Surrender, Dorothy
It's been a week since I restarted the Weight Watchers program with new PointsPlus. I admit, as I said before, I was pretty resistant to this change. Like I'm sure many are, I was so conditioned to keep everything as low in Points as possible, that having everything be sometimes double the amount of Points was scary. I was afraid it wouldn't work. I was afraid I would fail again. I was afraid I'd be starving (despite the promises that I could eat so much more). I was just afraid. I realized if I was going to do this (and 2011 is the year of keeping my promises to myself), I had to let go. I had to surrender to the Plan -- and not to my fears.
I didn't post this week because I wanted to keep the focus on the tasks at hand and not worry about "delivering content". But there were several times during the week I thought, "I should blog this." So here you go.
Release your grip, Controlla.
We get a lot of take-out in this house. My boyfriend is a junkivore and eats mostly burgers and pizza and cheesesteaks and Pepsi. And it's ok because he's in great shape and works out. We're a two-person household and sometimes take-out is just easier. We work opposite shifts (me by day, he by night) and cooking shared meals can be a pain and leftovers get old fast. Or food goes bad, despite my good intentions. Certainly some of you can relate. So, about 3-ish times a week (it used to be more), we'll replace a meal with take-out. It's been a challenge this week because I only choose places I can get healthy options. And the poor boyfriend gets an earful when the restaurant messes up my very particular order.
For example, this week, I got a turkey sammich from Subway. I asked for parm-rosemary bread, which I guess they no longer have. (I know wheat is better, but I could afford the Points and I was sick of wheat bread.) Instead, the boyfriend got Italian Herb and Cheese instead of defaulting to wheat. My mistake, I didn't tell him, but it sent me into a little panic. CHEESE, omg! That was flub #1. Then, I asked for one skinny squirt of light mayo. Instead, my otherwise veggie-loaded, healthy sammich was drowning in mayo -- and I'm not even sure if it was light. Flub #2 and... well, I lost my shit.
Seriously, I got very upset. It's ridiculous, but when you're trying to meticulously control what goes in your mouth and you're counting every last Point, that kind of thing throws a wrench in your flow. But after bitching a little, I took a deep breath and realized, "This is not about the sandwich. I can fix the sandwich. This is about control."
When I had that little epiphany, I got up and scraped out the offending mayo-coated lettuce, picked off as much cheese from the top of my bread as I could and just ate the damn thing. I ate it, enjoyed it and threw in a couple extra points to my log, just in case. (I rarely dip into my Points Allowance and figure its there just for moments like this.) There's no need to feel like "I blew it" -- I'm not a failure, the Sandwich Artist made a mistake.
It wasn't about the mayo. It was about control. I couldn't raise the white flag over a stupid sandwich.
Shit (Doesn't) Happen
I made the mistake Saturday morning of weighing in early. I just wanted to see if I was on track before going into a weekend. Weekends can be so de-railing and I thought checking in with the scale before Monday's weigh-in might help keep me focused. If I was up, I could be more diligent over the weekend. If I was down, I could feel accomplished and excited for Monday. Unfortunately, it said I'd gained 2 pounds.
Needless to say, instead of feeling more determined, I was crushed. Again, irrational, but I had been trying so hard, I had been so "perfect", I had done what I was supposed to do and A-HA! I KNEW THIS NEW PLAN WOULDN'T WORK! Boo hoo. Blah blah. Etc.
I left and went shopping, texted Kathy about how much I suck. Griped at my boyfriend about how I can't worry about what he eats anymore because I need to focus on myself! Dammit! (I apologized later for being a jerk.) I basically went into a tailspin for about 2 hours.
I realized I was being irrational and tried to put on a happy face and just get over it. I could give up after 6 days or I could just stick it out and hope that Monday yielded the results I was looking for. I didn't get this fat overnight and I wasn't going to lose it overnight. I'd been to this dance before.
Well, it's Monday. And I'm pleased to say I've lost 3 pounds. I'm glad I stuck it out and didn't let my Crazy win.
