So, I joined Weight Watchers today.
Background
I’ve always been a pretty slim guy. I never really put on the much-feared “freshman 15” when I went to college. It wasn’t until my first year of seminary that I ended up putting on weight. Drinking lots of beer and sitting around studying and writing papers didn’t lead to the most healthy lifestyle for me that first year. So, I put on some weight during seminary. Then I got married and ended up putting on some more. Perhaps it was all the great food Sarah makes – but I’ve heard from many folks that they put on weight when they got married.
All of this contributed to me finally getting what we call “The Cleaveland Gut” in my family. My dad and his two brothers all have it to varying degrees, and I guess I was next in line. It’s been something I’ve wanted to get rid of for a few years now, but I wanted it to go away magically, not by doing any kind of diet or change in my lifestyle. How lame that at 29, you can’t eat pizza and beer all the time and not see their effects.
Why Weight Watchers?
Of course there are an infinite amount of “diets” and other ways people recommend losing a few pounds. I’ve known people who have done the South Beach diet, others who have done the Prism diet, Slim-Fast and any number of other programs. So why did I choose Weight Watchers? Because we have a friend who works for them. It was all about the personal connection and her story of how it really worked for her. So I’m going to give it a shot.
The above photo is from their Mobile Web App (they don’t have an iPhone App) and shows how I’ll be keeping track of my points. For those of you who don’t know how it works, every food and ingredient is given a “point value.” This is based on the food’s calories, fat and dietary fibers. Each person gets a certain number of points per day they are allowed to eat to lose weight. So I get 28 points a day. You can also “earn” points by working out and doing physical activities. And you also get 35 bonus points per week. This is great because it allows you to still eat those things you really like, have that beer on a Friday night that you want to have and not feel like you’re “losing” at the diet game and that you’re a failure. It allows for “treating” yourself in the program and still staying on course.
One of my best friends, Josh Cleveland (though it looks like he gave up blogging…), is getting married on July 18th, so my goal is to get down to 150lbs. That gives me about 3 months to lose 14lbs.
I think it’s a doable goal – and I’m not going to hate myself if I don’t meet it, but I’m going to follow the points system with Weight Watchers until then and see how things go. If anyone else has tried Weight Watchers, I’d love to hear some advice on what worked for you, what didn’t. This is all very new to me, and it’s even kind of “fun” right now to keep track of everything that I eat, but I’m sure it’s going to get old sometime and become a pain, so any advice on how to fight against that would be great.
