Tuesday 2 November 2010

A kick up the arse or complete disaster pending?

Hey guys,

I'm feeling pretty conflicted, as I've just been reading about the latest release of the Weightwatchers plan which is out next week. Seems like it's going to be all change!!

It worries me rather, as to a certain extent, I can now do (current) WW's plan on the fly without having to think about it too much (as in, I can point things fairly accurately from experience, and I know how my daily meals / exercise should roughly workout .... not that I neccessarily always make the right decisions!), and the thought of having to learn everything all over again and start a completely new system .... I won't lie .... SCARY!!!!

From the leaked stuff I've read - the way points are calculated is changing, as they're now taking into account protein and fibre content, which means that all the points I've learned will now be completely different. In theory, I completely approve of that change as it should help steer me towards more filling foods, in the same way that I started eating far more veg after I first started WW's. What I don't like is that I'm not going to know how to point anything. And even worse, it's just occurred to me that my (very heavily relied upon) iPhone app won't work anymore. Gaaaaaah!

Secondly, I'm going to have a different points allowance, and it's stuctured in a different way. Instead of having a flat 21 points a day, I'll now have something over 29 points (the new minimum, which previously used to be 16 or 18, I think), and an additional one-off weekly allowance of something like 49 points. That's more like the American system I think?? God knows!

I also expect that all my activity points are going to change.

On a good note - veg remains a freebie, and apparently fruit has now been added to that! That's particularly awesome for me, as I trough down quite a lot of fruit while I'm at work, although I do worry that I'll overkill it and end up having a negative impact.

Sooooo ... looks like I've got one more week of knowing what the hell I'm doing, and after that it's territory unknown.

I have a feeling that I'm either going to end up with a real peak of a loss over the next couple of weeks, as I'm going to be forced to examine absolutely everything I'm eating, or it's going to go horribly wrong and everything will stall or go backwards.

Thoughts please??? Anyone else having a minor panic at the security blanket being taken away? Damn it - I'm less than a stone from goal now, and I just want to finish and get it done now without interruptions!

This weekend turned out to be a mixed bag of results. Friday, as already reported I was over points. Saturday, being planned to the nth degree, therefore turned out fine. So of course Sunday, after a whole 3.5 hours sleep and quite a lot to drink the previous evening, was not so great. I pretty much got thrown off by a cooked breakfast that accounted for nearly all my day's points, and it didn't get much better from there.

Still, it's all pointed. I'm not in denial about it. Yesterday, I struggled with myself to haul my butt back to it. Despite some cakes (charity bake sale at work ... it'd be kind of rude not to!), I finished with a point or so to spare yesterday, and even wrestled myself into not buying snacks at the cinema last night (Red by the way .... pretty good! Worth a watch). Today is going similarly. Two enormous tins of chocolates have appeared on the desks at work, but I'm religiously pointing what goes in my gob, with every intention of finishing today on track too.

I'm feeling horribly lazy at the moment, with the lack of regular exercise, so I'm actually debating bringing my running kit to work a couple of days a week and trying to get in an outing on my lunchtime. We'll see if that happens and how it goes if it does!

More anon - hangers-in-there-in-the-face-of-cake-and-uncertainty!

15 comments:

Allan said...

Easy... Dump Weight Watchers !!!

Lizzie said...

i've been dying to talk to you about this but am sworn to secrecy until launch! I've been trialling it for 2 weeks and i have to say that i THINK IT IS AWESOME!!! email me lady lixwall@gmail.com

You will LOVE it....

liz xxxx

Linz M said...

I am in the same place as you - worried because I know the current plan like the back of my hand, but also fairly hopeful as I am majorly struggling (once again) and this might be just what I need.

I guess we will find out next week!

x

Zanna said...

Know exactly how you feel - I too do WW automatically. My thinking - since you haven't got a massive amount to lose now to get to goal and since the programme as it is has worked for you then why not stick with it. I plan to in the meantime and then I might over time familiarise myself with the new version. Though Lizzie's comment here is very heartening!! Zxx

Lizzie said...

Cheers Zanna! Change sucks, we all know that BUT the new plan is sooo much healthier then the current one + one of the main reasons for that is it causes you to eat more of the right stuff + 'bigger' so it's GREAT for those of us who are active because you can fuel your activity better. It's actually been GREAT to have to think consciously about the plan and my eatng again rather than, as you say, knowing it inside out + just living it. It's really helped me to make better choices and to have to carefully consider everything again. Yeh it's a bit of a hassle but ultimately i think this plan will become as beloved as Discover was! Have faith my friends!! (im not a leader by the way so i don't have to say any of this! I clerk for my friend who is a leader so she has asked me to trial it for her...)

Seren said...

I'm looking forward to something new...I think! I reckon I've got a bit complacent, and having to go back to basics with the counting will be a good kick up the behind. Anyway, I guess time will tell...

Sx

Peridot said...

I'm freaked out by the prospect of 0 point fruit - I can eat A LOT of fruit. And I feel weary at the prospect of all the mistakes you make learning a new system. But - we're in it together and I'm taking heart from Lizzie's comments.

Runnergirl said...

I am interested to hear about it, but would be very surprised if fruit was free too, as it has massive amounts of sugar in it that is not good for you - I used to eat loads of grapes thinking they were good for me, and ended up putting on weight!!

I think it might be quite good though - the problem with knowing your points means that you lose that attention to detail and focus, and I think, I certainly get lazy. Especially at weekends.

starfish264 said...

I have the same worry about the fruit, Runnergirl. I guess it will mean picking your fruit wisely - I tend towards the mango / kiwi-fruit / berries end of things over grapes luckily, which fill you up quickly and are satisfying.

Lizzie said...

I guarantee you didn't gain weight because of grapes runnergirl....unless you were troffing truckloads a day! There isn't that much sugar in them!!!

Let's say zero PROpoints, not 'free' !!

Take heart peeps - it's alllll goooood! xxxx

Lizzie said...

ps sue did you put LIX or LIZ in my email address?? xxx

Peridot said...

Did you see this?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1326447/Weight-Watchers-Pro-Points-plan-A-new-approach-dieting-success.html

Fruit is indeed "free". I don't know why people persist in thinking fruit is terribly good for you. I mean, it is if you compare to a chocolate bar but it is essentially sugar and water. And I love it!

starfish264 said...

I did, Liz forwarded it to me this morning. I guess, although fruit is full of sugars, they're a) natural sugars rather than artificial syrups, and b) all that water and fibre is filling, sonused wisely it's definitely better to snack on those than chocolate or biscuits etc.

I think it'll be a case of using a bit of common sense as it is with everything else. First indications seem to be that even the seasoned Weightwatchers are getting a jumpstart of a "first week" loss from the new plan, which is pretty cool.

Lizzie said...

yay! Now the cat's out the bag and I haven't broken any trade secrets soooo what do you think?

starfish264 said...

I think it's going to be real interesting - I've been thinking for a while now that my breakfast's on doing it for me (cereal), especially since I've been starting earlier / commuting further this last couple of weeks, but protein breakfasts were always comparatively too high on points before. Plus, I loves me a banana before my workouts, but always got discouraged by the points before, so that's a great plus point. Negative - I eat out quite a lot, and I'm hoping there'll be some decent guidance on how to estimate points in restaurants, if you're not a meetings member who gets the eating out guide!

Definitely excited though!