Food, Glorious Food
I am kind of in love with the PointsPlus plan now. I was so resistant, but I get it now and it's so much easier to eat. I don't feel restricted. I eat CHEESE, y'all. Every day! And for the last two mornings, I've had bacon. But I've also eaten a lot more fruit (at least one piece every day) and a yogurt every day as well. It's a little hard to succumb to the reality that my nightly Skinny Cow is now 4 Points, but I just plan for it, enjoy it and work around it.
My "regulars" this week have been an egg white breakfast sammich on multi-grain rounds with Laughing Cow and 1 slice of bacon. I'm loving tuna melts for lunch. Dinners have been everything from Lean Cuisine tortelloni with a side of grilled zucchini to homemade turkey chili topped with light sour cream and a mini corn muffin. I'm eating like it's going out of style -- and I feel fantastic. Gone is my usual upset stomach, gone is the bloating, the heartburn, the inexplicable nausea, the gallbladder pain -- all in just a week. Tums is going to lose some money pretty soon -- I'm pretty sure I was singlehandedly supporting at least a regional distribution center.
Move It, Lady
This week, I'm incorporating exercise. I didn't officially exercise last week -- I just tried to get up more, walk more, climb the stairs more, stay moving more. I parked far, I carried more, I did more chores... this week, I'm going to start building exercise habits. So we'll see how that goes.
So... how'd you do?
They Said Stuff!
I love that your goal for last week was just “moving more”. That’s how I got myself motivated to start exercising and KEEP exercising. Instead of making my goal to work out 3 or 4 days per week, I made my goal to “exercise more”. More than what? More than before. More than last year. More than the last 28 years of my life. More than I would if I were just sitting on the couch. So far it’s been working for me, so I hope it keeps working for you too!
Thanks, dude! I could tell I was moving around more. My butt felt that I’d been climbing the stairs in our house more instead of piling everything at the bottom for the next time I went up. LOL *climbs*
I started a few weeks early, I think the week after the program changed. Having never seen the old one I don’t have anything to compare it to, so maybe it’s a little easier for me. Except that I’m having to adapt my whole eat-what-I-want-who-gives-a-damn-nobody’s-looking habits, which everyone has to when they start I’m sure. I haven’t been very good. I’ve been (mostly) paying attention and (mostly) logging things so I can see how fast I’m blowing through that weekly bonus and trying to (maybe) not run out by Wednesday. And I’ve had major back/hip/joint issues the last couple of weeks so exercise of any sort has been less than existent. And yet…somehow…I’ve managed to lose a couple of pounds early on and even after last week’s colossal “failure” I got on there this morning and hadn’t gained a fraction of a pound. Hadn’t lost one either, but damn, I was sure I had gained back everything in the last 4 days. So yeah, something in there is working. Keep up the good work; I need someone to look up to. ‘Course, you’re taller than me already… :)
I had the same thing happen to me last week. I felt I had been doing really well and checked my weight only to see I gained a pound. It really upset me but then I weighed myself again the next day and I had lost the pound, so now I’m just trying not beat myself up day to day because it’s pointless.
My official first weigh-in is on Thursday so we’ll see how that goes, but I feel like I’ve done really well this past week no matter what the scale says. I’m definitely trying to focus more on changing my eating habits rather than obsessing about weight loss. I’ve been eating a piece of fruit for dessert every night instead of my usual processed sugar-laden snack and have been surprised how satisfying it can be.
My one complaint about the new plan is how anti-carbohydrate it is. I guess maybe I just eat too much bread, but, man, I LOVE bread and I’m starting to feel like I’m going to have to give it up to really work this new plan and that’s depressing me.
Em, I have the same issue. It is really anti-carb and anti-sugar—which is good, I suppose. I don’t normally like those “deli thins” or “sandwich rounds”, but I have found ones that I like. The Nature’s Own Multi-Grain Rounds are 3pts each and I use them for everything. Open face tuna melts, my breakfast sammiches, etc. Pepperidge Farm makes some that Kathy likes, too, and those are 2 points.
