The First 10!

Starting weight: 286
Current weight: 276
Goal weight: 135
Pounds to go: 141

It's official, the first 10 pounds are GONE! And, may I add, never to return.
Admittedly, I wrote my first post right before a meeting and my second post right after a meeting the next week, so last weeks reported loss was two weeks combined. I was a little discouraged that I was only down 1.2 pounds last week. My mom reminded me that I also started working out at the same time that I started Weight Watchers, so some of the weight I am losing is being replaced with muscle. But it gave me a little more get up and go for this past week, and not only was I down 3.4 pounds, but I hit the 10 pound mark right on the nose! Excitement!

Last week we talked about our trigger foods. Those things that we just can't seem to be able to resist. I've actually ended up polling different people this week to see what they can't seem to pass up, and the answers are so diverse! One person's downfall might be cookies, and another persons might be nachos. Mine is salty, snacky foods. Plain potato chips I can seem to pass by without too much ado, but good tortilla chips, Cheez-Its and anything with the word "cheese" in the title is pretty dang delicious to me. It all culminated in a little Points Plus research to see which of my favorite snacks had the lowest point values and to keep those numbers in the back of my mind when I'm craving something snack-ish.
Along with talking about our trigger foods, our challenge for the week was to really think about "is this worth it?" I pretty much ruled out potato chips. They are just not worth the points! But 27 Cheez-Its or 30 Juanita's tortilla chips are only 4 points. And for 4 points, I can justify a little snack action :-)

The hardest thing then, now that I know which snacks I like and which are better than others, is portion control. It's definitely a conscious thought process for me to set aside a serving and no more. But two things have helped me so far: One, pull out the serving and put the food away before I start eating! If I can't just grab another handful, it's easier to resist. Two, look up the point value of even 5 more pieces. It can jump one or two points sometimes, and that starts becoming more of an entree value then just a snack. Both have been effective so far, and I will keep making those decisions!

The whole philosophy of Weight Watchers is based in healthy habit forming. If you love pizza but you swear it off because you just can't keep control when you eat it, you are either going to end up bingeing on it OR developing a resentment for keeping track of your points. If you can't keep up the habit you're working on for a month, a year, or in 5 years, then is it the right habit to form? Maybe it's good in theory and just needs some tweaking. I am DEFINITELY interested in keeping this habit up for a very long time, so I want to really make sure the habits I am changing are for the better.


What is your "trigger food?" Is there something that you just can't seem to stop eating once you start, and what are some tricks you use to keep yourself on track?