Tails’ Blography

So I have a plan to lose those pesky 6kgs that have been bothering me. While I realise, for my height, my weight is technically ok, I dont feel ok. I have made blog posts about my weight before, so those who read it will know my feelings. Anyway, I’m not overweight. I know this. I will also never be super skinny. I know this too. But, I can lose those extra kilos that are bothering me and get back to my 49kgs I used to be. Ok, that’s my ultimate goal. I’ll be happy with being even 50kgs.

“So what is your plan,” you ask, eyes semi-closed in suspicion.

My reply is simple: WeightWatchers.

Yes yes, sounds like something for the morbidly obese. And to an extent, I guess it is. I went in today with a friend, and to be honest, neither of us is overweight. I can speak for both of us when we say we felt a little like scammers, going in and asking to join up, when before us stood various women that were at least 20-40kgs over their ideal weight, if not more. I still asked to join up, because no matter the weight, one has to feel comfortable. Those women probably dont feel comfortable at 80kgs. I dont feel comfortable at 55kgs. It’s all relative. And I took it as a sign that within the past month, at least three people have told me they’ve lost weight and that its easily implemented into everyday life (this was very important to me! It has to be realistic. Weighing food at a braai or opting for a side salad while out at a restaurant are deal breakers for me. It’s not practical.).

Anyway, so my friend decided to join up with her husband next week, as he is keen to join as well, so while I didnt have a buddy to join with for an extra two weeks free of charge bonus (running until end of March), I still signed up. Better start now or I risk losing interest. So I did. I paid my R480 for 12 weeks and got my stuff: a ‘Passport to Success’ booklet, ‘Time for Success’ booklet #1, a ‘Time for Success’ Tracker page, a handy slider to calculate points on items that dont appear in the books, and a ‘Time for Success’ zip pouch to keep everything in. I then paid a further R70 for a WeightWatchers ‘South African Food List’ booklet, which for me, is indispensable.

Let me elaborate a little on some of those items. The ‘Passport to Success’ booklet is my booklet for my weight loss results. This records my attendance and my weight per week for up to week 24. It also has helpful tips on how to plan your weightloss, stick to your ‘diet’ (read: new healthy way of eating), as well as ideal weights for different heights. The ‘Time for Success’ Book #1 is a book that explains everything and how the programme works. Amongst explaining everything, it also has 7 days worth of awesome meal plans for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as snacks. Each day works out to 18 points, which is the point system I’m on (so ideally, if I stick to that eating plan, I’ll start losing weight). It also has a basic list of popular foods and their corresponding points. The ‘Time for Success’ Tracker is a sheet of paper which I record my days meals and points. You get a new sheet each week at the weigh in. And finally, the South African Food List booklet is a super handy book, with a more detailed point system than found in booklet #1. More on this later.

The basic idea behind WeightWatchers is eating correctly. There is no limit to what you can or cannot eat, nor are they telling you to ‘not mix carbs and proteins’, nor telling you to ‘eat before 7pm’, nor even not to go out to eat. You can eat anything you wish, so long as you stick to your daily point limit. That’s the clincher. And I’ll be 100% honest, it sounds easier than it is, and I only started this evening! While calculating my days intake of points, I quickly found myself on 10 points by lunch, leaving a mere 8 points for dinner. This meant no coffee with milk and sugar, or even orange juice, otherwise I go over my daily limit of 18 points. Already it’s opened my eyes to the amount I used to eat, and I havent even really started. How quickly I would make a cup of coffee, or drink a glass of seemingly healthy fruit juice. Almost everything counts for at least half a point.

While on the subject of points, let me take you through a few common foods and their points. 250ml milk, full cream: 4 1/2 (I divided this by three for use in coffee); tea/coffee, black: 0 (yes, no points used in black tea or coffee); 2 level teaspoons of sugar: 1/2; apple: 1; 100ml wine, semi-sweet: 1 1/2 (light wine: 1/2); 100g raw/approx 80g cooked beef mince: 3; chocolate spread, per tablespoon: 1 1/2; Bar-One chocolate (not the largest size, mind you!): a whopping 7 points!; approx 50g tofu: 1/2; and so on. Various, or should I say most, vegetables and salad items count for 0 points, as well as (oddly enough) diet sodas. 6 olives are 1/2 point, yay!

Other things count towards your point count, such as exercise, and unused points can be carried over to the next day or two in that week. It’s not recommended to add on exercise bonus points, as you might find yourself staying the same weight rather than losing as much as you might have had you not added those extra points. Things like walking briskly for 15 min earns you 1 1/2 points, while kickboxing for the same amount of time earns you 3 points. I had to giggle though, because they list three paces of horseriding (points per 15min): walking: 1; trotting: 1 1/2; and…wait for it, galloping: 2. Uh, when your horse is galloping, you as a rider are doing little to nothing in that time. They would have been better off saying cantering, which is what I presume they meant.

There are so many nice things that are lined up to help you stay on track and motivate you to lose weight, that it seems like a nice and personal experience. I know people who have joined places like Curves, but to be honest, have you ever seen a thin person come out of Curves? I havent. Plus, it’s all old people. And while station circuit can work, unless you have a personal trainer pushing you to do your best, you can work out for an hour and do diddly-squat. Also, you can work out as much as you like, but the bottom line is if you go home afterwards and eat a huge plate of spaghetti bolognaise, you’re completely negating the exercise you just did. And I tell you, the point system appears wonderful. Everything is worked out, you dont have to weigh anything (though I’m using actual measurements to get an eyeball-idea on portions until I get used to things), and you start to realise just how unnecessarily large your portions actually were. Seriously. Making dinner this eve, this was an eye opener for me.

To end off, as I’m sure you’re all bored of me rambling on about all of this, my day’s food consumption was (and may I point out I wasnt planning my meals around the point system until dinner):

Breakfast
Coffee: 0
2 tsp sugar: 1/2
Full cream milk: 1 1/2

Lunch
3 slices of white bread: 3
Medium spread margerine: 3 (yes, three points!)
6 extra thin slices of turkey: 3
1 apple: 1

Dinner
Chicken Leg: 2 (less points if skinless, but I like the skin)
Chicken Wing: 2 1/2 (this is the fattiest piece on the chicken)
1/2 cup of rice: 2 (they give the points for 3/4 cup of rice, but surprisingly 1/2 cup is more than enough!)
Frozen peas & corn: 1/2 (I’m uncertain, but it appears fresh corn is worth 0 points, frozen veg is worth 1/2 per portion)

Totalling: 19 points. Yes yes, one point over, but I dont think I did too badly since I wasnt planning any meals around the point system except dinner.

Alas, now I want some coffee….with milk and sugar. I wont though, because I will do this thing! And by next Tues I hope to have lost something. Or I will cry. Ok, ok, I probably wont cry. I am prepared not to lose weight as quickly as I might hope, because the last few kilos are the most difficult to shed. And I consider my 5 kilos my “last few kilos”.

Check the website for meetings in your area, but as far as I know, they’re always on Tuesdays in the mornings and/or evenings.

I was sad to total up the amount of points I would need for an All You Can Eat Sushi evening…even starving myself for a week wouldnt help. Oh well…that’s the way the 1-point-per-cookie crumbles.