Weight Watchers

Yeah, so I joined Weight Watchers, or WW for short. Sounds kinda like AA.  “Hello, my name is Jessica, and I am overweight.” hah! But seriously, I have been wanting to get this extra weight off me for years. Sometimes I have had some success and then I quit or have a baby and have to start over or something.

A couple people I know have had some good success with WW and so I figured I’d give it a look. It doesn’t cost much to join and there are no long term contracts. If at the end of the month I don’t like it I don’t have to renew. Simple.

So far I like it!

I like the freedom it gives with the point system. I can still have a fun snack or eat out as long as I plan for it. I don’t have to kill myself over a bad day. There’s always tomorrow to do better. I can earn points through exercise and either trade them in for a night out or not trade them in and have a faster weight loss. They also give a weekly points allowance in addition to the daily points. These can be used or not. Not used means faster chance at weight loss. They also say DO NOT eat less than your daily points allowance, which is figured based on weight, breastfeeding or not (yes, you can do this while breastfeeding – the first weightloss place I have seen that allows for it!), height, age, gender and activity level. Your metabolism needs the calories and I’ve known this to be true. They don’t want people starving themselves and developing eating disorders. It seems they are careful about that. That is good. I like the point system and they’ve made it easy to figure out.

I like the online etools which I use in conjunction with going to a weekly meeting. They say people who do so have a much greater chance at losing the weight they want to lose. Online I can track my points, look up foods, find recipes, see restaurant menus and plan ahead. I love that I can plan ahead. I’ll figure out my menu by clicking on the foods and recipes I like, prepare for a few days and each day I can print it out. The menu already has the points added up and if I stick to it I am easily within my point allowance.

The only downside is I feel hungry a lot. I am still learning to eat low point FILLING foods and it’s taking me a bit to figure out how to make my points all work for me for the day. But it’s also teaching me to make good food choices – to pick things that are healthier, fresher, and more filling. But even though I feel hungry I know I am getting the food I need. I still have energy. I read in Jillian Micheal’s book that the fat cells, especially the ones in your belly send off “hunger” hormones to try to get you to eat. When you’re losing fat they are trying to preserve it. As long as you are eating right and enough, you have the energy you need, then it is okay. I have also found that when I am trying to lose weight and I ignore “the munchies” I find within a day or two that I’ve dropped weight. And the munchies do go away. (At the moment I am hoping so – I sure do have the munchies. But it’s also been 6 hours since dinner – time for bed!!)

I also like that the point system accounts for the dietary fiber, fat and calories of foods. I felt overwhelmed in the past trying to figure out a balance between these things. I have found that the higher fiber, less fat foods have less points and are more filling than a higher fat food. Or even a low fat food with little fiber. Well, duh. I guess that makes sense.

Anyway, it was a weird week my first week trying to figure it all out. Once I figured out that I can plan my days ahead of time it made it a lot easier for me. I hope that I can stick to this. It’ll be really good.

Week one focused on learning the points system and eating better. Those were my goals anyway and I did pretty well. I had a couple bad days – something about Easter chocolate still hanging around and the blue “I don’t care” mood that comes around every few weeks. It can really set a person back!  But I also had some freedom with the points and it was okay. I lost 3 lbs! That was great!

Week two, where I am now, focuses on getting moving. My goal this week is to get my fitness schedule underway and get used to going to the gym again and getting up and walking in the mornings. I do have a 60 mile walk to train for after-all. :)

The meeting tonight also focused on monitoring ourselves. There are different things to watch – what we nibble on, how much we are moving, our moods, how we feel, etc. Our challenge is to find something to monitor and see how we are doing. I think I’ll monitor how I am feeling as I eat better and get exercise. I also need to monitor how much time I spend sitting in front of a screen. I do spend a lot sometimes so my goal is to get up from there and move more. Chores do count as activity. haha! Now there’s a way to look at them. I can clean my house AND get some activity points. hah!

Well, anyway, I am looking forward to more success. Can’t wait until next Tuesday.

Week one – 3 lbs down. Woot!