Before the Start of a New Year

Because we're on the last day of the year and a lot of us, myself included, will be starting on a weight loss journey; I felt I needed to do a post.

To start always remember:  

Diet:  the kinds of food that a person, animal or community habitually eats

Willpower: the ability to control ones actions, emotions or urges

Regardless which you've chosen to follow (Weight Watchers, Healthi, Noom, Nutrisystem, Atkins, Keto, etc..) remember it's a program and the food you eat on the program is a diet.  So don't listen to those who constantly yell "it's a lifestyle change not a diet" because it is in fact a diet...what you are eating is a diet.

You do need willpower for your program.  You need willpower to overcome your bad habits; once you can do it, they will become good habits.  Follow your program, use your willpower and the good habits will come.

As I've mentioned before, I don't do resolutions or goals.  I feel they are either pass or fail.  I do tries.  I just try to do better than I've done before.  I'm always a work in progress.  My tries for the year are: tracking, staying on program, walking, water and just using all that for better habits.  I'll achieve some of these daily, some not....but I'm trying and that's what matters.

We will work this together, a day at a time.

Happy New Year!

The Pros and Cons of Weight Watchers

 There's a lot of postings on the WW FB Groups lately both cons and pros of Weight Watchers.  Some are still upset over the closing of meetings, firing of employees, what will eventually happen to lifetimer status, and the purchasing of a weight loss drug company; which is changing the whole path of what WW stood for.  Others are standing behind WW and are mad about all the negative comments.

Where do I stand?

I'm probably more on the con side of WW at the moment.

Weight Watchers provided me with a way to lose weight without making me feel deprived of the foods I loved.  In 1998 the first points program was introduced; that particular program would remain around in one form or another (but always using the same way to calculate points) until late 2010.  TWELVE YEARS!!  Points Plus got introduced in November of 2010 and would last until 2015.  FIVE YEARS. Then Smart Points arrived and would last for TWO YEARS and then we had Freestyle for about ONE YEAR before it became the Green, Blue, Purple plan and then it bounced into Personal Points where you chose your own zero food list and then a year later we were back to Blue/Freestyle only with the Personal Point Calculation.  Whew!!

In other words....  The first point plan lasted 12 years but since 2016 WW has had FIVE plans.  That's right 5 plans in 7 years.  Apparently we're either over achieving or can't commit to a program.

That's why I'm on the con side - I'm frustrated with all the plans.  Though I think the original and points plus were the best plans.  I do think if weight watchers wants to commit to the personal point calculation, they should do so with plan options - like the color ones.  One for those who want to count points for everything, one for maybe just fruits/veggies being zero pts., one like the current one; one like purple and one like simply filling.  That may seem like a lot; but it's better than forcing everyone into one plan, especially when you offered it and then took it away.

I for one don't like losing daily points to accommodate a zero food that I don't eat and/or rarely eat.  I just don't.  

Also if anyone is on the Healthi App and doing one of the WW programs on it, they are still doing Weight Watchers!  Don't knock them for it.

As far as weight loss drugs...I could care less if you use them or not, as a matter of fact if your doctor thinks that's the way to go then by all means follow your doctor's advice.  I don't believe, however, that WW should be offering this service via a website.  Sorry, I just don't.

Willpower and Being Kind

 So what exactly is "willpower" and do I need it for weight loss?

I bring this up because someone posted about receiving another ad from WW "You don't need more willpower, you need the power of Weight Watchers clinic".

She didn't like what it was saying; which is basically "you need our drugs".

This, of course, started one of those conversations that eventually ended with someone telling her if she thinks willpower is all you need for weight loss she's missing the point and another saying she should leave WW if she doesn't like it.

Remember my post from here:  Don't Be Negative With Others  It kind of applies here as well.

Willpower:  the ability to control one's own actions, emotions, or urges

Now, willpower alone won't get you there, but you do need willpower as part of a weight loss journey.

But that wasn't what the post was about...everyone missed the point.  Her point was as a weight watcher member already, she doesn't need to constantly receive ads from them telling her she needs more then just their plan.  

That's it!  That's all she was saying! And, yet, the "holier than thou" WW crew popped out to defend their god - you know, that does no wrong.

She has every right to be a WW member AND not agree with them all the time!!

And guess what?  So do you!!

Healthi App

 I'd thought I'd spend a post discussing the Healthi App.

Healthi was formally itrackbites.

Healthi is an app that offers older Weight Watchers plans.  They do not offer the current plan.  They do not use the term "points"; instead they are called "bites".

I've heard some people say that the points are off from the calculations in WW.  Let me repeat to you... Healthi does not offer the current WW plan.

A lot of people prefer the older plans.  I happen to be one of them.  I'll put a legend on the sidebar with my abbreviations for Healthi.

The plans offered through Healthi are:

Conquer Cravings.  This is the closest you'll get to the original points plan offered by WW.  There were different versions of this program and this particular plan in Healthi follows the last version, where everyone had 35 weeklies (instead of banking points or such).  If you need to learn portion control, this is a good program to get started with.

Carb Conscious.  This particular one is a favorite of many.  It mimics the Points Plus program.  It is not a low carb plan despite its name.  It's just the first time that WW looked at the carb count of a food item in it's calculation.  This is my plan of choice.

