Weight Watchers

In a moment of despair I joined the Weight Watchers group here at work. I will not be able to attend any of the work meetings as they all take place after I am gone for the day, so I will have to attend another meeting weekly somewhere else. My thinking was that even though I wouldn't be able to attend the meetings, we could all help motivate and support each other.

Here is the problem, Weight Watchers seems to be designed for people who are totally uneducated about nutrition and don't care to do any of their own cooking. The points are listed in a detailed book of foods. Another book included in the kit, is about an inch thick detailing the point values for various restaurants. The thing is, you need to know the exact protein, fat, carbs and fiber for each food that you consume. This makes is hard to cook at home because you can't realistically calculate the points for each ingredient in a recipe, unless you are pretty much not doing anything else with your day. So, WW makes it easier by selling you frozen meals, prepacked smoothies, and boxes of cookies, crackers and snack bars.

I don't wish to eat that crap! I want to eat whole foods, fresh foods, less chemicals not more!! I want to cut dairy, I don't eat meat, and I am nursing!! They claim that they can provide me help with all those areas, but the representative/leader that has been coming here to run our program has not been able to come up with the paperwork I need to even go to another meeting, let alone answer any of my questions, so I don't really know if it is going to work for me at all!

I am feeling disappointed. I wanted something that would help me stay on track, but lets face it Kefer is not in their little book of foods! Soy latte is not listed on their Starbucks menu! Also, their nutritional information seems a bit messed up - their little chemical filled ice cream bars are 2 points, but fresh sweet potatoes are 4 points.

So, you may be successful on this program if you don't have any a basic understanding of nutrition, because they do talk a lot about getting enough fresh fruit and veggies and portion control, but I think that I am beyond that in my knowledge and I know that eating crap and losing weight is not a win in the end. For me it is about health and when you are healthy (ie: eating the right kinds of foods and getting exercise in your life), the weight will fall off naturally. My problem is that I am not motivated strongly enough to workout and to say no to those foods that are bad for me.

I am going to try to track my points as much as is possible. I am going to try to think more about exercise and try to do something each day. I am going to try to lean on my co-workers and support them in return. But overall, I think I just wasted $100 and that makes me sick to stomach - wait! Maybe that's the point of this program? Waste money that you don't really have to waste, and then you get sick about it and don't want to eat anything :)