Monday, October 17, 2011

Weight Watchers Update

My first week on Weight Watchers didn't go too well. I gained a pound. I wasn't tracking my eating. I claimed I was just too busy!...but I think I was just making excuses.

The second week went better. I took the time to set up the "eTools" that you can use with Weight Watchers. Wow. I've been a great fan of myfitnesspal.com, but the Weight Watchers eTools are even better. They are free for 13 weeks with a special code for joining. I think I will be hooked by then, and will want to pay the $13 monthly fee for this tool.

On my second weigh-in, I had lost 4 pounds (really 3 pounds, since I gained a pound the first week). I'll weigh in again tomorrow, and I think it will show another weight loss. According to my home scale, I've lost another pound (maybe 2?) since last week. I'm pretty happy with a program that helps me lose 4-5 pounds in 3 weeks.

Their new program is called Points Plus. Instead of counting calories, foods are rated on a points system that takes into account the fat, fiber, carbohydrates, and protein. I get 29 points every day. The "Plus" part of the plan is that I get an additional 49 points to use however I want throughout the week. It's nice because I can splurge on a special event, or spread the Plus points more evenly throughout the week. One of my favorite things: almost all fruits and vegetables are free points. Even bananas! When I get hungry or munchy, I can eat an apple or a banana and it doesn't count as points for the day. This system is helping me think "healthier" instead of just "low calorie." For example, I can eat 1/2 cup ice cream for 100 calories and 3 points, or a banana for 100 calories and 0 points. Guess which one I choose? You're right...sometimes I choose the ice cream, if I have enough points in my daily/weekly "budget." But lots of time I choose a banana or an apple instead.

The online eTools have a calculator for recipes, which is really easy to use. I can take one of my own recipes - enter the ingredients and number of servings - and it calculates the per-serving points for me. The eTools also have an easy way to mark favorite foods, recipes, and meals, so that tracking became really fast and easy once I got a bunch of "favorite" foods marked. There is a smart phone app that works on my iPod touch, so I can track and calculate points when I'm away from the computer.

The week before I started Weight Watchers, I weighed 141. This morning on my home scale, I was 136. My pants are starting to fit better again, which makes me very happy!

2 comments:

Polly @ Pieces by Polly said...

Way to go, Mom!

Katie Lewis said...

Way to go Mom!

(And I really was going to say that even before I saw that that's what Polly said.)

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