great Weight Watchers Experiment
So, after writing last week about how I don't need a fancy weight loss program, I went ahead and joined Weight Watchers this week. Perhaps I was wrong about being able to make healthy choices; self control is not a strength I posses.
You should know that I am no stranger to Weight Watchers. It ranks not just among the diets I have tried in the past, but among the diets I have tried MULTIPLE times. The first time was the best - I went with a friend, and she totally kept me accountable. We did it over the summer (I was teaching full time at the time), paid for the entire summer in advance (so we had no excuses), and it was a mild success. I didn't lose a LOT of weight - just under 10 pounds for the summer - but it was nice to go back to school in the fall with pants that fit. I didn't keep it up. It was too hard to count points while I was working, and getting to a meeting after a full day at school was just not happening. I attempted on my own for awhile but I couldn't do it. So I went back, though to a different meeting. I don't know why - I just didn't think it was right to go back without my friend to the first one. And I did it more than a few times. Every time I would see one of those "no registration fees" ads, I would give it another go. Three or four times with meetings, another couple of times doing the online program. The program worked, but I just couldn't stick with it. I don't know why.
So why would I plunk down money to try it again? I honestly can't even tell you. I think that I thought that spending the money would hold me accountable. I hate to spend money - I am not one of those girls who thrives on shopping. I love a good bargain, and I am very careful to not spend money on "extras." If I spent the money on Weight Watchers, I would have no choice but to follow the plan. Right? I had also heard good things about the new program. One of the things I liked about the old program was that you basically ate healthy food in moderation, and you could work the occasional Starbucks or ice cream cone in. The new program supposedly uses all the new science about weight loss, and, as many are excited for, features zero point fruit. That's right, if you want a banana, you can have a banana. Good enough. I need to lose weight, and perhaps this will hold me accountable.
You should know that I am no stranger to Weight Watchers. It ranks not just among the diets I have tried in the past, but among the diets I have tried MULTIPLE times. The first time was the best - I went with a friend, and she totally kept me accountable. We did it over the summer (I was teaching full time at the time), paid for the entire summer in advance (so we had no excuses), and it was a mild success. I didn't lose a LOT of weight - just under 10 pounds for the summer - but it was nice to go back to school in the fall with pants that fit. I didn't keep it up. It was too hard to count points while I was working, and getting to a meeting after a full day at school was just not happening. I attempted on my own for awhile but I couldn't do it. So I went back, though to a different meeting. I don't know why - I just didn't think it was right to go back without my friend to the first one. And I did it more than a few times. Every time I would see one of those "no registration fees" ads, I would give it another go. Three or four times with meetings, another couple of times doing the online program. The program worked, but I just couldn't stick with it. I don't know why.
So why would I plunk down money to try it again? I honestly can't even tell you. I think that I thought that spending the money would hold me accountable. I hate to spend money - I am not one of those girls who thrives on shopping. I love a good bargain, and I am very careful to not spend money on "extras." If I spent the money on Weight Watchers, I would have no choice but to follow the plan. Right? I had also heard good things about the new program. One of the things I liked about the old program was that you basically ate healthy food in moderation, and you could work the occasional Starbucks or ice cream cone in. The new program supposedly uses all the new science about weight loss, and, as many are excited for, features zero point fruit. That's right, if you want a banana, you can have a banana. Good enough. I need to lose weight, and perhaps this will hold me accountable.
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