Diet Mania

I feel like the day I turned 25 years old, my metabolism hit a wall.  I somewhat think this is unfair because no one gave me a warning or a heads up.  No one said, "Hey, you know that you can't binge eat at two in the morning when you come home from the bar" or "crash diets three weeks before a beach vacation don't have the same impact as they did six years ago."  Throughout college, I could pull a "south beach diet" (no carbs, no sugar) for a couple weeks and easily drop ten pounds. Working out was always optional and never really played into whether or not I wanted to lose weight.  However, now at 27 years old, the reality has set in that I have to make a lifestyle change.  About a year ago, my good friend at work decided to join online weight watchers.  I had heard of it, but I thought it required eating weight watchers TV dinners and starving myself.  After her convincing me its not that at all, I decided to give it a whirl.  I LOVED IT.  For me this was the first diet that truly resulted in a "lifestyle" change. Moe has been telling me for years that the only diets that truly work is to burn more calories than you consume.  I hate to admit this (HATE IT) but he's right. 

This is the premise of weight watchers.  In the beginning, it was alot of counting calories as you are given X amount of points per day and have to calculate how many points you have eaten. However, once you get the hang of it, it is super easy.  The other bonus is that you get 35 extra points per week to use whenever you want and can swap out excercise points for extra food points.  So if you want to go out for a nice steak dinner and wine, you can use those points anytime throughout the week in addition to your daily points.  The thing I hate most about diets is the feeling of being hungry.  I think the reason I liked this diet so much is that there are so many foods that are "filling" and low points (some foods are even zero points).  As a result, I rarely go hungry. 

I started weight watchers last October and kept up with it until late spring.  I was five pounds short of my stretch goal when I fell off the wagon (I had reached me original goal but had extended the goal half way through).  As a result, I have started back up this fall with the hopes of achieving by goal by December 31st.  Wish me luck!

- Miss J

www.weightwatchers.com