I’m realizing now why Weight Watchers is working so well for me. I’m constantly looking forward. Oh, did you mess up today? Well, I can use my additional weekly points and do better tomorrow. I’m never looking to eat LESS tomorrow. I’m just looking to stay in the general range of what I eat every day.

Recently I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos about eating disorders. I’m not afraid I will fall into an eating disorder unless it’s binge eating of which I’m sure I’ve done quite a bit in the past. Before I started WW I was afraid to “diet”. I was afraid that if I let myself get into that mindset, that I would eventually take it to far. It’s just who I am. When I start something I take it to the extreme. I started doing nail design and now I have 2 shelves full of nail polish. I started making jewelry and now I have about 6 containers of beads and supplies that are just sitting in my basement.

The reason I think WW works for so many people is because it’s not really a diet, instead it is enforcing healthy eating habits versus caloric intake. For instance, before WW I would eat nachos like there was no tomorrow because I could fit the calories into my MyFitnessPal budget. I should have been paying more attention to things like macros, but I wasn’t. It wasn’t the big picture on that app, it was calories. Don’t get me wrong, the macros were available… they just weren’t the goal. With WW, they have taken the full nutrition into account on each food and assigned it a value. Fruits and vegetables, for the most part, are 0 points. They are the most nutritious and they won’t have a negative side effect if you eat it so they encourage you to eat as much of it as you want (within reason). Same with proteins. The more protein something has in WW, the lower the value tends to be.

Let’s start here with an example, I’ve been eating these Healthy Choice Protein Bowls for lunch. They start around 4 points and go up to around 10 or 11. I find the one’s that have 20-21 g’s of protein are on the lower end and the one’s with only 16 g’s of protein are at the higher end. NOW, I was looking for more options in the freezer section the other day and I found that Healthy Choice Steamers have some meals with 28 g’s of protein. WHAT? They are 3 points in WW and man am I full after I eat that small amount of food.

But Amy, why don’t you just make food at home? Isn’t that healthier? I’ll tell you what, when I go to work, I’m not looking for a sandwich and carrots. I want a tasty meal. I want Chipotle or Wendy’s or…. cheap Chinese food (gasp). These Healthy Choice meals not only give me low points and a ton of protein, but they also give me a lot of flavor and a warm meal. Really, for under $4, it’s a deal and a half. Sometimes they even go on sale but it hasn’t happened for me quite yet! I’m going to load up as much as my freezer can handle when it does though.

Normally I DO make my breakfast and dinner at home. Mostly eggs and veggies for breakfast and mostly chicken or turkey burgers for dinner along with something good. Cheese? You’re wondering about cheese aren’t you? Yeah cheese is a higher point value. There is ROOM to eat cheese – I actually regularly eat it on [baked] French fries (this is my something good) or on top of a turkey burger over onions and jalapeños. I just make sure to allow for it in my meals throughout the day.

All of this said, I end with a weight update. Today I weighed in at 192.8 lbs. Since 2016 I’m officially down 17.2 lbs and since I started WW a month ago, I’m down 8.2 lbs. I went to Victoria’s Secret this weekend and had to go down a band size in my bras from a 38C to a 36C. Yeah, I have bras from a while back that are a 36C and I will get those out, but Covid sure has made me want to be comfortable so I went and got a couple of bras without any wires in them.

Cheers to another positive update next time!