Last week I mentioned that I was going to re-visit the Weight Watchers PointsPlus system but as a vegan. I wanted to see what would happen. Would I get different results than I did when they switched the program on their members in 2010? Well, today I stepped on the scale and took my measurements. During this first week, I lost 2.6 pounds and 2.6 inches. I’m ok with these numbers, especially since the week didn’t go perfectly.

Things that went wrong:

• I didn’t track two out of the six days because I don’t like manually looking everything up (yes, I’m whining). I definitely prefer eTools to paper tracking.
• I didn’t exercise as much as I had planned. Taking so much time off, I ended up very sore and stiff when I did workout. I got in more resistance training than cardio. I need to up the cardio.
• I was exhausted because about two weeks ago I started drinking coffee again. Coffee is my kryptonite. It will suck the energy out of me like nothing else. So, I crashed many afternoons, slept for four hours, and then wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. Vicious cycle. I haven’t had any in about 40 hours now… I still feel worn out but I’m holding on, believing that this will pass if I stay strong and “just say no”!
• I had some bouts of moodiness over not fitting into my clothes. This prompted negative thoughts and emotions which often led to feeling defeated and ugly. Praise the Lord that He is always there with Truth… which leads me to what went right.

Things that went right:

• I believe I spent some designated time with the Lord daily. I didn’t chart this, but I’m pretty sure it was daily. I say “designated” because I talk to God throughout my day when I’m doing other things, but designated time is fully focused and not split with the laundry or driving or whatever.
• I did actually get in some exercise, so that’s a score.
• Overall, I paid closer attention, not just to what I put into my mouth, but how much.
• Because I was tracking (most of the time), I was better able to tell the enemy to “shut-up” when he tried to accuse me of being a fat loser (oh, you should hear the names he calls me).
• Knowing I was doing something about my weight, helped me to put my focus elsewhere instead of constantly zeroing in on everything I don’t like about my appearance.

What did I think about PointsPlus?

Well, that’s a tough one. I feel like I burn through points faster than the old program. Legumes, grains, nuts, and other vegan staples are super high in points. I’m trying to decide if the cumbersome feel is due to not yet having point values memorized. It’s probably a combination of that and paper tracking (have I mentioned that I just don’t like paper tracking?). Looking up foods in the A-Z food guide is a pain. I’d much rather search online, and then have it automatically calculate the points if I enter a different serving size. I have to do that calculation manually right now. I do have that little square flip calculator that they sell for calculating labeled foods. I don’t like it. Most of the time, I have to push the buttons more than once to get them to activate. On the other hand, point tracking doesn’t mess with my mind like calorie tracking. I am able to take the emotion out of it and see the food as a number, whereas calories trigger all kinds of past “eating disorder” junk. That’s a win for me.

So, I’m going to do another week of paper tracking. Practically everyone will lose weight the first week. Let’s see if we can do a repeat performance for a second.