I went to my first weigh in tonight and I'm proud to say I am down 1.8 pounds. I was really hoping it would be more. Every other time I've done Weight Watchers there's been this great jump start at the first weigh in.
I know. I know. One to two pounds a week is the best way to lose.
But I was pretty sure this first week was going to be more.
WAIT. What am I whining about? I followed the plan and it worked! Right??
So what did I do right and what could I have done better? I used WW's eTools to track everything I ate. It's a great tool and recording everything is truly key to keeping track of everything that goes in my mouth. I also found a great tool for looking up anything I don't find in the WW database. Check out www.nutritiondata.com to look up any food you can think of.
Write it down. It'll make a difference.
The goal this week is to get a little more exercise and see if I can step it up for next week.
Stay tuned for less of me.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Surviving McDonald's on Weight Watchers
Every dieter I know struggles with how to get through the weekends. I do ok through the Monday to Friday routine of eating at pretty much the same time every day. But with two small children at home, the weekends are typically a whirlwind of errands and social/ family engagements. Eating on the run and feeding the kids wherever we happen to be that will cause the least amount of drama often means choosing things that I would never choose if I was by myself.
Today...one daughter had a birthday party to attend so I promised the other one that we would do something together (of her choosing). This included lunch out and a trip to the park. So of course she picked McDonald's for lunch which sent me into a mild panic over how many points I would have to spend on lunch.
Much to my surprise, McDonald's is not the enemy. I chose the Southwest salad with grilled chicken and Balsamic dressing which I later learned was only 7 points. Slightly more than I might have normally spent on lunch but certainly not the off the chart point count that, say, a quarter pounder with cheese might have been. McDonald's is even nice enough to provide a handy little chart of nutritional content for the most popular items and a link to their web site to check out anything else on the menu. If you are curious, check it out here. Similar charts exist for Wendy's and Burger King.
It's not always easy to make the healthiest of food choices when out. And don't get me wrong. I am NOT suggesting that we should all run out and eat fast food every day and still expect to lose weight. But what I am saying is that on Weight Watchers, you can eat anywhere and still stay on plan.
Stay tuned for less of me.
Today...one daughter had a birthday party to attend so I promised the other one that we would do something together (of her choosing). This included lunch out and a trip to the park. So of course she picked McDonald's for lunch which sent me into a mild panic over how many points I would have to spend on lunch.
Much to my surprise, McDonald's is not the enemy. I chose the Southwest salad with grilled chicken and Balsamic dressing which I later learned was only 7 points. Slightly more than I might have normally spent on lunch but certainly not the off the chart point count that, say, a quarter pounder with cheese might have been. McDonald's is even nice enough to provide a handy little chart of nutritional content for the most popular items and a link to their web site to check out anything else on the menu. If you are curious, check it out here. Similar charts exist for Wendy's and Burger King.
It's not always easy to make the healthiest of food choices when out. And don't get me wrong. I am NOT suggesting that we should all run out and eat fast food every day and still expect to lose weight. But what I am saying is that on Weight Watchers, you can eat anywhere and still stay on plan.
Stay tuned for less of me.
Friday, June 20, 2008
A New Dieting Path
Yes, it's been a while.
Have you wondered where I've been?
Standing in front of the fridge stuffing my face is the obvious answer. But wait...I'm jumping ahead. Let me back up and get the new folks up to speed.
Once upon a time, a beautiful but plump girl went on a diet. OK, she went on a lot of diets and had a fair amount of success on each and every one. Until she grew bored and slipped back into old habits. And before long she was slipping back into the larger sizes in her closet.
Then one day, she went on a low carb/ low fat diet (yes, it is a contradiction for those doing the math). The diet (which shall not be named) was somewhat controversial but Scalemistress lost nearly 40 pounds in 4 months. Which all the experts will tell you is too much too soon. But she didn't care because she went from a size 12 to a size 6 in time for a big family vacation.
That was 10 months ago. And in these past 10 months I have struggled to regain (pardon the pun) the glory of being that single digit size that I was so happy to obtain last summer. And also in these 10 months, I have tried to resume some healthier eating habits and exercise more. But ultimately, all I've achieved is gaining back nearly 30 of the original 40 pound loss.
It's horribly depressing.
What to do. What to do.
Well I tried a few things on my own. but if there's anything I know for sure about all of the diets out there, it's that they all work...if you work them.
Some universal truths to dieting are:
Write it all down
Drink a lot of water
Move more
What you put in your mouth may vary but those things are always true. And one more truth for me is I work them best when I don't do it alone.
So when a few of my co-workers decided to do Weight Watchers, I battled the inner demons. You know the ones. The voices in my head that said "But Scalemistress, you've been swearing by the low carb life for so long. Are you switching teams? Are you going over the dark side?"
But I know that Weight Watchers works. It's worked for me before. Just like low carb worked for me before. The bigger question is...what will work for me now?
So yea.... I took the plunge. I joined Weight Watchers....again. Went to a meeting. Stepped on the scale. And now I'm two days into counting points...again. So far so good. I'll step back on that scale each Wednesday....in between stepping on the one at home more than a dozen times before then.
So join me in this next chapter on my weight loss journey.
And stay tuned for less of me.
Have you wondered where I've been?
Standing in front of the fridge stuffing my face is the obvious answer. But wait...I'm jumping ahead. Let me back up and get the new folks up to speed.
Once upon a time, a beautiful but plump girl went on a diet. OK, she went on a lot of diets and had a fair amount of success on each and every one. Until she grew bored and slipped back into old habits. And before long she was slipping back into the larger sizes in her closet.
Then one day, she went on a low carb/ low fat diet (yes, it is a contradiction for those doing the math). The diet (which shall not be named) was somewhat controversial but Scalemistress lost nearly 40 pounds in 4 months. Which all the experts will tell you is too much too soon. But she didn't care because she went from a size 12 to a size 6 in time for a big family vacation.
That was 10 months ago. And in these past 10 months I have struggled to regain (pardon the pun) the glory of being that single digit size that I was so happy to obtain last summer. And also in these 10 months, I have tried to resume some healthier eating habits and exercise more. But ultimately, all I've achieved is gaining back nearly 30 of the original 40 pound loss.
It's horribly depressing.
What to do. What to do.
Well I tried a few things on my own. but if there's anything I know for sure about all of the diets out there, it's that they all work...if you work them.
Some universal truths to dieting are:
Write it all down
Drink a lot of water
Move more
What you put in your mouth may vary but those things are always true. And one more truth for me is I work them best when I don't do it alone.
So when a few of my co-workers decided to do Weight Watchers, I battled the inner demons. You know the ones. The voices in my head that said "But Scalemistress, you've been swearing by the low carb life for so long. Are you switching teams? Are you going over the dark side?"
But I know that Weight Watchers works. It's worked for me before. Just like low carb worked for me before. The bigger question is...what will work for me now?
So yea.... I took the plunge. I joined Weight Watchers....again. Went to a meeting. Stepped on the scale. And now I'm two days into counting points...again. So far so good. I'll step back on that scale each Wednesday....in between stepping on the one at home more than a dozen times before then.
So join me in this next chapter on my weight loss journey.
And stay tuned for less of me.
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