So, today was my Wednesday Weigh-in, and I can’t say I was disappointed when I stepped on the scale this morning
I was at 130.5, which is down 2 whole pounds from last week; and 2.5
pounds below my goal weight. I wasn’t actively trying to lose weight
this week, but I had a lot going on with Jerry being in the hospital 4
out of 5 days in a row. My average calorie intake was 1,501, which is on
the low side for maintenance; but, considering the circumstances, it
makes sense. (Next week, it’ll probably be back up, and I’m fine with
that).
Last week, I weighed in at Weight Watchers and got the materials for
their new Beyond the Scale: SmartPoints plan. It definitely did not
sound like the right plan for me (especially when I saw that my beloved
dried cherries were 8 “SmartPoints” for a quarter cup!), but I was
curious as to how many SmartPoints I’d eaten each day this week. I used
the new Weight Watchers app to calculate my SmartPoints at the end of
each day, just out of curiosity.
For reference, if I was doing Weight Watchers, my daily target to
MAINTAIN my weight would be 36 SmartPoints per day, plus 28 SmartPoints
per week. If I was trying to LOSE weight, my daily target would be just
30 SmartPoints per day, plus 28 SmartPoints per week.
Here is the result:
W: 1,681 calories; 65 SmartPoints
T: 1,239 calories; 51 SmartPoints
F: 1,972 calories; 63 SmartPoints
S: 1,442 calories; 57 SmartPoints
S: 1,354 calories; 58 SmartPoints
M: 1,240 calories; 44 SmartPoints
T: 1,578 calories; 65 SmartPoints
Totals for the week: 10,506 calories; 403 SmartPoints
Averages each day: 1,501 calories; 58 SmartPoints
That means, in this week, I would have gone OVER by 123 SmartPoints
in maintenance, and 165 SmartPoints if I was trying to lose weight.
(Yet, I lost 2 pounds this week.)
(
Important Note: Since I count calories, and I’m not actively
following the SmartPoints plan, I wasn’t trying to get the most out of
my SmartPoints. If I was trying to follow the SmartPoints plan, I
probably would have made different choices about what to eat. I would
have tried to fill up on fruits and vegetables, and eat less sugar
and/or processed foods, so the SmartPoints counts would probably have
been lower. This is NOT a review of the new plan, nor was it an
experiment as a week on Weight Watchers’ new plan; all I did was
calculate how many SmartPoints I’d eaten for a week, out of curiosity.)
Anyway, here is a sample day, based on things that I would typically eat:
Breakfast: Larabar (which is just dates, nuts, and dried fruit) with 8
g. peanut butter; tea with 1/2 tsp. sugar and 1-1/3 Tbsp. half and half
(13 SmartPoints; 301 calories)
Lunch: Panera lunch date with a friend- 1/2 chicken caesar salad, 1 cup
tomato soup, piece of baguette, unsweetened iced tea (25 SmartPoints;
680 calories)
Dinner: Homemade roasted red pepper and turkey sausage pasta (11 SmartPoints; 394 calories)
Snack/treat: homemade fudge (9 SmartPoints; 198 calories)
Total: 58 SmartPoints; 1,573 calories
This is a very typical day for me–not super healthy, not super junky,
just average. I’m not going to bash the new Weight Watchers program,
because I understand what Weight Watchers is going for–when “junk” foods
are super high in SmartPoints, people will be more likely to make
healthier choices. That’s a good thing! However… I find that the
opposite happens with me. The more restrictions I have, the less likely I
am to stick with the program. I get frustrated while trying to find a
compromise between foods I enjoy and that fit in with the plan.
Weight Watchers used to be pretty simple when calculating Points
values: there was a formula that used calories, fat, and fiber. That was
the plan that I used to lose most of the 125 pounds I lost in
2009-2010. They had a new plan, the PointsPlus system, that then used
carbs, fat, fiber, and protein to calculate PointsPlus, which made it a
little more complicated. Now, they are using calories, saturated fat,
protein, carbs, fiber, and sugar to calculate SmartPoints! It seems like
instead of getting simpler, the plan is getting much more complicated
and overwhelming.
