Weight Watchers; A 30 Day Trial
Posted by January Harshe on February 22, 2008
The Low Down
That’s right, you read it right. I have officially signed up for Weight Watchers. If someone told me a year ago that I would join WW I would have told them to get off the crack! Seriously, I was eating healthy and on top of the world. When I lost 60 lbs before becoming pregnant with Annabelle, I had it good. We spent about $1200/month on food. We were members of 4 farms and 2 organic produce co-ops, shopped at Whole Foods and Central Market. We ate all raw dairy, sprouted grains, mostly organic and a ton of delicious produce. I walked 6 days a week with Tatum and Trent in a double jogger with a friend or my husband. It was great. I was at a really good place.
Then we moved. I didn’t realize it would have such a big impact. I did know the main thing (besides some great friends) that I would miss about Dallas was the good food we had there. After being back in AZ over 8 months now, I am just beginning to get the resources I want and they are nothing like TX. That’s OK though. Also, I don’t have the same support. I am at home, with 3 kids and no car. Bummer.
I would normally tell you I don’t believe in counting calories. Interesting and humbling that I find myself in this position. I just haven’t had the motivation to stop and look at what I’m eating. I have taken all my good habits, crumbled them up and thrown them out the window, while opening the door to crappy old habits. So, I’m searching in myself to find those great habits I had formed. Why not do that with some support and with a breath of fresh air?!
Weight Watcher Plans
Right now, WW has 2 plans. The Flex Plan and The Core Plan. They give you a run down of what they are on their website. You can choose either plan and actually switch back and forth between them week by week.
The Flex Plan is their one and only Points System. It’s just like counting calories. Each food is given a point value based on calories, fat and fiber grams. You can use a slider given to you when you sign up and use the label to figure out the points. Also, there is a food companion and dining out guide you can buy to tell you the points of thousands of foods. Let’s say you eat a tortilla at a restaurant. They take 3 tortillas and average the nutritional value of the 3 and give you the points of the average. Pretty nifty, huh?
So, you are given a point value based on things like gender, age, if you are nursing (oh ya baby, I get extra points!), height and so on. You add up your points throughout the day and try to eat them all with out going over unless you are using some of your extra 35 free points you get for the week.
Then there is the newer Core Plan. Now, I personally think this rocks, because it is basically how I ate when I lost weight before. On the core plan you get a freakin’ awesome list of healthy foods that you can eat all you want of. You get 35 points for the week to use for things that aren’t on the list, like bread and ice cream. This way you can have a treat and not go nuts that it’s not on the list!
Personally, I think the Core Plan is healthier, but the Flex Plan is by far easier. I’m starting on the Flex Plan this week and counting points.
The Break Down
All right, I get 42 points (32 normally and 10 for nursing). That’s right, I’m fat. Get over it. That’s why were here though, right? Because I need to get skinny, not because I already am. If I was skinny, then maybe I could have named this, "Ha ha, I’m already skinny and you’re not". Just kidding. That would feel nice though, I won’t lie.
I weighed in at 246.6.pounds. OK, that totally sucks. It sucks bad. I want to scream at that. Did I mention it’s sucky?
Size 20.
First Goal is supposed to be 10% of your weight, so that will be a loss of 24 lbs for me.
My Healthy Weight starts at 160 pounds according to WW.
My Personal Goals is to get to 200 again and a size 16, then get to 150!
Day One
Today was fun. Of course it was, because it’s all new stuff. It’s like opening a new present that you get to mess with and play around with. The problem with something like this is that you can get bored of it just like the novelty of the new present may wear off. That’s what’s supposed to be great about WW though, is that you go every week and get support to stay on track. Actually, WW says that people who attend all their meeting and use their etools online are 50% more successful.
I actually ate 11 points under what I’m supposed to, finishing the day at 31 points eaten. I wasn’t going to post what I eat, but isn’t that what you really want to see?
Here goes:
Breakfast: 1.5 cups oatmeal, 1 tbsp. raw agave nectar, 1/2 cup wild organic blueberries
Morning Snack: an orange and a small banana
Lunch: Garden Veggie Soup (recipe by WW and 0 points), crackers
Early Afternoon snack: handful of pecans and handful of grape tomatoes, small banana, a little later I had a McDonald’s vanilla cone (only 3 points)*
Late Afternoon snack: G.T.’s Synergy Kombucha, another bowl of the veggie soup, few bites of a tortilla
Dinner: tomatoes, sea salt, basil, fresh and minced garlic, 1 tbsp olive oil all baked and served on multigrain pasta.
*Somehow McDonald’s vanilla cones have become my weakness and treat right now. I’m such a hypocrite, I’ll admit it. Don’t start throwing the stones though, I am human. They need to open a Paciugo’s here, like NOW!
What’s Next?
I was right. Doing this made me stop and think about what I was eating. I didn’t have my usual 10 handfuls of chocolate chips today. So sad. That’s OK, I can have them if I want to use all my points/calories on them! What’s the fun in that though? I also think the soup is great, because I get my veggies with very low calories and it’s a filler.
I didn’t like my meeting. My leader was an old lady that had no spunk. She’d ask a question and you could hear the crickets in the back ground. I answered a few times out of pity. I’ll be finding a different meeting.
On to Day 2…
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Brandon said,
Good job on day 1! Keep it up, babe!
January said,
Thanks for supporting me even though you weren’t too sure about this!
Stephanie said,
$1200 on food a month is a lot. A whole heck of a lot. How would that compare now that the prices of so many foods have gone up? We don’t eat all the raw, organic stuff, but I am feeding 4 adults and 4 children on about $500-$600/month. We eat pretty healthy (fresh veggies and fruits from the co-op, brown rice and whole grain carbs, no processed dinners or lunches). I haven’t made the leap to organic milk. The pricetag is still too steep.
January said,
Hey Steph!!! Ya, it is a lot. How are you doing it on so little per month? I’d like to see a break down of that! Sounds like you guys are eating great.
Valerie said,
Great for you! I have a love/hate relationship with WW. I have done it about 5 times. I love that it totally works, I hate that I have the agency to eat whatever I want and be accountable for the points that I eat. I don’t always choose the best foods and then I give up. I was actually going in to sign up for ww this last Thursday but then my oldest needed to get his crack back appt in and the only appt that worked for us was the time of ww. So this week I’m doing it!!!
It’s the amount of calories taken in and burned that decide what you lose. We’ll see…..
January said,
Hi Valarie!
I’m proud of you for going at it again. I saw a woman I hadn’t seen in 3 years yesterday. She’s missing half of her! She’s been doing WW for 1 year now and has lost 87 lbs! I was amazed. You know, I’ve lost this kind of weight before, so I can do it again. I just want to do it and be done, ya know! Keep me posted on how you do!
January
Gi said,
Hi! Congrats on being so motivated… I was wondering if you needed to follow full of recipes on weight watchers. I am the type of girl who hates following recipes. Plus I just had a little baby boy- 6 mths old now. So it has to be quick and easy. It has to be grabbing for me to continue…
Please let me know what you think!
Thanks…
January said,
Hi Gi. I’m kind of confused by your question. Are you asking if I need recipes or if I need easy foods to grab? I think everyone is different. I think it takes baby steps to get into anything. When we just jump all in, it’s easy to fall on our face (w/losing weight that is). But, if we make slow changes and really focus on our HEALTH and not losing weight, then the outcome is bigger than what we could imagine when we start. Small changes do add up and before you know if your whole way of eating and exercising and living has changed! I am feeling like I am finally ready to get back to that! Good luck!
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