I have successfully navigated three weeks of weight watchers and I'm still standing. I'm also still in the game. I haven't given up in defeat. I'm still in the game. This week was hard though. It was really difficult!
Weight Watcher Plans
When I joined this time I noticed that they had some options. Namely three options. The first option was "Maintain". I love that option.....but I"m not there yet. So that was an easy option to rule out. The second option was the option called "Lose" . This is the standard option that I am more familiar with. It is the option that gives you your daily points but then also your weekly points that you can use for extra flexibility (And I quote them on the phrase extra flexibility). You can also earn points by exercise. That was most similar to the plan that I used years back when I lost the weight. The third option was the "All IN" option. This option is apparently a new choice and it still has you counting your points, but there is no extra flexibility. You do not get the weekly points and you do not earn points by so called good behavior (exercise...hahaha).
For some unknown reason, I chose All-In. (Maybe they recommended it, I can't remember.) The first two weeks I followed that plan. It focuses a lot on your protein and your fiber. I struggled to even get close to the protein that they recommended, but I tried AND I worked to keep my points in line. Admittedly, one or two days I was one point over, but I didn't stress about it. I moved on and made the next day better. At the beginning of last week I decided that it was a good week to adjust a bit and try out the 'Lose' option. Because, why yes, you can switch plans at will.
Immediately after switching I could see my weekly points balance. It was NICE seeing that weekly points allowance. I was no longer bumping against my daily limit, I had points left in my weeklies! I was good as gold. I never used a ton of the weeklies, but I was diving into them daily to take a handful. I was playing the game by the rules. But the scales were not being kind to me. I was showing that I was UP on the scales. UP. What in the world? I was panicked. I started to look more closely at my food. The WW app allows you to see the calories, so I had added that for reference. I quickly realized that the change and the struggle began almost the moment that I switched to the "lose plan". I switched back, crossed my fingers and followed the 'all in' plan for the rest of the week. And now I am trusting the All- In plan.
Why was the 'Lose' not working for me? I think having all those 'weekly' free points really messed with my mind. I was eating my daily points and seeing those weekly points gave me the 'freedom' to indulge just a bit more...and extra helping of food, a bite of this, a bite of that. On top of that I was exercising and earning points so my daily points got higher (I could see the increase in my calories eaten). As I was figuring this all out, I remember my first go-round with weight watchers. Way back then, I couldn't eat my earned points OR my weeklies on any consistent basis. I remember being in a meeting and talking about it and most of the other people were there talking about how they ate every stinkin' point that they had. One girl actually told me 'I am sad for you because you can't." But even then I never lost when I ate them.
So all in is the perfect option for me. (In fairness, I don't weight much of my food so I probably eat the weeklies with miscalculations in my portion sizes.)
Temptations
This week was full of temptations. We had not one but two clients bring us sweet treats. Let me tell you, those cookies and sweet treats looked INCREDIBLE. One of my coworkers was having a bad day so a our other coworker came back from her lunch with a whoopie pie for each of us. One of our clients owns a coffee and sweets shop and had just developed their online ordering app and they were ready to dive into having delivery and asked us to test it out. You name it, it was pushed in front of me! I won. I didn't eat any of them! I was tempted a few times to simply take one bite but I didn't do it!
Toward the end of my week I went to lunch at a fast food joint with my brother during my lunch break. I had already switched back to the all-in plan. I was determined to make it work, enjoy my lunch and time with my brother AND not ruin the progress. I did it. I made wiser options when I ordered and I adjusted my dinner to allow for my lunch. I did it!
Exercise
There isn't much to say about exercise. I did it. 4 times in the last week! Period. Done.
Weigh In
Halfway through the week I was stepping on the scale and I was showing a gain. I was so upset! But I changed my thinking and changed that plan and then sat back to trust the plan. I was nervous the whole time because I soooo didn't want to show a gain for my official weight. I had decided to change my weigh in day to Saturday (from Friday) which was totally unrelated to my gain....but nicely gave me an extra day to lose that weight. That extra day helped, I am sure!
Somehow, I managed to grab a 2 pound loss! Somehow. Someway. I have no clue how. However, I am NOT looking a gift horse in the mouth and I am taking that 2 pounds and running with it! That makes 9 pounds in three weeks. I'll take it! My little secret goal for the first few months is 10 pounds a month. So I am totally on target for that for this month! Go me!
Return to What Worked
With my thoughts returning to the first time I did WW and how I couldn't eat my earned points or weekly points. I thought about one of the things that I did that worked for me Each week, on the day that I weighed in, my last day of my WW week, I would have a splurge meal. I weighed in after work at an in person meeting and afterward, I had whatever my heart desired. I had a dessert. I had the high carb, loaded with butter, comfort meal. And I did it every week. I would leave my WW meeting and I would head right to the pizza joint to take home a large pizza....and I didn't eat just one piece. I ate my HALF of the pizza. Sometimes I would eat a banana split, or a big slab of cake. It was my splurge. The next morning I would wake up and my new WW week would start fresh and I would be right back on plan. It worked for me. I still tracked it, but I didn't worry about it.
So I have decided to go back to this. Saturday mornings I weigh. Saturday evenings are my splurge meal. Sunday mornings starts my new week, fresh and new. I am still tracking it...but I'm not stressing about it. And yes, my splurge this week was again a Mini Blizzard to go with my pizza. :-)
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