Weight Watchers: ENGAGE!

Okay, so, welcome to my first week of Weight Watchers. I'm halfway through now, and it is has been a very interesting experience so far.

I went to my first meeting at 12:30 in Denville, NJ last week. The people there were very pleasant (especially the British woman who weighed me in originally), and the group was pleasant, if a little less positive than I had anticipated. There were a lot of people saying, "I was so HUNGRY last week...". I don't mean to diminish their discomfort, I have had the nips of hunger too this week, but I can't help but thank my lucky stars that I was born in a country where I can pay to LOOSE weight.

Anyway. So, I've been sticking to the points all this week. I weighed in at a WHOPPING 221.2 pounds, which is so unacceptable I can't even begin to discuss it. I'm planning to share my weight loss each week on this blog, to follow my progress along my "New Year's Resolutions".

I get to have 29 "Points" of food every day. And while I was initially quite resistant to the whole Weight Watchers idea, I have to say that I have really enjoyed the flexibility it gives me. For instance, on Monday, I had barely used up half of my points for the day. I was proud of myself, but Mom immediately corrected me and told me to use up all the points every day - apparently that's just as important as not over-eating. So, I went home, made myself a vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup sundae, and watched a movie. And no, the treat was not low-fat in the least. Ordinary, everyday ice-cream that really hit the spot. I just didn't have a huge bowlful, and I ate it slowly. That helped a lot.

Instead of ordering my favorite gourmet macaroni and cheese at a company luncheon this week (at the wonderful Tabor Road Tavern right down the road from our office), I had a caesar salad, beautiful pan-seared tilapia on a bed of spinach, and a goblet of berries. It was a big meal, but still low on points, and you can bet your bippie I enjoyed every bite of it.

Even more interesting, I don't think I've ever really TASTED the leaves of a salad before. At least, not the ordinary non-bitter ones. When I was served that caesar salad, I hadn't eaten yet (an accident of workload, not intentional). It was PHENOMENAL. I really enjoyed it, like I don't think I've enjoyed food for a while.

So I'm excited about weighing in next Monday and seeing if I've made any progress. I know this is going to be a long, slow, road, but I hope I'm ready for it.