But if you really want bread-bread, try Double Fiber. it’s like 4points instead of 3, but it’s dense and breadtastic.
Amanda (btw, I can’t get used to calling you that. You’ll be Arwen to me forever—but I try!), I was half-assing it for a while just after the plan launched—but I wouldn’t commit. I was being petulant, but now that I’ve got it, I don’t even touch my Points Allowance and I often find I have Points left over at the end of the day, even if it’s just one or two.
You can do eeeet!
Haha! There are exemptions for the name - anyone who knew me before 1990 and medical/government entities. So there we are, I changed it on the form for you. :)
One thing I did today was look up all of my available snacks - which are all good ones now since I haven’t let Chris shop in a while *evil grin* - and write down the points so I could see what my options are at a glance. I think that’ll help some.
Oh, totally. In fact, sometimes I put a post-it or sharpie it right on the box. :)
First… congrats on the weight loss! And I can SOOOO totally relate to weighing yourself a few days before. My weigh in day is on Sunday, and I weigh myself at home on Saturday morning. I don’t know why I insist on weighing myself on Saturday but I do… its not like I can really do much in that one day to change the scale. BUT whatever that scale says on Saturday total affects my mood for the rest of that day. (much to Hubby’s dismay) It shouldn’t I know.. but it does. What’s even worse is that there have been maybe weekends where my weight changes drastically between Saturday and Sunday. Sometimes its a good change.. Sometimes its not. And it just drives me batty either way.
I think my issue with the program at first was because it almost seemed like I was eating too much food. I went from technically 25 points (I was really doing 23 points.. just because my body likes to fight me to lose every single pound) to 29 points, and now all the fruit I use to eat doesnt cost me anything? It just seemed like too much of a good thing. It was TOO much food. And then the leaders all say EAT all your points AND your FLEX and your activity… Sorry, there is no way I can eat that many points at this point in the journey and still lose. Im not one of those lucky ones that can do that.
I mean, for anyone starting their weight loss journey, if you can eat your flex and lose… then eat your flex. You will thank yourself later when you start having losing points/cutting back on calories as you lose weight. But for me… I eat all my points and a few flex and i end up maintaining. Even with earning 50 activity points a week. ugh…
I think the other thing that is frustrating is hearing all the leaders say just how easy it was to lose with the new program. Since starting the new program I have lost a whole whopping TWO lbs… yep 2 lbs in 6 weeks. NOW I did lose 6 lbs over Thanksgiving.. the week before it started, so I can understand that why I may not have dropped any more weight the first couple of weeks after that. Also I think Im at the point where losing weight is going to be harder. I have lost 130 lbs, and have 25 more lbs to go. I am losing weight now that I have had on me since early high school. And my body has a tendency to go thru weight loss spurts too where I will have weeks and weeks of maintaining, then boom… 3-5 lb loss in a week. But still with the way the leaders were talking, I was really hoping this program would be my ticket for having a more consistent 1-2 lb per week weight loss, especially with the way the leaders were talking.
However.. Im not stopping and Im not giving up. I knpw WW wouldnt put this program out if it didnt work, and they havent failed me yet. The new program does make sense, and it’s healthier than their old program. I just have to keep pushing at it.. and bit by bit this stubborn body of mine will start dropping the pounds again…. hopefully soon. lol
ps sorry for the long novela.. I tend to do that sometimes.
I’ve been doing the new plan since it started. I’ve only lost about 9 pounds in those 7 or 8 weeks. BUT before that I hadn’t lost any so I count it as good. Also, I started the Couch to 5 K program back in September and am just about to finish it. (It’s a 9 week program, but I’ve had to repeat weeks). I’ve gone from being able to run 1 minute at a time to 30 minutes and that’s fantastic. I am, however, the slowest runner on the planet and people walking can pass me, but I’m still at it.
K program back in September and am just about to finish it. (It’s a 9 week program, but I’v
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