So, I've joined Weight Watchers...

[deird1]

(I'm not overweight - but I'm at the heavy end of my healthy weight range, rather than the other end where I was two years ago. I'd prefer to move back in the other direction.)

I've installed their "points tracker" app on my phone, and am dutifully entering food into it.


And here's the thing: I'm an inveterate snacker, but defiantly so. You give me a diet program that bans me from eating BAD CHOCOLATE THAT'S BAD FOR YOU, and a tiny rebellious part of me will narrow its eyes and mutter "Just watch me".

But WW? They are fine with me eating chocolate. Just fine! Eating chocolate, custard, or pigeons are all perfectly okay as far as WW are concerned. No probs.

So, I open up my points tracker, and enter "I am going to eat chocolate".
And it says "Okay! Great idea! How many squares?"
Hmm. Well, I don't have to eat that much really...
"Four squares," I say, expecting it to scold me.
It doesn't scold me. It nods enthusiastically, and reminds me that this will cost me 3 points.
...which is quite a few points, if you think about it. My breakfast cost 3 points.
I think about this for a second, and then say "Um... how about three squares of chocolate?"
"Sure!" says points tracker. "That'll be 2 points."
Woo! 2 points instead of 3! Score!
And points tracker and I grin at each other, and I waltz off to eat my chocolate...


The thing is, a diet that takes responsibility for telling me off is never going to work. One which calmly sits back, smiles, and makes me take responsibility... well, actually that's kinda mean. But very effective.

Comments

[a2zmom]

That makes a lot of sense to me. Personally, I believe that any food can be eaten in moderation.

If you're interested, I am going to start posting the occasional low carb recipe. Tasty and very good for weight loss.

[nimthiriel]

I have a food diary app where I tell it how much I weigh now, how much I want to weigh, and a date by which I'd like to achieve this.

It decides how many daily calories I need, and then I tell it what I want to eat, and it keeps track of how many I have left for the day.

So fairly similar to the WW thing, but with more digits.

[cereta]

That is pretty much my WW experience so far ;).

[padawanspider.livejournal.com]

I just want to remind you how much I love your writing.

[fenchurch]

That is exactly why I love WW! I've lost 85 pounds on the program (just doing it online, not bothering with meetings). I don't ever feel like I'm really *restricted* and instead have learned how to budget what I want to eat... plus, I never do well when I have to count calories (all I can think about at that point are the foods I can't eat), but for some reason my brain is just fine with this Points thing.

I really need to get my collection of WW recipes cleaned up (a lot of them are from the old Points system and I haven't gotten around to updating them yet) so I can share them around.

[velvetwhip]

Good for you.


Gabrielle

[dr_carrot]

Yes, everyone I know on WW seems to have a huge sense of achievement, both with their weight loss, but also with how much they can DO with those points and how creatively they can use them and lots of smug "look at me I am dieting and I just had wine/chocolate/takeaway" which keeps them happy and enthused. It focuses you on what you CAN eat, not what you can't.
On a completely different note, should I be worried that when ever I hear someone talking about their great weight loss, some twisted little part of my brain wonders just how much weight I could lose, and just how thin I could actually get, if I tried, with weight loss for its own sake being my goal. Kinda disturbing, huh?