Weight Loss Challenge: Thinking About Food, Then and Now

To recap for those who don’t know me or if you are new to my blog, I started 2012 with a pledge to improve myself, physically and mentally. I decided that enough is enough, time to stop letting my body go to rot. I was at my heaviest ever, and feeling lethargic, pain-ridden and emotionally beaten down. My husband gave a great Christmas gift: three sessions with a personal trainer. My trainer (Diane) is fantastic, and has been helping me get into better shape. However in September of this year, she gave me a challenge. She was tired of seeing me week after week, and I was not losing any weight. “That’s it, Jennifer, you have to start writing down everything that goes into your mouth!”

“What?!” I said incredulously. She was serious, she wanted to see what I was eating. I didn’t feel like writing everything down longhand, so I came upon Weight Watchers Online, and found that I could enter all my food online. This seemed easy. So I enrolled in Weight Watchers Online, and thus started my food journalling. Then a funny thing happened. I started watching what I was eating. Weight Watchers was asking me to be accountable for everything that I was ingesting. It was a different way of thinking about food.

Weight Watchers is definitely not a diet. It’s a new way to think about food. They don’t tell you what to eat. You can eat anything you want on WW, as long as you don’t exceed your daily allotted points total. Fruits and vegetables are zero value, so you can literally eat these as much as you like.

I have been on Weight Watchers since September 2, 2012. In that space of time, I have lost 28 pounds. And I have completely changed the way I think about eating.

Everything about food is now considered thoughtfully. How many points is that piece of pizza? How many points left do I have to eat today? If I make tacos for the family, how many can I eat? Do I have enough points left to have a bedtime snack? What can I eat that will fill up my belly and not blow my points total?

I never used to think about food other than figuring out how to satisfy my latest craving. I absolutely did not have any boundaries. Whatever I craved, I found a way to satisfy that need. After my Mom died, I figured I needed to live life to the fullest, and if that meant eating anything I pleased, so be it. Unfortunately, that translated into a 50 pound weight gain. So much for carpe diem.

I still crave food all the time. I watched a football game at home this weekend, and I desperately wanted to eat a huge plate of cheese and meat nachos. And chicken wings. However, I didn’t eat anything even remotely fattening. I decided that I would rather maintain my weight loss, and my new smaller sized clothes, rather than satisfy a fleeting craving. It’s all about thinking about food differently, and not reacting to every little craving.

At some point in the future, when I have lost that 50 pounds, I will indulge every so often in the foods I love. But those occasions will be few and far between. I still love food, but I love my new healthier body more.

Disclosure: All views expressed are my own. I have received no compensation of any kind for this post.