As a newcomer to Weight Watchers back in the day, the biggest appeal
to me was that I didn’t have to eat a super healthy diet to lose weight.
If I was able to stick with a very healthy diet (lots of fruits and
veggies, very little sugar, etc), then I wouldn’t have been 253 pounds.
I’d tried making healthy choices God-only-knows-how-many times, but I
was never able to stick with it. When doing Weight Watchers, I was able
to eat the foods that I wanted (in smaller portions) and still lose the
weight.
In August 2009, at 253 pounds and living off of pizza, Oreos, ice
cream, and Dr. Pepper, I was looking for a weight loss plan that I could
stick with. I didn’t want to go from pizza and ice cream to salads and
grilled fish overnight. I was willing to compromise, though, and Weight
Watchers (as the program was back then) allowed me to do that. I could
still eat pizza, just not half a pie. I could eat Oreos, just not a
whole sleeve in one sitting. And I started adding fruits and vegetables
because they were low in Points, so I could eat more food.
With this new plan, it would be very hard to fit in even a small
treat. I typically eat three meals a day, plus one treat in the evenings
(a piece of fudge, for example, like I mentioned yesterday). That
198-calorie piece of fudge was 9 SmartPoints–exactly one fourth of the
SmartPoints WW would allow me to have per day on maintenance! And for a
special occasion, like a birthday? A piece of carrot cake is 28
SmartPoints, which would use ALL of the 28 weekly SP allotment.
Again, I understand what they were trying to do in getting people to
eat healthier–I just know that, for me, the new plan would make me feel
like I was on another diet and I would eventually binge on all the foods
I couldn’t fit into my daily allotment. On one hand, Weight Watchers is
responding to the trend in pushing more protein and less carbs; but on
the other hand, it doesn’t even feel like Weight Watchers any more.
I think the new SmartPoints plan is great for people who already eat a
pretty healthy diet, and are just having a hard time losing weight. I
also think it would be good for someone who has health issues, and has
to cut back on sugar and/or saturated fat. If you spend most of your
SmartPoints allowance on lean protein, fruits, and vegetables, you could
probably still fit in a small treat now and then. For people (like me)
who are otherwise healthy and enjoy carbs, or eat some processed foods,
and who want to keep things as simple as possible, calorie counting
seems to be a better fit.
I’m not suggesting that people don’t give the new program a chance.
When WW first rolled out the PointsPlus plan, I really didn’t like it!
That’s why I used the old Points plan to start with. Eventually, when I
was ready, I really embraced the new plan and it worked out well for me.
Who knows, maybe in a few years, I’ll decide to give this plan a try.
As of now, I recently lost almost 30 pounds by calorie counting, and
I’m 134 days binge-free (woo hoo!)… so I don’t want to mess with that by
whole-heartedly trying something new, even as an experiment. My friend
Andrea did great her first week on the new WW plan, losing 9
pounds(!)–but she said that she wouldn’t be able to do that plan for
maintenance. She’s hoping to get back to goal and then find a different
maintenance plan that isn’t so restrictive. My sister switched from WW
to calorie counting this week, because of the new WW plan, and she lost
2.8 pounds–which she was thrilled with.
There have been tons of mixed reviews of the new WW plan on social
media, and it’s been an interesting read! If nothing else, it seems to
have caused a heated discussion among Weight Watchers members
I know I’m always saying this, but everybody is different, so we all
just need to find what works for us. Maybe it’s Weight Watchers, maybe
it’s calorie counting, maybe it’s macro counting, maybe it’s intuitive
eating, maybe it’s something else. It’s interesting to see all the
different ways to accomplish one common goal!
source: www.runsforcookies.com