WW -- Back on the Weight Loss Wagon

Yesterday was my first day back on the weight loss wagon.

As I mentioned in my Weighty Wednesday post, I had a harsh reality check when my shorts didn't fit.

Well, they fit, but I couldn't go out in public in them!

So I tracked my food. And I measured. And I counted my points.

I also drank water and exercised, but I do that normally, so it really wasn't a change.

And I had cravings, lots and lots of cravings.

Look, it's going to happen. Get real about it. For months now I've been shoving high sodium, high fat, and high sugar products into the great maw that I call a mouth.

My body has gotten used to it's infusion of "bad-for-me, but yummy-on-my-tummy" food. It will take a little time to remove the cravings.

It's helpful that I gave up peanut butter for Lent. If you know me at all, this is my 'go-to' food, usually with a big spoon.

One of the reasons I needed to really go back to basics--this time, I really, really went back to basics--was because I had lost all ability to deal with portion control.

Plus I needed to count points to realize how much I was eating that I shouldn't have been.

Here are a few eye-opening examples:

1)  I had a small can of mixed nuts that I had been eating off of by the handfuls. No measuring involved. 
I weighed them into the serving size on the box of 28 grams per serving . . . which is less than 1/4 cup, but more than an 1/8th of a cup. This small amount of nuts was 5 points. 

5 points?  I only get 26 points in a day. Do I really want to eat them when I could have an apple, banana and a Clementine (called halos this year) for 0 points?

Or two hard boiled eggs for 4 points?

Or huge Chick-fil-A salad for 4 points? And I didn't even add the small packages of granola or nuts to my salad.

Okay the dressing was a little costly at 7 points for the entire package. I dripped Apple Cider vinaigrette on my salad, using 1/2 of the package. I'll call that 4 points.

2) Last night I made homemade marinara. I know exactly what goes into it since I make it and it isn't a prepackages pasta sauce. I'll call it 0 points. 

It was the frozen ravioli that was the reality check. 

One serving of frozen ravioli (2-inch round cheese raviolis) was 4 raviolis worth 7 points.

Yikes! 7 points for only four raviolis?? Do you realize how many I had been eating???

As I mentioned numerous times. I don't like tracking my food, but tracking is the only way you will find out what you do eat. Many times just the idea of having to put the food down on paper is what stops me from eating it.

Summer is coming.

Are you shorts ready?

Later, Peeps!

Weighty Wednesday -- And a Gain

Alrighty then . . .

I gained 1.8 pounds this week. OUCH!!

Look, it happens. Shoot--its been happening to me since last November. Down/up, down/up, I'm so sick of it, but this time I did it to myself. It's called: Friday at Red Rock Canyon Grill--steak, beer, shared desserts (yes, that is an 's' at the end of dessert). A pitcher of Margaritas on Saturday night with cheeseburgers and tots, and Sunday brunch: two eggs over hash with avocados and bacon, AND pizza for dinner.

It's no wonder I gained almost two pounds.

I belong to a Facebook group called Weight Watchers. It isn't affiliated with the 'real' Weight Watchers, but the members for the most part ARE Weight Watchers. This morning, one person was lamenting about her weight gain of 0.2 lbs.

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME??

0.2?? That could simply be from drinking a glass of water and not peeing. Puh-leeze.

Anyhoo, she said that she didn't know what went wrong. She counted her points, exercised, blah, blah, blah. It could be a number of factors:
1) she's not 'fessing up about all her sins
2) she's not calculating her points correctly
3) she's exercising, converting her weight from fat to muscle.

My response was that she was using the "standard" point values provided for in eTools.

And let me tell you, my friends, those points are so off that it hurts!

For example:
A tamale is listed at 4 PPV.
But a calculated tamale at On The Border is actually 8 PPV. Double the amount that was stated in their 'standard' points. If you can find the nutritional information online for a restaurant, then calculate it as accurately as possible.

This discrepancy is the very reason I try NOT to use my weekly or activity points. I like to have the padding . .  . except sometimes the damage is too great, as in my current case.

What's done is done. I need to focus and move on.

Later, Peeps!