Weekly Meeting Topic, Week 1 : New Year - New You

The New Year is always a VERY busy time at Weight Watchers, I arrived not long before the meeting was going to start since I had no intentions of weighing in.  I was shocked to find the parking lot... full!  When I got inside, the room was full!  Wow!  There were a lot of new members also this was our first meeting in a couple of weeks since we had no meetings the last two weeks due to our meetings falling on Christmas and New Year's Days.

Anyhow I arrived close to the meeting's start time since I had no intention of weighing in.  Todd and I had a fun evening out the night before, not getting home until midnight!  Todd very rarely wants to "go out on a date", so I jumped on this chance!  We went out to the Rideau Carleton Racetrack for their all-you-can-eat buffet, for a limited time you got a lobster with your meal.  I very graciously gave my beady-eyed friend to Todd (the smell still makes me want to gag).  I have to say I was VERY happy with how I handled the buffet!  I started off with a big plate full of salad, with very little dressing (I actually never did like my salad drowning in dressing), a few croutons and bacon bits as a treat also I had 1/2c of minestrone soup.  When I approached the main course selection I had a few slices of lean meat, pork tenderloin, turkey, and prime rib, and a small taste of the "pasta of the day".  For me the true challenge was the dessert selection.  Again I surprised myself, I did enjoy a couple of the portfilarolls (little cream puffs), the chocolate mousse was quite tasty.  There was a tasty looking banana cake, one small bite declared it way to sweet for my tastes so I didn't finish the sliver I took.  One small chocolate chocolate chip cookie, it wasn't good either so it was abandoned after one bite, and I got a scoop of ice cream, it was not good either, the kida cheaper kind with a grainy texture so that got abandoned too.  Like I said, I was VERY happy with how I handled the whole meal.  Not only are there horse races at the track, but slots too!  So for the first time in over 8 years, we went gambling.  I lost my money on the slots in under 5 minutes.  We also tried out the virtual roulette, now that was fun, and my $20 entertained me for a very long time... but I should of cashed out when I won $100 oh well.  It was a fun night and I didn't over-do it at dinner or at the games of chance.

Needless to say despite being good at last night's dinner I was up another pound at the scales (I imagine it'll disappear in a day or so its probably from high sodium foods from last night) this morning.

Today the meeting leader reminded us that the New Year is a chance for a "new you" a chance to focus on the program and your efforts, and make this year the year you make it to goal!  Boy my eyes are certainly set on that finish line!  I'd love it if this is my year to hit my ideal weight as set by Weight Watchers.

She did briefly review the new Points Plus program since there are so many new members.  I really don't like to repeat myself so you can go back and see my posts here and here if you are interested on what my take is on the new program.  The long and the short is it urges us towards healthier eating.  The main focus though was on tracking and how important it is.

Tracking is important and members who track have a higher success rate than members who don't.  Weight Watchers offers several tools to help its members track.  There are those annoying and very small trackers that you can pick up for free at the scale every week, you can purchase a 3 month tracking diary, there's e-tools online tracking, and if you own an iPhone or iPod Touch there is now the Weight Watchers app.  I have been tracking online for years now, and since the app came out I've been using it diligently!

So with our trackers we are able to track : food (obviously), activity, healthy checks, and your hunger level.  Tracking gives one an awareness of exactly what they are eating, this is why we should even track those zero point fruits and vegetables.  If you don't write down what you eat before or soon after consuming it you are likely to forget exactly what you ate my leader called this "food amnesia" or "food-timers".  Tracking also makes us stop and think before we bite... how many points is that?  Do I have enough points?  Is it worth the points?  Questions I ask myself all the time.

Tracking is also a tool we can use to look back when we have a bad week to see exactly what may have caused the gain at the scale.  Or perhaps if you have a really good week at the scale you may want to repeat that same "menu" a few weeks later to try and get the same results. 

So the long and the short of it is, if you don't track you don't know you're overeating.

If you snack it, track it;
If you bite it, write it;
If you nibble it, scribble it;
If you take it internal, you journal;
If you drink it, you ink it;
And if you must hog it, you must log it!!!

We have been set a challenge this week : not to eat over our daily target!  I'm up for a challenge, how about you?