I was talking to a friend and trying to describe the way I "follow" the Weight Watcher program.
The following is my side of our Gchat conversation:
"I follow the plan VERY loosely which mostly works for me. I mean, I have days when I actually track and try to hit my DP target but then I have days when I don't. Back in the day (before august) I tracked religiously...Hmm...Now that I think about it, my weight loss was much more consistent back then...shit...I just had an epiphany."
Yup, I just convinced myself to go back to following the program. Many have attempted this in the past months, but I have resisted mightily. Yet, as a result of a casual conversation, I learned the truth:
I lose weight more consistently when I follow the plan. Case in point, I lost 50 pounds from the end of March to the beginning of September (just about five months) and I followed the plan religiously until about August. From September to January (also just about five months) I have lost 15 pounds. Now, granted I went from being morbidly obese to being just overweight, but even still--my stats speak for themselves.
This isn't rocket science, after all.
Now, of course, when I follow my "plan," I eat less than my allotted points and I have weeks when I lose a great deal of weight (e.g. the last three weeks), but then I typically bounce back and eat way too much the following week. And this makes my weight bounce up and down like a yoyo. Now, I'm not going to beat myself up because I have managed to both keep off the weight (and lose more!) during the winter. In fact, I have managed to lose 65 pounds in less than a year. That's terrific, and I'm proud of myself for this.
However, it might be more efficient to actually follow the program and try to lose weight. But I'm still not going to count the cream in my coffee ;)
So, on that note here is my plan for today:
B: oatmeal, banana (3 points)
L: Homemade salad: lettuce, cucumber, beets (roasted with EVOO), carrots, 1/4 cup blue cheese, 2 hardboiled eggs, 1 packet of FF dressing, 1/2 cup pinto beans (12 points)
S: apple
D: TBD--maybe sauteed chicken with evoo (4 points), rice (5 points), asparagus with evoo (1). And a glass of wine (4 points)
Wish me luck! Also, I'm going to try to get the recommended 30 minutes of activity. Happy Hump Day everyone =)
YAY!!! I'm glad that you have finally come to your senses.... j/k :-)
ReplyDeleteWW works, especially when you follow it as closely to 100% as reasonably possible.
I think that I am 80% OP, 80% of the time, and that's about what I aim for. Great epiphany! I had that same one some time last year...
I agree 100% with Leah. The plan works when you work the plan!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the 65 lbs lost so far! That's a huge accomplishment!
Sounds like you have a great plan in place! I feel the same way about my efforts. I need to get in gear already!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Katie! I've had the same realization many, many times, and I know that when I go back to following the plan the "right way" I am much more consistent with weight loss. It's so hard to always be good, so I found what works for me is if I give myself one free night per week that I just eat or drink whatever I want, and consider that using all my weekly points. Even though that's not following the program to a T, it's what works for me.
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