The new Pointsplus system is wonderful. I really love it. It made the transition from eating anything all the time to counting points painless. When I felt the need to supplement the size of a meal or snack between meals, I could 'indulge' in fruits and vegetables all I wanted. Since then, I've limited the snacks between meals but still 'fill up' at meal time when I need to.
I've also found that I love taking walks. What started out as a 1-mile walk around the neighborhood is now nearly a 2-mile walk around two neighborhoods. We have yet to check the mileage on the second part of the walk to make sure it's 2 miles. Today I added wrist weights to my walk. Unfortunately, Harper, our dog, is more interested in the sights and smells of his experience rather than the exercise. We can't get out the door without him, yet he won't keep up!! Dumb dog.
So, last Monday was Memorial Day. We had 2 picnics planned for the day although I tried to separate the days. The church picnic was at noon and Christy and her family came over in the evening. For the ward picnic, Dierburgs chicken was served. I went to the picnic with the idea I would have a piece, then look for other healthy foods to eat along-side. I knew there would be fruit at least. I knew I wouldn't even try the potato salad as it's 1 point per bite. I don't love potato salad that much. So I filled my plate-or rather overfilled my plate- with green salad, fruit, and a chicken breast. I didn't think about desert ahead of time but saw that someone had brought Angelfood cake. On the old points system, Angelfood cake was low in points, so I thought it would be a good desert choice. I ate the salad and the fruit, but was satisfied enough not to want the chicken, but I ate it anyway. I didn't eat just half, either, but the whole piece. It was a big piece. Then I had half the Angelfood cake. Rick and I shared the piece. Although very full, I was pleased with my food choices and didn't feel deprived at all. But we stayed too long and too much food was left on the tables. I asked Garrett to get me a rice krispy treat. He did and got me a piece twice the size I pictured. Ugh. I ate half! But then I ate the other half.
When I got home, I felt lost in not knowing what to do and feeling like I'd already blown it, I ate one of Garrett's homemade chocolate chip cookies. Yes, just one, believe it or not. Other than the stupid rice krispy treat and chocolate chip cookie, I did pretty good. If you'd seen the amount of food left on the table when we left, you would have been proud of me for not grazing. The problem came with the second BBQ picnic. I planned well. Christy and Greg brought pork chops and hot dogs for their family. We had chicken and sugar-free jello. We dispensed with the potato salad but had chips instead. Chips aren't a weakness for me, but I did buy some WeightWatchers chips and had some of those. We also had cut-up fruit and lettuce salad left from the earlier picnic. Christy brought some baked beans and Greg made a meatball appetizer.
Here we are facing dinner and I'm not hungry. Looking back, I should have stopped then and there and thought about what to do. Instead I barged ahead and ate. Greg made a comment about it being a holiday and should be able to eat. To an extent, he's right. I should be able to enjoy a special dish or treat on a special day. At this point I'm not too worried about what I ate. I didn't do too bad in that regard. What disappoints me is the fact that I ate at all. I knew I wasn't hungry. I didn't enjoy the meal. I ate because I felt a social pressure to do so. I didn't exercise control.
So I look back at that moment when I realized I wasn't hungry and see now what a pivotal moment it was. It was then that I needed to make new decisions. Prior to the day I choose good food to serve, but at the moment another change needed to be made. Now I just need to decide what that change should have been. I could have not eaten at all-but I don't know that I could have made that drastic of a decision. I could have put less on my plate-which I could have done by not eating the meatballs and baked beans (again another social decision). I think I could have made a plate for myself to eat later or even the next day. It's not a mute point even though I did none of the above because I realize now that the most important step would have been for me to listen to the voice that said, "I'm not hungry" and stop to evaluate the situation rather than barging forward with original plans.
Rick and I took a 2-mile walk that night and today I'm down another pound. I couldn't be more thrilled. Obviously my over-all food choices were good in spite of the oopses along the way. More importantly, though, was spotting that moment in time where I could have made a better decision and increased my control over my eating. Having food boundaries allows me to feel good about myself both by losing weight and feeling in control of my life. This is what WeightWatchers has done for me.
Last Saturday I reached my 5% goal. I was hoping to have lost the entire 35 pounds I'd gained back by the time Britta and Matt came to visit in August. Now they're not coming. I still have the goal, but not the reward!!
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