WeightWatcher, P+ and what that means for me!

So, a little back story here.

I had my first rendezvous with Weight Watchers in 2005. Back then, we had a leader coming to work once a week, and they did the whole weigh in and meeting spiel in one of our conference rooms. Since then, I have been on program approximately 4598347598 times. Seriously. They have seen me through my engagement, wedding, honeymoon [oy vey, the gain!], countless holidays and summers, and then I quit when R and I decided to TTC. And for me, quitting meant diving face first into a carton of Ben & Jerrys, and fifth of Rum and a drive through Taco Bell for good measure. I am pretty sure I gained more weight TTC, then I did when I was knocked up [Thank you Mother Nature for morning sickness, and a 24 week pregnancy. Actually no thanks to that last part. I'm still pretty ticked about that one. but I digress]

I tried program one more time in January of 2010 [211lbs] when they announced our leader was moving on to bigger and better things, and we were getting a new one. The new girl, bless her heart, lasted about 3 weeks before attendance plummeted and the program was canceled. In the time since, my work has introduced IncentaHealth [which I have talked about here before] and had no intention to bring WW back, so I pretty much put WW out of my mind and went at it on my own.

Now, WW has been in business for a l-o-n-g time and has pretty hard and fast reasoning for it's success. I am sure all members will have different answers to this, but for me it's easy. 1. Tracking. 2. Lifestyle changes that are long term. 3. Ease of Points.

1. Tracking- Each food as a point value. If you bite it, lick it, drink it, or taste it, You track it. Case closed.
You are given a points target each day, and an addition set of points available to you each week that can be used all at once, or a few a day, or however you choose. Activity will also earn you back points that you can use. Each food, drink and otherwise has been given a points value based on it's content; Fiber, Protein, Carbohydrate, and Fat. Bottom line is if you stay within your points, you will almost always, lose weight. It holds you accountable, and takes a lot of the guesswork out of weight loss. If you hit a plateau there is something to go back to and review. If you are in a rut you can go back to your journal and see what meals worked for you a month ago. Journaling is a pain in the butt, but it works.

2. Lifestyle Changes- Aside from tracking and the obsession that it can bring, the food choices and education that comes with WW can be for life. There are no meals required to purchase, no pills, no shakes, nada. What the plan is NOW teaching you, is easy to maintain for life, and in my opinion, betters MY relationship with food. It has helped me learn portion controls, has taught me more about nutrition and what protein, carbs and calories mean for my body. It has given me a crash course in food education.

Side track- In my opinion, it has not always been that way. Before the relaunch in December, it was all about calories. Calories in and Calories out. Before, other than your own feelings and knowledge, there was no "reward" for choosing a banana over a low calorie brownie, or 100-calorie pack treat. Nada. Same point value, but as you can imagine, the chemicals in a 100-calorie pack [hey, don't look at me that way. If chocolate is less than 100 calories, it is either the size of a freckle or it has been chemically altered. Point Blank. Doesn't mean I think that chemical tastes like dung, cuz I don't. I love me some chemicals] do not have quite the same reaction in the body as a banana does. Now, before if I had the option of a banana or some 100 cal mini ho-hos, I think we all know which one I picked. Turns out, I am not alone. FF to December and here comes the re-launch. Now there are some MAJOR rewards for choosing to live a cleaner, healthier lifestyle. They have changed the foods points, to give lower points values for food that contains less chemicals, such as fruits, veggies, lite whole grains, healthy oils etc etc. They are stressing good health guidelines [fruit, veggies, grains, dairy, healthy oils, and a few others] more than ever and really encouraging members to move AWAY from processed foods. Add that to my fascination with clean eating and foods, and I am a happy camper. This adds to my second point, these are solid, healthy lifestyle changes. I do not want D to grow up hating vegetables or never having tasted some fruits. I want him to be open and diverse in his food choices. I know he will undoubtedly go through a picky phase or five, but I do not want him to be that way, because I was. This also doesn't mean I won't let him try soda or pop tarts in five years or so. Ha! It just means, I want him to at least grow up on healthy choices, with treats thrown in. Not treats with some apples thrown in, and maybe some Iceburg lettuce once a month.Whoa, side tangent, where was I? Oh yeah,  So these are habits I like, I want to learn, and I want to stick with.

3. Ease of points. Once you learn the program, and have the tools to make it work, converting foods is easy. The food never changes. The food didn't lose calories or change in the relaunch, the only difference is the way WW helps you look at them. I have tried free programs before, calorie counting mostly. And just like WW, they have you track. Only they have you track almost the whole darn label. Now granted, it's free so there is some draw there, but honestly I like that I only have to look at 4 things to know whats going on, and keep myself in check. That and money talks. Paying, makes me participate and learn. And what I am learning makes sense.

Now, what does this mean for Here Comes The Sun. It means, you will read more about WW program, and my meetings. When I see something I like, I learned about, or I thought was interesting I will share. This does NOT mean I will be selling you the program. Honestly, other than my membership and my points calculator, I don't even buy their products, because I am cheap. This is not a sales pitch, and while I would love to encourage others to be interested in program, and sit in on a meeting for free, there are no gimmicks here. If you have questions, I will answer. But you should never feel like a buyer here. If you do, leave me a comment smacking me on the head.

If you made it through this post I come baring bananas, but you will see some of this information pop up in the future, and I just wanted you to know what the heck I was talking about. Because I am nice like that. Now I also come baring another gift. I want you to head over and visit Sheryl, at Bitchcakes. Now Sheryl is not for the faint of heart. Her blog may not be SFW [safe for work, I wouldn't open if you have a boss who lurks] BUT, she has lost over 60lbs on program, and has a TON of information on her blog. Everything you need to know about P+ and program, as well as her journey at becoming a runner, the Chronicles of her and her BFF Hello Kitty Cruiser taking on the Big Apple, and even some racy before and afters. Now, I will not be doing any before and afters in my skivvies, but Sheryl is an inspiration. Here I come GOAL!