Does Weight Watchers Really Work? The Verdict.

What I Weighed Today: 207 lbs. (9am)

* It takes 29 days to make a new habit. At least I hope that's true, because after 28 days, my new health habits are no where near fully locked in.

I've finished my 28 Days on Weight Watchers, and this quick wrap-up will mark the end of my WW journaling experiment. This is where I throw up the deuces (the peace sign), take my bow, and exit stage left.

So what's my verdict on Weight Watchers?

As you can see, I am sitting at 207 and have been for days. My body does this. It’s like it’s afraid to lose past a certain point so it fights to stay where it is.

My original goal was to at least get down to between 200 and 205. This was my attainable “weight window.” Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. But eight pounds in four weeks is a decent, realistic weight loss (especially for a 41-year-old, overworked, underpaid, peri-menopausal former bulimic who was completely addicted to food and coffee).

My metabolism is all over the place and my eating is still often controlled by out of control emotions, hormones, and nutritional deficits. But even with all those distractions, I find Weight Watchers to be a very do-able  program. VERY DO-ABLE! I will continue on to see if I can break the 200 wall and maintain a new weight window.

Start off every day with a smile and get it over with. —W.C. Fields

No matter what your lifestyle is you can work this program into it. There will be days when you fight the idea of tracking your food, but that’s when your WW learned discipline has to kick in.

In one of my meetings a lady kept saying, “I hate tracking! I just want to be free!”  Another lady stood up and said, “You are free to eat whatever you want. And when I walk into a store, I’m free to buy whatever I want, but I have to look in my bank account first to see what I can afford. Life is supposed to have limits, otherwise we’d all be crazy.” Hilarious, but true. I was free for years and I was most definitely crazy…and not the endearing kind of crazy.

What I Ate Today:
Breakfast: 4 tablespoons fat-free Hazelnut creamer (in 3 cups of coffee), 10 blanched unsalted almonds, 3 prunes – 4.5 points
Lunch: 3 tablespoons fat-free Hazelnut creamer (in 2 cups of coffee), 2 Whole Grain Lean Pockets – Pizza Supreme – 10.5 points
Dinner: 1 can of tuna (packed in water), 2 tablespoons of regular mayonnaise, 1 lemon, large bowl of lettuce – 9 points
Snack(s): 2 cups baby carrots – .5 points

TOTAL POINTS: 24.5
Points Target: 26
Activity Points earned: 0

I don’t have any bad habits. They might be bad habits for other people, but they’re alright for me. —Eubie Blake

All WW does is shine a light on your old habits and give you the tools to create new habits. The only way to create lasting new habits is to find a way to fit them into the ups and downs of life: PMS, loss of a job, hating the job you have, dating, not dating, or just cooking a meal for your household.

Some people have the money to have a meal plan wrapped up in a neat little bundle and delivered to their doorstep each week. Those plans have their ups and downs as well. Like monotony. And the fact that you can't stay on them forever.

WW gives you a place to go (actually many places to go) to get the tools you need to be self-sufficient in creating your own eating plan. And it works, if you have the desire to do it. If you don't have the desire to put in the effort, NOTHING will work. Believe me, I know. I've tried every magic weight loss pill, and even gastric bypass surgery.

“Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for the rest of his life.” And after you teach him to fish, tell him to bake the fish instead of frying it, and make sure to eat some veggies with it!

Heidi's Weight Watchers Tips

The full versions of these tips are available here: Weight Watchers Tips. Go, enjoy! They're informative, and entertaining as well. Below are the headlines of the tips that worked best for me.

1. Eating breakfast really does rev up your metabolism so don’t skip it. Do as I say, not as I do.
2. Avocado spread on a sandwich can help you cut out mayo and will keep you full longer.
3. Food-pushers are just as bad as drug-pushers. Just say NO! If you go to a social event and a hostess pushes a to-go plate on you, take it graciously and throw it away later. She may not know what’s in your best interest but you do.
4. Look up the menu of restaurants you are planning to go to online BEFORE you leave and plan what you are going to order ahead of time. Ask if they can bring you a dinner salad at the same time they bring the bread basket.
5. Make sure snacks are lower than three points…and REALLY satisfying. You never want to eat the points equivalent of a meal as a snack.
6. Some items are counted as a certain number of points for one serving but the amount of points will increase if you increase the number of servings you eat at one sitting. This is because they round down the fractions sometimes. Example: The Weight Watchers mini snack bars are one point each but if you eat four you will see the points calculate at a total of 6.5. BE CAREFUL!!
7. Try ordering a smaller size of your favorite restaurant item just to test if you can be satisfied with the smaller size. We often assume we can only be satisfied with the LARGE and once you buy it you, of course, eat / drink the whole thing. Once you start testing you will be surprised at how often you are completely cool with a medium-size drink, ½ a sandwich or a cup of soup. If it’s not enough, you can always ask for another serving and you will know going forward what your limit is. However, if the smaller size is sufficient, the points difference is often significant.
8. Try your best to calculate points BEFORE you eat. It’s funny how the meal can change once you know what it’s going to cost you. Occasionally it makes you feel free to just eat a meal and worry about the calculation afterward, but that should not be a habit. Being free and not thinking about what we put in our mouth before it’s in there is what got us here in the first place.
9. Eat your vegetables and fruits first during your meal. By the time you get to the proteins and starches you will be fuller and will eat less of them.
10. Drink the water. It truly helps and you get used to it after awhile and actually start to crave it.

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