Weight Watchers

My mom and I joined weight watcher last week. If you have known me for a long time or if you have been reading my blog for any length of time, you might know that I have battled weight for a long time. Bonham and I have both been going back and forth on losing weight and what is the best way to do it. I have literally tried EVERYTHING and if I stick with it for any length of time, I normally end up gaining all of the weight back (and then some). That is pretty common with overweight people who try to lose weight. I think that the biggest challenge is really truly changing the way that we eat for the rest of our lives. This can't be a short-term thing that we only do until we lose the weight; it really has to be the for the long haul.

There are so many people who eat healthy everyday, that's just their way of life. And that is what we need to do. We need to think about the food that we put into our mouths and the effect that it will have on our bodies. This not only has an impact on our weight, but our kids' too. Jayna is starting to get a little pudgy! LOL I really don't want her to have to go through what I have gone through my whole life. I want the kids to be active and have a well balanced diet.

Okay, I am moving on now.... I am not going to post my starting weight, because I'm just not 'there' yet. =) In previous posts, I posted my weight and I thought that it would be a good motivator for all of you to know what it was and knowing that I was embarrassed about the number.... but that idea didn't work. I will tell you that I do weigh more than I did over a year ago when I started losing weight. I lost about 40 pounds by taking an appetite suppressant with a doctor's supervision. I didn't exercise, I just let the medicine do it all for me. And of course, I failed. I wasn't really committed to making a change. I hate to go on and on and say that I am committed now.... I thought I had been in the past... several times.... so I think I am now, I hope. Looking back, I wish that I would have posted more about my weight loss and when I hit certain goals... I wish I would have shared my struggles when I starting putting the weight back on..... I am now 10 pounds heavier than when I did that program, so now I have to lose that much more, again.

If you have never been a part of Weight Watchers, it's actually a really good program. You have so many 'Points' that you can eat per day and an additional 35 points that you can use, but don't have to. This gives you a little wiggle room if you want to have a 'treat'. The good thing about Weight Watchers is that you can eat whatever you want, as long as you count the points of whatever you eat. I have some examples later in the post. The points are calculated by the calories, fat, and fiber in an item. There are a lot of vegetables that are zero points, so that helps when you are hungry and running low on points. Your points are determined by your age, weight, gender, job type (whether you are on your feet or sitting all day, etc.), and your height. I have joined off and on about 4 times over the last 10 years. The only other time that I really did it seriously was right before I got pregnant with Barrett. Bonham and I did the program together. I went to the meetings without him, but we tried recipes and stuck to it. He lost about 30 pounds and I had lost a little over 20 pounds in just a few months.... and I got pregnant with Barrett and the rest was history! Bonham did well to keep the weight off a little longer than I did. LOL

My mom and I are going at 12:30 today to weigh in, so I will try to update the amount lost later today. Weight Watchers sets a weight range based on your height and you have to determine what you want to your goal weight to be. If you hit your goal weight, then you can become a lifetime member and you get to go to meetings to for free if you come in once a month to weigh in and you have maintained your weight within 2 pounds. I don't know a ton about that, because I am quite a ways away from that. =) I am very excited about going this time, because this is first time that there is a class leader who really lost a lot of weight. She told her story at last week's meeting and it seemed so familiar to me. She lost a total of 104 pounds!!! When I have gone to meetings before, the leaders have lost anywhere from 17 to 40 pounds to reach their lifetime membership status. Now, I know that losing weight is hard, no matter how much you have to lose. But when you have over 100 pounds to lose, it helps to have someone who truly understands leading you that direction. She is super sweet and I am looking forward to going back to the next meeting. I want to make her proud.... I want to make my mom proud, and my husband, and my daughter, and my mother-in-law, and my friends, and everyone else who has encouraged me the many, many times I have tried to lose weight. Most of all, I want to be proud of myself!!! I can do this!

So as of right now, Bonham wants to lose about 60 pounds and I need to lose 102 to get to my goal weight. I think my mom wants to lose about 45(ish). Sorry mom, I didn't get your permission to blog about... I guess you'll let me know if it's not alright. =) hehehehe

This is a fish dish that I made the other night..... 5 points:

Beautiful, isn't it? The fish is Flounder

I made this topping, using corn, black beans, spinach, minced garlic, olive oil, and some chili powder

I cooked the topping first and then I cooked the fish. I sprayed some 'I Can't Believe It's Not Butter' spray (zero calories), I sprinkled it with garlic salt and chili powder.

Let it simmer for a little while on each side....

Almost done....

Serve it up on a plate with about a 1/3 cup of the topping:

Picture Perfect! I really need to learn to take awesome pictures and maybe get some 'display' dinner plates to take pictures! HAHAHA

The true test... How does it taste?

Bonham?

He was exaggerating a little.... but he said that it wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't make it again! He added a little ketchup and he ate it.

The thing with this flounder is that it's very, very bland. I have been trying to find ways to 'spice' it up... just something to give it more flavor without adding a ton of calories, i.e. Soy Sauce. These fillets are only 2 points each, and the topping I made was really low in points also.... it sounded like it would be a good mix! I'll keep trying. =)

Now for some Point Trivia:
Have you seen these cosmic brownies? They are awesome little brownies (no, I didn't eat one. We bought them to send a few to Bonham's cousin in college and of course the kids wanted one, so we opened it to give them one.... he won't get the full 6 brownies. Sorry, Leroy)

One little brownie or 1/2 of the packaged brownie (pictured below) is 3 points!

So for a full brownie, it would be 6 points. Not worth it if you only get 32 points a day!

You've probably seen those books, 'Eat This, Not That', well, this is my mini-version of that. Instead of eating that 6 point brownie, I could have 2 pieces of this bread (1 point for 2 slices) with 2 Tablespoons of Peanut Butter (5 pts). The same 6 pts, but now I can toast the bread and spread the PB and have a bigger snack that would keep me fuller longer.

Most of the foods that we have had to choose this week have really made our minds work. We're still trying to retrain our minds to not always think 'fast and easy' for a snack, but put forth some effort for a smarter, lower point snack.

I love to bake and cook, so this week I have looked for some alternatives that I can use in baking. Bonham jokes, 'If you are going to make cookies, just make regular cookies' I think I will at least try to make them with lower calorie ingredients... just to see how it would taste. =)

Food (Sugar) For Thought:

1 Cup of White Sugar is 15 points!

The Sugar Substitute: 1 Cup is only 2 points!

This is quite a bit more expensive than regular white sugar, but most stuff that is better for you is more expensive..... that is just the way it is, unfortunately.

I hope that you enjoyed this Weight Watcher education. =)

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UPDATE!!!!

The official numbers are in:

I lost 3.8 pounds my first week and my mom walked away the winner losing 6.2 pounds! She will be out of town next week, and won't be at the weigh-in, so I am pretty sure that I will win next week's challenge. Congratulations Momma!