Sugar Smart.  Sugar Smart is the original smart points plan and was referred to as the Green plan as well.  If you have an issue with sweets, this is the plan for you.  It also encourages protein.  I like this program as well.

Better Balance.  This one is the Freestyle, later called the Blue plan.  This is one of the plans where offering a zero point food list came into play.  It's the closest you will get to the current WW plan - HOWEVER, how foods are calculated is different - which is why people complain that the calculations are off...again, this is an older plan - not the current one!

Calorie Command.  Pretty self explanatory - this is counting calories - no bites/points.

Keeping Keto.  This is a Keto plan.  I know very little about Keto plans.

FYI:  Better Balance and Keto are only available with the Pro version of the plan.  To see the differences between the Free version and the Pro version:  Plan Differences.  Trust me, the Pro version is worth it!!  Don't join pro right away; as you're learning the app, they will offer you deals.  Also look for codes from their coaches.  

With the Pro version you can also track a secondary measurement with your bite plan:  calories, macros or both.  This is helpful to some, but I find too many numbers just throws me off!

If you're disgruntled with WW...Healthi is the place to go!!

Holiday Over, Moving Forward

 So we've got one holiday out of the way with one more to go!  For me, New Years isn't a big deal, we don't do anything and if we do it'll be steamed shrimp - and that's a zero point food!

I'm hoping I'm through the worst of it now.  Probably will get back on my plan consistently beginning on Friday, as that's when I start my week; but I will try to keep things under control the rest of the week.

I've bought some Dannon's Light & Fit Yogurt for breakfast.  Cherry flavor I'll add some Lily's chocolate chips to; I found an orange flavor and I'm thinking....that will make a really good smoothie:  Premier Vanilla Protein Shake, Sunkist to go flavor packet, a small orange*, spinach (you can't taste it) and ice!  Mmmmmmm......  It'll cost me 5 points but that's about 44 grams of protein!!  That's a good start for the day.

I think a small garden salad and a packet of tuna & crackers will get me through lunch, then just a normal dinner.  Tomorrow night I'll do pork chops with baked potatoes (we ended up not having that the other night); Wednesday is a night out after work; Thursday I get off work early so maybe another dinner at home.

I hate that I feel like I always have to be thinking about food!

*I never count the points for fruit in a smoothie (even though WW says to).  Why?  For the most part I don't overdrink in smoothies, I don't use more than 1-2 fruits in a smoothie and not counting them has never hindered my weight loss.  YOU DO YOU!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

 

Good Food Day

Though I'm only half dieting during the holidays, I'm doing well today.

For breakfast I had 2 eggs (0 pts), 2 slices of light bread (2 pts), 3 slices fully cooked bacon (3 pts), a cup of skim milk (3 pts) and a banana (0 pts). For a total of 8 pts.

That may seem like a lot for breakfast, but it's actually not as it's filling.  

For lunch I'm having a grilled chicken breast (0 pts), a tossed salad with light dressing (1 pt), and an orange (0 pts).  

Then dinner is Pork chop coated with shake n bake (5 pts), peas (0 pts) and baked potato (4 pts).

It still leaves me 5 pts of my dailies! Which I may or may not use.  Course I may end up eating more than my allowed points (snacking), but I think meal wise I've done well!

Sent from my T-Mobile 5G Device

Quick Update!

I wanted to give an update on where I am...

Obviously not in weight loss mode; I fell off and once I started getting back on track, the holidays hit.  Today's the party at work....then Christmas.....

I just decided to wait it out to at least next week.

I've got some ideas for breakfast to get started and meal prep.  I have a hard time with meal prep as far as lunch and dinner go - I like a variety.

So that's my update!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! 

Let's Discuss Weight Loss Drugs and WW Apologizing

 In case you haven't seen the news or a news article in the past 2 weeks....  WW CEO Sima has been apologizing for WW for not recognizing the need for weight loss drugs.

Sima.... to the best of my knowledge, I don't need an apology from WW.  As a matter of fact, I'm rather offended that you are making it sound like I'm not capable of losing weight without you shoving a pill down my throat or jabbing me with a needle.

Your program and meetings worked just fine for me; but you've taken what I needed to lose weight away in order to push your new agenda.  I get it, you're a business; your job is to make the company money.  You're not the WW that I love and want; and though you are trying to offer many things to accommodate a bunch of different people's needs; all you're really doing is pushing your new agenda and pushing the rest of us out.

That's not cool and that's what you should be apologizing for.

I have nothing against weight loss drugs (or weight loss surgery for that matter); I do not think WW's "clinicians" should be advising anyone of this though.  I think if this is the path someone chooses to follow; they should do so with their own doctor.

Do you want to be on these meds forever?  Because you will have to be, if not, the weight will come back.

Are you following a healthy plan or just eating whatever?  I watch people do both when on these drugs.

Is your insurance going to cover the cost of the drugs?  Or are you?  These are questions you should ask yourself before handing over your hard earned money to Weight Watchers.  To my understanding the WW core program is included in the medication program (not the in person meeting one) and there is a special program just for those using weight loss medications; but anyone can access this plan in the settings on the app.

And isn't it amazing that Oprah just happens to go public with the fact that she uses weight loss drugs at the same time Weight Watchers is announcing their new approach?  What a sales tactic!