Week One: Hoping for a negative number

I walked into my meeting this morning just hoping for some kind of loss. I about peed my pants when I saw that it was 4.6 pounds! I first just felt a rush of adrenaline like I had won the lottery. Well, maybe not the lottery but at least a free night's stay at a resort or something. I felt like this was all worth it. There were a few times this week that I didn't want to get up and walk but I forced myself and ended up enjoying it. There were more than a few times when I just wanted to make some chocolate chip cookies or fudge (totally craving fudge right now for some reason) but I went with some better choices and felt good about it. Better choices meaning not eating cookies because I just really wasn't hungry and didn't need them. I feel like my efforts in calculating points for all my recipes and adding them all up was worth it. I was pretty much super excited.

And then I was not super excited anymore. Now I feel a little pressure. I lost 4.6 pounds! That's so much! Granted, I didn't eat or drink anything before I weighed in. That's why I go to the 9:00 meeting. So I thought, was this just because I didn't eat anything this morning? But 4.6 pounds is more than an empty stomach. I do give myself credit for that. I'm trying to hold onto the excitement. Giving myself credit is a hard thing for me to do, but really I did it. I exercised, I watched my points, I made good choices, I planned ahead. I just need to keep going...

Things that worked this week:
-I planned ahead for a football party. I knew there would be pizza and wings and yummy stuff so I ate a light breakfast and lunch and saved enough points to enjoy what was there. But I also planned out what I would eat. I allowed myself one piece of pizza and stuck to it. Without Weight Watchers I would have eaten 2 or 3 at least. I filled my plate with fruits and vegetables and ate those first. I saved points for a treat which was so amazing (s'more rice krispy treats: think golden grahams instead of rice krispies. Yeah they were good.) But I only ate one. I'm sure I could have eaten that whole pan but I stuck to one and felt good about myself!

-I also planned ahead for dinner on Saturday night. I had a girls' night and we met at Jason's Deli. I would normally have thought that they had a healthy menu, but I went online and started calculating points based on their nutrition facts. Holy Moly!!! Corey's favorite sandwich, the meatball, has 71 grams of fat!!! It was like 36 points! The Zucchini Grillini was 19 points. I would have thought that was safe since it is all vegetables. So I picked out what I was going to order before even going to the restaurant. I got a turkey reuben and a cup of onion soup with fruit. 15 points. Then I snuck a few weekly points for chocolate ice cream. 5 points. Again, I ate pretty light for breakfast and lunch and felt like I did a good job with a restaurant. Bravo star for me. Apparently planning ahead works for me. Whether it's planning for a night out or even day to day, planning has been key for me.

-I walked Monday-Friday. I didn't allow myself to use activity points to swap for food. They were there if I wanted them, but I didn't feel like I need them. I'm hoping to keep that up as I continue to lose weight.


Overall, I feel like this is doable. Now that I have done it for a week, I feel like it will just get easier and easier as I understand the program and get used to my new life. Because that's what this is. It's not a temporary fix. It's a new way of life and I'm gradually changing and becoming this new life. Like the fat caterpillar on A Bug's Life. "Look at me, I'm a beautiful butterfly!!!"