Today is my official start day for Weight Watchers. I weighed in at a cool 145. Not my worst, but definitely nothing for me to be proud of. Have I mentioned how much I love WW? For me, it isn't really a diet, but more so a learning curve on what and how much you can eat. I think it works so well for me because there are really no limits. If I want that brownie or coke or steak, I have it. I just make sure I have the points to account for it. The easiest way I have found to make this work, is to plan as much as possible. If I know I have a nice dinner or event coming up, I save up points for it, and I eat what I plan on and I don't feel guilty.
I have gone through the gamut when it comes to past diets....Adkins (lost 10 lbs, gained back twice as much), Body For Life (lasted about 9 days and then gave that miserable existence up), phentermine (lost 20 lbs, gained it all back, and it was hell on my body), minimal calorie crash diets (worthless), zone (impossible to stick to), and the list goes on and on. Basically, I was always looking for a quick fix without ever really changing my habits. I would lose some, stop the diet, then gain it all back. Not to mention the hell I put my body through. Then one day, I was chatting with a coworker who I noticed had lost a lot of weight, and she clued me in to the WW. It was instant love. It fit perfectly with my lifestyle, I didn't have to work out, I could still eat everything I loved and craved, and it taught me how to eat healthier and control my portions. Not to mention the constant tracking was really eye opening to exactly what I was eating.
When I originally started my plan, I was as the heaviest I had been....178 lbs and a size 12 or 14. I was religious with it...the only time I ever went over my weekly bonus points was during a vacation to New York with B, and that was barely. At the end, about 8 months later I was 136 lbs, healthy, and a size 6. Two years have since passed, and all I have gained is ~10 lbs (and now a size 6 or 8). Yes, the loss was slow, but it lasted. Which is more important in the end.
I guess my point to this long ramble is, if you are struggling with your weight, find something you enjoy that fits with your lifestyle. Don't try and force yourself into something. For some people, it is exercise, running, or Jenny Craig. For me, it is the WW.
Now, enough talk about diets, onto the fries....
Oven Fries
Makes 6 servings
75 cals / 2g fat / 13g carbs / 2g protein
3 large Russet potatoes
3 tsp olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1. Take a large baking sheet (or 2) and place them in a cold oven. Heat oven (and pans) to 500 degrees. While pans are heating, peel the potatoes and then slice into 1/4-1/2 inch slices. Cut into fry-sized strips, about 1/4-1/2 inches wide. Place cut strips in a bowl of cold water to keep them from browning. Once all the potatoes are cut, drain the water and blot them as dry as possible.
2. Toss the potatoes with the olive oil and the salt and pepper. Remove the hot pans from the oven, spray them lightly with cooking spray, and spread the potato strips out in an even layer. Cook until browned, 20-25 minutes, flipping over half way through cooking.
(For a Cajun twist, blend the olive oil and salt with 3 tsp Franks red hot sauce, 1 tsp garlic powder, and 1/2 tsp thyme then toss with potatoes)
For the food part, I love me some oven fries! If you want to make them even healthier, I use spray olive oil - you use a LOT less that way and they still turn out really good!
ReplyDeleteGiven that I now know we're the same height, I'm a little amused that your heaviest weight is still 12 pounds less than my current weight. In fact, the lowest I've ever weighed as an adult is 170! I think you look great just as you are (I was just looking through wedding pictures with my mom last night, and we agreed how fabulous you looked there!) but I also understand that everyone has different goals and thoughts about what they should weigh.
Weight Watchers did tell me I should get between 135 and 155, but that probably won't happen, and I'm honestly okay with that. For me, being around a 10 and a medium is totally fine - I feel happy and healthy there. I may also have bigger bones/frame than you, and I'm pretty sure some of my extra weight is muscle.
I've done Weight Watchers so many times in the past. I lost 60 pounds my first time on it and didn't have to exercise, but put it all back on within about 4 years because I wasn't prepared to do maintenance and, for me, WW isn't sustainable. So I think you're exactly right - everyone has to find something that will work for them, because not everything works for everyone. Tracking and planning are both really important keys to my staying healthy too, so I like that, but personally I just can't do it without exercise, because I like to eat a LOT. Anyway, good luck getting those few extra pounds off!
Wow, this was a long comment :)
I was always roughly 140, plus or minus 15 lbs.....so putting on those almost 45 L.B.s was a shock. I knew I had to regain my "usual" self, and for me, it was easier to commit to controlling the food. Not to say that I never worked out, because I did, and I still do (occasionally). But I get bored with it, and so exercise Has never really been a priority. I would work out, get fit, drop weight, then stop and gain it all back. But yes, everyone has something that works for them, I think it just takes a while to find it. I will have to find some old pictures to share.
DeleteAnd I like the long comment...it was a long post. :)
Also, I have never tried olive oil spray. Is it like Pam? I will have to check it out.
DeleteOkay, that's exactly the opposite of my experiences in the past! I'd get super strict on my eating through WW, lose the weight really easily, then go back to "normal" eating and gain it all back. It took me nearly a decade of weight loss attempts to figure out that I'd never be able to just eat whatever I want.
DeletePretty early in my efforts last year, another blogger wrote something like "I had to accept as fact that I'd never be able to eat the way I used to and not exercise and keep the weight off." It's so obvious, but I just never got it before.
And if you've always been slimmer, that makes sense. I've been overweight since I was about 10, so I guess it was less shocking when I kept getting heavier.
Yep, it's just like Pam! You can use regular Pam too, I do that a lot. I use cooking spray in place of oil pretty often (that was actually a trick I learned from WW!).
Have you tried this method with sweet potatoes?
ReplyDeleteMy official start date is tomorrow. How did you start a diet/eating change on a Sunday? I didn't think that was possible :) Let's do this ladies!
Yes! Completely interchangeable. Although the sweet potatoes do take a little longer to cook, and I don't bother with the water, since they don't brown as easily.
ReplyDeleteI know right? And we went to a pizza party tonight. 1 1/2 pieces, 2 glasses of wine, and a splurge on the brownie that I was trying to resist but couldn't. ;)