Weight Watchers (WW) was never really on my radar, but after trying to eat healthy and do some exercise for over a month with literally 0 results the Mr and I knew we had to make some kind of a change if we wanted to see the scale move.
Before I go any further I want to make sure you know this is not sponsored and/or monitored by WW. The Mr and I are paying for our subscriptions in the program 100%. That said, if you’re interested in joining I do have a referral link you can use to get a month free and in return I also get a month free.
Here is my link, just in case 😉
I love food. I love everything about it… going for dinner, having a drink (coffee and/or wine in particular), the smell, the taste, everything… That said, for my entire life I only have had to look at food to gain weight. I have a talent for gaining weight easily almost. You can imagine that I might have learned my lesson after my first pregnancy and the struggle I had to lose some of the weight that time, but no… in fact I took the lazy approach and lost the “baby weight” but not the 20 lbs I put on before getting pregnant. So, here I am years later with that 20 lbs + the baby weight to lose.
I started Weight Watchers with the Mr exactly 1 month (4 weeks) agar today. I weighed 191.5 lbs at my first weigh in. Side Note: I never thought I would be publishing my weight on the internet, but here we are! haha
Let me take you through why we chose WW, our observations so far, my progress, etc.
WHY WE CHOSE WEIGHT WATCHERS
It’s pretty simple. we wanted a program that was not restrictive. I’m not going to turn this into a Weight Watchers ad, but the program checked the boxes for us. We could still eat the things we wanted to eat and drink the things we wanted to drink as long as we stay within out allocated points. Because WW focuses more on what you can have than what you can’t it immediately felt achievable and like something we could do.
OBSERVATIONS 1 MONTH IN
The program has not disappointed us. We are not hungry, we have had beer, we have had wine, we have stayed away from treats so far (by our choice) and have tried many delicious recipes directly from Weight Watchers and have enjoyed even more recipes from the Yum & Yummer Cookbook. All of the Yum & Summer recipes are already programmed in the WW app so they are really easy to track!
- We talk about food a lot more than we used to.
- I no longer finish Little Dude’s snack leftovers… I didn’t realize how much a piece of a granola bar here and a teddy graham there can add up!
- We are more mindful of coffee and what goes in it. Did you know a medium coffee from Tim Hortons with 1 cream and 1 sugar is 6 points?! My daily point allotment is 23 points, so I could not afford to “spend” 6 points a day on coffee. I have been making coffee at home and using 1 Tbsp of International Delight Fat Free Hazelnut Cream for 2 points instead.
- Everything is about choices. You can have nachos, but having nachos and 4 beer might be too many points unless you eat zero point food the rest of the day. Which is totally possible by the way…
- Meal prep is key. Having the meals ready and only buying ingredients for what we are making is key to limiting snacking on junk food.
- On the note of meal prep. Don’t be fooled… it is work! Grabbing anything quick is so much easier but also adds up quite quickly! Prepping and planning meals is not always easy and does take time, but it is really the key to being successful (in my opinion). That said, there are many quick recipes and tons of options that make a lot of portions to keep the time in the kitchen as low as possible if that is a priority for you (it is for me).
- It doesn’t feel hard. The Mr and I chatted this evening about how it feels like something we could do for a long time. I think the mind set has a lot to do with this part… feeling like you can have something but are choosing to have something else instead is a lot different than someone telling you you can’t have something. The brain registers both differently and makes you react differently.
- Zero point foods to the rescue! A big part of why we are never hungry or don’t feel restricted is because of the amount of zero point foods. There are over 200 zero point foods! That said, anytime I am hungry or want a snack I have zero point foods on hand and that has been doing the trick quite nicely.
- Food & Exercise. I have been exercising… I will give you the details below, but suffice to say, I strongly feel the weight loss has been almost 100% because of what I am eating. I say this because I have exercised MANY times before on a regular basis and haven’t lost a pound. That said, it is good practice regardless if you are trying to lose weight or not to exercise. But I would be lying if I said that this journey is only about being strong and healthy. It is, but it is also about losing 41.5 lbs.
MY PROGRESS
I am not usually one to brag about progress, but humour me for a minute. I have worked my butt off this past month. Finding and preparing new recipes, doing groceries more than I ever want to for random ingredients I need for a recipe, exercising almost every single day, showing more than I want to (I hate showering, but kind of have to when exercising this much), preparing for two road trips and the list goes one.
It has not been easy to do all of this, but the fact that the food has been great, I can still drink wine and I am losing weight is making it all worth-while!
I started at 191.5 lbs and have 23 points per day to “spend” as well as an allotment of weekly points to “spend” should I choose to. Here is a summary of what I did in the first month week by week (Note: My weeks start on Wednesday):
Week 1 | 83,748 steps | 2 Exercise Videos | 19.6 avg. pts/day | – 4.4 lbs |
Week 2 | 74,124 steps | 7 Exercise Videos | 16.7 avg. pts/day | – 2.4 lbs |
Week 3 | 77,590 steps | 6 Exercise Videos | 20.9 avg. pts/day | – 1.7 lbs |
Week 4 | 79,644 steps | 3 Exercise Videos | 21.7 avg. pts/day | – 3.9 lbs |
TOTAL | 231,358 steps | 18 Exercise Videos | 19.7 avg. pts/day | 12.4 lbs lost |
*All of the exercise videos I did were Beachbody 21 Day Fix videos.
I am very happy with my results so far and even though I still have a long way to go I am that much closer!
If you have questions, want to chat or have any recipes for me to try, please let me know!!!
xo Jenna
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1 Comment
Melissa Audit
June 19, 2019 at 10:59 amJenna! You are doing amazing girl! Thank you so much for sharing your story!! I can not believe how much you have lost in only ONE MONTH! That’s impressive!