Confessions...

As the 'Wellness Warrior', you may think I am all healthy all the time. I do try my best, but obviously I am only human. And I have bad habits like anyone else. And sometimes those habits get the best of me. My love of fun usually trumps most things in life. And if you know me in real life, you probably know that I like to drink. A lot. And by a lot I mean I really enjoy drinking. And also I like to drink often. And in mass quantity. I am not a lightweight. So the consequences of all of those meanings is? Lot of empty calories=weight gain. As you know we spent a lot of time over the summer at the lake. We made lots of friends. Friends who like to drink. Almost as much as our friends here at home like to drink. Not quite but almost. So that means that over the summer months I gained 15 pounds. My pants do not button. Moo moos are in my future. I'm close to 40 & the weight just does not fall off anymore. So...

Last week, a friend who shall remain nameless said she was serious about losing weight & wanted to join Weight Watchers. So guess what? Being the supportive friend that I am, I joined too! For just 15 pounds? Why not? So I went to the meeting & called my insurance company who gave me a discounted rate & money back to join. Woo to the hoo! I love money back! We started last week & I immediately came down with the nastiest head cold the world has ever seen. But I'm still 'tracking points', you know, soup, popsicles, tea. And some good stuff too when I can get it down. My next weigh in will be interesting, either I've lost a ton, or I haven't lost anything. How much does mucus weigh, ya think? Sorry, gross.

So here are my initial thoughts, one week in.

1. At first I wasn't sure how the point system worked & how it would encourage better eating habits. I assumed it was calorie counting, and it is, but different. It takes into account fat, fiber, carbs & protein. When you use their online point calculator, you don't even enter in the calories! What? I know, that threw me. But now I kind of get it. All fruits & most vegetables are 0 points. What about bananas?, a girl at the meeting asked. The meeting leader said: "no one ever got fat eating bananas". Good point. So its like the Volumetrics way of eating I guess.

2. I am not down with chemicals & artificial sweeteners & garbage in my food. I read labels & if its funky, I'm not ingesting it! So if that means I work a little harder to find good alternatives, so be it.

3. Weight Watchers is kind of fun! Its almost like a game. My sister said she did it awhile back & was always starving. I'm finding it difficult to meet my daily points! (26, with 49 extra for the week) I assume that will end once I am over this illness.

4.  I haven't had a drink all week, but that might be because I've been deathly ill. Seriously, I spent most of the weekend in bed. ugh. I can drink on Weight Watchers. I can even have 16 glasses of wine one night if I choose. (even I can't drink that much. at least I don't think I can & live to tell about it)

5. Other people have told me it really works. I can see how it would. I really think I'm gonna do great at it! St. Patrick's day is around the corner, so we'll see what happens.

So, what does all this mean for the Wellness War blog? Well, I think that like anything else, I can offer up some tricks & tips & some delicious food! I plan on adding a tab at the top to keep track of all things Weight Watchers. I'm even thinking of adding a board to Pinterest.

So to sum it up, there's no shame in doing something like Weight Watchers. Approaching middle age, methods just don't work the way they used to! If they did, I'd still be 127 pounds with a flat stomach & hangovers wouldn't hurt nearly as much. Whatever works, whatever it takes. Here's to dropping 15 by summer the healthy way!