Today was my second weigh-in at my at-work Weight Watchers (WW) meeting. I lost 1.4 pounds. I know. Most people would think that is a small and pointless amount of weight. But, not for me. For years my weight has been steadily increasing. This tiny weight loss is a sign that perhaps I may be actually "getting it" this time. I weighed my highest weight in January 2007 when I last joined WW. Since then, I have now lost 28.4 pounds. Again, some may say that this amount is so small that it doesn't count. I disagree. I feel different than I did back in January 2007. Daily activities are not as much of a struggle. My clothes fit differently. The biggest joy about losing the weight is knowing that I'm heading in the right direction, no matter how small.
This week my goal is to spread my WW points out more. If you are not familiar with WW, the program is based on a "points" system. There are a few factors that help you calculate your number of points you count eat per day. The fat, fiber, and calories in food determine the points that food would have. The lower the points value of a food, the "healthier" it is for you. Basically, they take the work out of always tracking calories and fat. They do that for you and simplify that information down to a number. As you eat, you add up the points for what you consume and attempt to not go over what your allotment would be for the day. That's an extremely simplified version of it, but you get the gist. For example, I can use 42 points per day. Anyone on the program can probably guess my weight (or close to it) from just that information. I am not a huge fan of eating early in the day. Early to me is anything before noon. Eating breakfast and lunch is a struggle for me. Last week, I started out eating something light for breakfast and lunch. Usually I don't have any breakfast or lunch and I'm not really hungry until after 4pm. BUT, I noticed that when I eat in the morning, I'm hungry for the rest of the day. I've been eating 1 large banana for breakfast, 1 large banana for a late morning snack, a can of St. Dalfour pasta and veggies for lunch (that stuff is soooo good), and some water. That is only 8 points. An entire meal should probably be more than that. When I get off from work and before dinner I've been eating some 0 point veggie soup. I've been eating miniscule dinners too. I think I'm an example of how when you eat too little it can actually sabotage weight loss. I need to eat all the way up to my 42 points per day and spread them out more evenly during the day.
In our meeting today we were also introduced to the exercise element of the program. Any exercise you do (including housework, gardening, etc) equates to their points system as well. You have two options. You can either use those points and increase your food intake OR you can ignore them. I suppose the thinking is that if you are working out or expending more energy, you may be hungrier and need those extra points to get you through the day. Even when I was on the WW program before, I never used the exercise in that way. I just let the exercise to help me lose extra weight.
OK, so. The goals for this week are to get some exercise every day, to eat more, and to spread the points our throughout the day better. I'll keep you posted on how I'm doing.
