Weight Watchers - Day 1 - A Whole New Way of Looking at Food!

I just returned from a week in Paradise, well, Islamorada, FL to be precise. 7 glorious days of fishing, lobstering, dining and entertaining 37 family members. I got home Saturday night and approached the scale with some trepidation; yes I had exercised, but boy had I ate! I stepped on to the scale and almost fainted to see the number glaring at me from the innocuous little window! 164.2 lbs! Is it even physically possible to gain 4 lbs in 7 short days!?!

Something had to be done, and fast. Just before the vacation, I had run into one of my friends who was looking svelte and lean. She informed me that she was several months into Weight Watchers. At the time, I noted her success and tucked that little tidbit of information into the recesses of my mind. On my vacation, my cousin Amy mentioned that she was gearing up for Weight Watcher's the next week, as it was the only program that helped her lose weight. Again, I filed the information under "interesting, but not for me". The final nudge I needed from the Universe however, came right after that fateful moment at the scale, when the next TV commercial break featured Jennifer Hudson, singing directly to me, the praises of Weight Watchers. Coincidence? I think not.

Probably one of my favorite Tony Robbin's quotes, "Never leaves the scene of a decision without massive action", reminds me that a decision, like joining Weight Watchers, isn't really a decision until you back it up with some action. I promptly went online to Weight Watcher's site, and joined. No if's, and's or but's, I just joined. I found the next meeting was Sunday morning at 8:30 am around the corner from my house and I set my alarm. I have to confess, when I looked at the site, trying to figure out what I was in for, I was completely, tea-totally, lost. I went to sleep hoping the meeting would shed some light on the cryptic site and seemingly confusing program.

Sunday morning, fate seemed to be conspiring against me. The alarm didn't go off, and when it did, I only had 20 minutes till the only Weight Watcher's meeting that day. I took a super-quick shower, grabbed my keys and left the house, only to find that my car was blocked in by everyone else's. Rather than assume the Universe had changed it's mind and didn't want me to go, I ditched the keys and headed out on foot as fast as I could. Breathless, I strode through the door just in the nick of time.

Once through the hallowed doors, I slowed to take stock of my surroundings. Brightly lit, cheerily decorated, meeting room on one side and reception/cashier directly in front of the door. The meeting room was blocked from my view; my curiosity about my fellow members would have to wait. Randi, the cashier, was cheerfully awaiting me and welcomed me warmly. Upon hearing I had just joined, she congratulated me exuberantly and gave me paperwork to complete.

The paperwork was simple and forthright, I completed it quickly and returned it to Randi. She entered the information and then asked to me to step around to the scale. Fortunately, I was already prepared for the number that I would see there, I stoically took the news in stride; no further histrionics were necessary. She recorded my weight in a booklet she gave me and told me I could go join the meeting.

Once in the meeting, again, I felt sort of lost. The leader Janice was talking about different strategies to plan and make good choices about what to eat and how to overcome common food obstacles. There was much mention of "Points". It was very interesting, and very confusing as well. I peeked at the materials they gave me, but no answers lay within the pamphlets and booklets.

At the end of the meeting, Janice asked the newcomers (me) to stay for the meeting after the meeting. It was here that the first glimmer of comprehension came upon me. Janice explained that with this system, every food is assigned points based on a formula that I didn't need to know. Fortunately my smart phone can get the Weight Watcher's app that either has a searchable database of foods and their points, or a calculator that you can put in the Fat grams, Protein Grams, Carb Grams and Fiber Grams and it will tell you the point value of that food. The program is really about planning what passes your lips and making good choices.

Janice tells me that I have a 26 point a day allowance and 49 extra weekly points for splurging. I'm thinking "Great, I can do this, no problem". She explains that I can track everything on paper, online or on my phone. I'm rather a techie so I leave with an uplifted heart, excited to go plan my meals for the week.

I pulled out some of the materials Randi had given me, intent on wisely planning out my grocery shopping trip and my meals. At first I was shocked at quickly my allowance seemed to be going. The first shocker was my red wine (which is excellent for my heart) packed a whopping 4 points into a teeny, tiny 5 oz glass! I guess the first thing to go was going to be 2 of my 5 oz glasses, I couldn't see spending nearly half my points on wine! Besides, there was a tiny paragraph limiting me to 1 alcoholic beverage per day. That left 22 points!

I quickly realized that most fruits and vegetable were 0 points. I love fruits and vegetables so that was good news. My mother-in-law and I plotted and planned, made a grocery store list and a produce stand lit and sallied forth to shop. We returned from shopping and I started pre-preparing as much as I could and placing my goodies in special "Susie-Storage-Containers", i.e. "Kids and husbands, keep out!"

I had not yet eaten and I was starving, breakfast for Sunday was destined to be 1/4 cup raspberries, 6 oz of plain Greek yogurt, 1 hard boiled egg and Green Tea(4 points total). Lunch was 1/2 cup whole wheat pasta with broccoli and garlic with 1 tsp olive oil(3 points total). Dinner was 4 oz of Lobster tail, left over from our trip, 1/2 cup Whole Wheat couscous and 1/2 broccoli, with my 5 oz red wine (12 points total). I snacked on 6 almonds, 1 Tbsp of sunflower seeds and 1/4 cup of cherries. Total points for the day 21. Somehow I had shorted myself 5 points, and boy did I miss them! I was ravenous all day!

I made it through the day and didn't cheat. I took note of how I felt and decided to beef up breakfast better the next day. I can say that paying attention to these points has really made me notice a lot about portion size and made me consider what is most important to me in terms of where I want to spend my points! I'm excited for tomorrow...more of my Weight Watchers journey to follow!

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