This Diet Thing....

So far so good with the WeightWatchers diet! Today is day 14 and I have no idea how much weight I've lost so far(no scales), but my face is getting thinner. I guess I'll weigh in September when I see my doctor next(which is fine by me). I thought I'd be starving but I'm not. The points allotment gets smaller as weight comes off so I will adjust so that I have 1-2 less points every few weeks or so. A friend of mine didn't weigh herself either but she lost 30 pounds in four months by doing this. She was in a contest at her workplace and for her first few weeks she would sometimes eat only half of her daily points so her team could show the most loss(she did not do this often and not at all after the contest ended). Not the healthiest way to do things and wouldn't do it myself. I don't want to trick my body into thinking I'm starving because that will cause it to try and hold onto fat reserves. Also, I'm not the kind of person who'll save up points during the week in order to go hog wild over the weekend. That being said, yesterday we went to a birthday party cookout where I had a chili dog, chips and 1/2 a beer, plus birthday cake and ice cream. It cost me something like 28(several more that I get per day) points! But I'd had a good breakfast and then ate steamed yellow squash and 1/2 cup of homemade, very lowfat chili for just a few points. I still have 14 of my flex points for the week and today is the last day to use them(I won't need them though). This party was not something I had even known about when my week started so it wasn't as if I purposely budgeted for it. My goal is to learn how to eat a reasonable amount of relatively healthy foods and still have occasional treats. The "flex points" are extras to use in case you need to go over your daily allotment. Some women lose weight while eating ALL their flex points, some don't lose at all if they dip into them. It is a cushion, and very helpful for me so far.

Following a system of any kind is difficult for me. I was not looking forward to keeping track of everything that goes into my mouth. But, their online "point tracker" is SUPER easy to use! There are things it could do that it doesn't and the website as a whole isn't all that great, but the tracker is the only reason I'm still doing it. My mom is doing the meetings/real booklets version and it would probably drive me crazy having to do it all on paper. I do, however, plan to write down(or type and print actually) meal and recipe ideas and my favorite foods for quick access. This is probably all in one of their books or pamphlets but, for me, I'm more apt to find/understand/use it if it is something I do myself. I also plan to pay for the online service as long as I feel the need. I'm paid up through August but will probably stay on into 2008 just for the ease of it.

Now I'm off to clean my room and work on my ripple afghan!