Healthcare Reform Starts at Home

A couple of years ago I started doing Weight Watchers, I had pretty good results with the program and I really like the people at my meeting. When I changed careers I wasn't able to attend meetings anymore and I let the program slide. Fast forward a year and half and I have gained back everything I lost on the program. I am currently trying to get back into healthy eating and following the Weight Watcher program. I am starting very slowly, as I tend to get obsessive about things and I am trying to create a lifestyle that I can actually maintain instead of throwing myself into a routine I cant sustain and failing all over again.

The first week of my new program just required me to record everything that I ate. No restrictions, just write it down in the log if you eat it. Surprisingly I kept this up for a whole week, I am a terrible journaler. I must have about 16 diaries lying around various boxes in my house that have only 3 or 4 entries.

This week I am adding a step to record what I eat as well as the points associated with the food item. Again, I am not enacting any restrictions, merely trying to get a gauge of what I consume on a regular basis. My first day of recording points was yesterday, and it was very enlightening. When I was officially on the Weight Watcher program I avoided foods I knew were bad for you, so naturally that was what I craved. When I stopped following the program, those were the foods I went directly back to. Yesterday, I ate what I wanted to eat, what I would normally eat. Having to write down the points associated with those foods was like having a bucket of cold water tossed on me.

For those you that are unfamiliar with the Weight Watchers program, it works on a points based system. Foods have different points values depending on the number of calories, the grams of fat and the grams of fiber. Each person has a daily point target that they are shooting for. Men get more daily points than women, tall people get more points than short people, younger people get more points than older people and people who do physical labor daily get more points than desk workers. If you are trying to maintain your current weight and not lose any more then you get a few extra points a day. A moderately active person in their 30s of average height and build can have probably somewhere in the vicinity of 30 to 35 points a day if they are trying to maintain their weight. (This is equivalent to approximately a 1500 calorie a day diet.)

Keeping in mind that you shouldn't be eating more than 35 or so points in a day, the following numbers will probably shock you a little bit.

Sausage Biscuit from McDonald's - 10 Points
Large Fries from Chick-fil-A - 10 Points
1 Packet Chick-fil-A Sauce - 4 Points
2 Sticks Cheese Bread from Papa Johns - 7 Points
1 Slice Original Crust The Works Pizza - 8 Points
1 Small Peach Milkshake from Chick-fil-A - 16 Points

I will continue to add to this list as I move forward on my journey towards health. Stay Tuned.

1 Blueberry Scone from Starbucks - 11 Points