Does Weight Watchers work?

Summary

Rachel dives into the world of weight watchers! She has her own rules and so does WW...can she hack it?

It’s not something I like to talk about but ever since I hit the big 4-0 things just aren’t quite the same. For life expectancy this is probably just shy of middle aged (what do you mean my life is half over!?) so I suppose it’s something that I have to come to terms with. One of the biggest concerns is my ability to manage my weight and my eating habits.

Some history on myself, I am yo yo dieter extraordinaire. I have tried every fad diet (except carnivore, I really love veggies) and have had great success and great failures. I honestly thought that I had found my niche with my keto-ish, low carb lifestyle. Then I totally fell off the wagon this past summer/winter with a moderate rebound in the fall. The weight just seemed to PILE on. I was the heaviest I had been in 5 years and it was killing me and my poor unsuspecting knee (yay 40’s). My sugar cravings were out of control and even doing “low carb” seemed to make it worse. I looked inside…deep inside…and I said ok I’m healthy, I do yoga regularly, I don’t FEEL terrible so maybe this is just my 40’s. (Shut up knee no one is talking to you) I said that’s it I’m just gonna love myself as is. And that’s what I did. I got rid of any and all clothing that made me feel awful and I even bought some new clothing with the intent that this is just how I’m going to be and let’s just rock it.

So my friend Rae (let’s call her that because that’s her name lol) says to me one day, “I’m thinking about trying weight watchers”. I said that’s great and then listed 9000 things wrong with the program because I’m kind of an idiot sometimes. Thankfully she doesn’t always listen to me and she and her husband started their WW journey. We chatted many times about how she was doing and I still, like an idiot, argued with the WW philosophy. She at one point told me how much energy she had now and that she had lost 5 pounds in the first week. I’m all like ok whatever it’s water weight but it definitely got my brain moving. You see I’m carrying around an extra 20lbs and the thought of losing 5 pounds was very appealing. I would be a quarter of the way to my goal!

But she ate bread, and low fat cheese (gross), and still went to Dunkin’. HOW WAS THIS POSSIBLE? I felt a lot like the Grinch because I puzzled so hard my head hurt.

So totally randomly Thursday January 11th I signed up for Weight Watchers and downloaded the app. This past Thursday I was minus 3 pounds. Say WHAT?! So how is my snarky self doing with all these rules? My first day was nothing short of hilarious. There was a lot of swearing in relation to these points that the WW Gods have assigned to all my precious foods. Red Wine? 5 points a 5oz glass. Who drinks A glass of wine? I’ve always been the “oh your wine stopper is so cute” kind of lady. Ok alright so I’m like yup that’s fine, it’s just saving me money, boom, I got this. So I cut off a one ounce slice of Colby jack cheese thinking this is probably one or two points. FIVE FREAKING POINTS! Ok so first I can realistically only have A glass of wine but cheese is clearly out. And don’t even get me started on low fat cheese. Fat is not the devil but, sigh, yes it is calorically dense. You see I am pretty much an obnoxious self proclaimed nutritionist. So much that I really would love to be an actual certified one but for now I’m just certifiably insane about food.

So what’s to love? Why am I sticking with it?

BECAUSE I FEEL AMAZING. Like literally I have so much more energy, my sugar cravings are almost nil, and there is almost nothing I cannot eat in moderation.

And let me tell you I am testing this WW science HARD. The first Sunday I made a feast; turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, corn, gravy, potatoes, the whole nine. I somewhat stuck to my portion sizes and holy schmoly if I didn’t still lose that first three pounds. I also made a big leftovers meal for the hubs but froze any other “naughty” leftovers. I even portioned out gravy into 2 TBSP cups and froze it for future use. This past Sunday I made homemade pizza. I stuck to my allotted amount and this Thursday we shall see how I do! My goal is to test this calorie driven science to the extreme. I started eating bananas, oranges, and carrots to my hearts content because they are “ZERO point” foods. I always avoided these when I was low carb. I’ve replaced butter on my steamed broccoli with lemon juice. I’ve worked out MORE because low and behold you can earn points back for exercise.

So it’s got me off the sugar, off a ton of dairy, moving more, and I feel amazing. Can I maintain this and does the science of the points actually work?

Stay tuned!

However, in the mean time enjoy this recipe that I developed with the help of the WW app. It is so delicious, easy, and low points!