Weight Watchers

So I finally threw my hands up in the air after being unsuccessful in trying to lose my Alex weight on my own--it's hard when you're not spending those extra calories nursing! After talking with one of my friends in my neighborhood who lost her baby fat at Weight Watchers (and witnessing many other people losing weight there), I joined. Tomorrow will be my two week bench mark. In the first week, I lost 5.8 lbs, so there's something to this!

Disclaimer: the picture above is not me--should I admit that???

I'm going to start posting my meal plans, mainly so I get it done, but also to help anyone else who is in the same boat.

I'm on the points program so I can eat anything I want, I just have to account for it. Weight Watchers also has a Core program where you don't have to write everything down you eat, you just limit your foods to a list they provide.

My personal points goal for each day is 24 (plus you get an optional weekly points allowance of 35). It's probably copyright infringement if I go into the details of how you figure out your points allowance, so just joint Weight Watchers to figure it out--to join there's a $30-something fee, and then each week is $9- $12, so it's quite affordable. I looked into LA Weight loss a year or so ago and I think it was roughly 7 times the cost of Weight Watchers.

To figure out the point value, you're given a slide ruler card where you line up the calories, fiber and fat grams and then are given a point value. It makes it really easy if you're eating from a box, but gets a little trickier if you home cook most of your food (which I do). If you're eating out, try to look up the nutrition beforehand so you don't go overboard (most restaurants and fast food joints put the nutrition online). For those of you who home cook, I found a great website that calculates the nutrition from the recipe you enter at about.com:health.

Meal Plan:
Monday
Dinner: Soup in a Pumpkin, makes 11 cups (5 points in 1 cup)

1. 1 well shaped pumpkin, about 12 lbs
2. 1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
3. 1 C celery
4. 1 C carrots
5. 1 onion
6. 3 cans cream of mushroom soup
7. 3 C milk
8. 1/2 lb cheddar cheese
9. garnish with fresh parsley
10. croutons (not accounted for in points)

Cut out top of pumpkin, clean out seeds, rinse and drain. Place pumpkin without lid on a cookie sheet at bake at 350 degrees for 1-1 1/2 hours or until tender.

Sauté mushrooms, , celery, carrots, and onion until tender. Add cream of mushroom soup and milk. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add cheddar cheese just before serving.

Place pumpkin on a serving platter, pour soup into the pumpkin. To serve, scrape tender part of the pumpkin in the soup and top with freshly ground pepper, croutons and parsley.