My new magic number

I joined Weight Watchers last Sunday.  I watched the number on the scale climb since this time last year.  I’ve also noticed that my metabolism isn’t what it was 3 years ago, and neither are my eating habits.  Those factors alone had me considering joining the program.  The final straw was last Sunday night when I put on my “fat” jeans and found that they were snug.  I joined online that night.

I actually enjoyed being on “a program” this week.  I opted to do it all online and forego the meetings since I don’t have a significant weight loss goal.  My new magic number is 29, which is my daily points allowance. It was fairly simple to track my points between the online tracker and a free phone app. 

Having guidelines in black and white made me carefully consider what I ate, and it forced me to plan my meals ahead of time and stock my fridge with fresh, healthy goodies.  I’m impressed with the healthy choices I’ve made over the last week and amazed that I had to completely restock my fruit bowl after only a few days. 

I never left the table hungry in spite of eating less (actually I think I ate more fruits and veggies and cut back only fat and carbs), and I’ve avoided the sugar-induced headaches I often experience after inadvertently consuming too much processed foods. And on the couple of days that I “splurged” on my midday points, I simply halved my entrée portion and doubled the size of my salad at dinnertime.

I had a couple of friends ask me why I joined, since from the outside I look reasonably fit.  The reason is more related to health and making good choices rather than weight.  I want to model good habits for my kids, but I often get overwhelmed when trying to do it on my own.  After this week, I feel good about practicing what I preached and was pleasantly surprised when I weighed 2 lbs less at my personal week 1 weigh in.