While I absolutely love, Love, LOVE Livestrong.com and the MyPlate tracking tool, it just wasn't working for me anymore, as evidenced by only a half-pound loss in one month! One of the things that really attracted me to this program in the first place was its ease of use because of its extensive database of foods (even some international ones) and restaurants. I could type in just about anything and I was almost guaranteed to be able to find the nutritional value to count towards my calories for the day. I would have recommended it to anyone who wanted to lose weight.
I still would.
I just can't use it for myself anymore. Once the calculation between my current weight and the amount of weight I wanted to lose each week put me below the magic number of 1200, which you should never go below, I had nowhere left to go and I was hungry all. the. time!!!
So, I've been thinking about it for a while, and the other week, I finally decided that I needed to try something else. I've told myself for years that I would never use this program because I just haven't liked it in the past, but I know people for whom it was working and what I was doing certainly was not working, so I thought, what do I have to lose? Um, weight, obviously! LOL! :o)
So, I did it. I began using the e-Tools at Weight Watchers. No, I am not going to meetings. That is definitely a reason that some people choose Weight Watchers, but they are not for me. I like that the e-Tools are very similar to what I was already doing at Livestrong.com, except that it is based on a different formula and there are several very different premises. Honestly, Livestrong fit very well into my lifestyle, while Weight Watchers feels more like a diet. I really don't like that, but it is probably what I need at this point. Livestrong allowed me to lose 30+ pounds without really changing any of my bad habits. I could eat bad things. I could avoid good things like fruits and vegetables if I didn't feel like eating them (I am really not a fruit and vegetable person). I just had to limit my portions, and I could easily stay within my calorie range for the day. Alas (sigh), that time has come to an end. Like I said, Weight Watchers feels more like a diet, and that is good right now. I need the structure. I need a reason to not make bad food selections. I need a reason to make good food selections.
It's been a fairly smooth transition for me, and I can already see some changes in my level of behavior modification (come on... you know I had to throw that counseling term in! LOL! :o)). I have stopped choosing some foods that are just more points than they are worth to me. Also, in the past week-and-a-half, I have eaten more fruits and vegetable than I probably have in the past year! Why, you ask??? Well... they are FREE on the new Weight Watchers PointsPlus program. That's pretty good incentive to eat them, right? I mean, if you are hungry at 9 p.m. and are out of calories on the Livestrong program, you have two choices: 1. exceed your calories or 2. go to bed hungry. If you are hungry at 9 p.m. on PointsPlus, you can have a banana and actually be able to sleep well that night. Well, I was tired of being hungry, so this program made sense for me.
I'll admit, I am still not 100% sold on it, but I am going to give it a fair shot. I am trying it for a month, and we will see where I am at the end. Perhaps, I will even finally meet my initial goal of 34 pounds before April and the one year anniversary of beginning this journey comes around! That would be awesome and allow me to put up a ticker with my NEW goal. I'll tell you what that is when I get there! ;o) Hey, I lost 1.4 pounds this week, and I think that is WAY better than 1/2 pound in a whole month! :o)
Thankfully, I am not letting my relationship with Livestrong die completely. Like I said before, I LOVE their database and the one that Weight Watchers has leaves a lot to be desired. I actually can't find much of anything on it. So, Livestrong will be my consultant. Hey, consulting is a lucrative profession, right? ;o) Yep. When I need to find nutritional information, Livestrong is the place. I can find it all there, and then plug it into the Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator, which is the bomb! I don't know the formula behind it, but they are using a concept which I started using from the beginning of my journey. Lower fat. Increase protein. Increase fiber. They just ignore the calorie count because, quite frankly, if you do the other three things, the calories naturally fall in line. That's the ticket!
Give 'em a try. Livestrong. Weight Watchers. Paper and pen. Whatever. Just know what (and how much) you are eating!
Living in His JOY, HOPE, and PEACE...
4 comments:
I think it's just about finding what works for you, as you say. I use Sparkpeople.
Cxx
I hope you get the results you want.
:o)
You should give juicing a try! It gives you a mega dose of nutrients which strangely satisfies your hunger because it saturates your body with what it needs! I've been doing it for about 2 months now steadily, and love it! You'll detox and lose weight. It makes your skin looks great and gives you lots of energy! Try it!:)
praying it works for you! my mom did weight watchers a few years ago and lost 65 pounds. i'm too picky of an eater to do ww, but have thought about it. i love your attitude about it though, you have to do what works for you!! :)
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