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It said, "Get off!" |
It’s that time of year again. You know the one, where everyone is looking
at the holidays and the pies, cookies, cakes, and candy and thinking their
buttons are already on the verge of being dangerous projectiles. It’s hit our house as well. More to the point, it’s hit me.
Since becoming a fulltime writer my get up and go has turned
into sit down and type and as a result, my 12 pack abs have turned into a case
working their way slowly toward a keg.
In order to deflate my growing flotation device, the girls have put me
back on Weight Watchers and the fun has been taken out of food once again. We tried this about four years ago and truth
be told it worked fairly well. It wasn’t
fun, but it worked, and then like a mental patient who thinks he’s doing great
and can skip his meds, I tossed the diet when I should have been tossing a
healthy salad. Of course, that’s better
than tossing my cookies, which is another post about a party we’ll talk about
later.
I don’t know if you are familiar with the Weight Watchers
rules of weight loss, so I’ll give a brief description. They don’t necessarily tell you what to eat
or not eat as some other diets do, which to me has made some sickly looking
people. I mean, you can’t cut out an
entire food group and be balanced. What
Weight Watchers does is give you a points system based on your weight and you
are supposed to stay within those points.
Food is given a point value based on fiber, fat, protein, and
carbohydrates and you base your meals around obtaining the lowest points
possible.
As an added bonus, you are given weekly points that you can
dip into for special occasions or if you’re like me can’t seem to stay within
in your daily allotment. You can also
earn points by exercising and even cleaning the house. Climbing up a ladder to hang Christmas lights
for ten minutes is worth ten points.
Personally, I think I should get points for getting out of the bed, but
the girls think I am just being whiny.
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Not the place settings I was expecting |
The other day, I didn’t use all of my points. I actually had three left over and was
excited, until I found out that like most vacation days with big companies,
they don’t carry over into the next time period. If you don’t use them, you lose them. I wanted to get out of bed and have some
popcorn, which is three points by the way, just so I didn’t waste points. I remembered those old AT&T commercials
where little orange disks represented unused minutes and if you didn’t use them
you could roll them over into the next bill cycle instead of losing them. They even came up with the creative name,
Rollover Minutes. Weight Watchers needs
that campaign. If you’re going to give
me points, I shouldn’t be punished with losing them because I did good one
day. Of course, that’s the whole concept
with the point system; you lose points as you lose weight. With that goal in mind, why would I want to
lose weight? Zac still lives here and
can help me off the couch and by the time he escapes the house, the 9 year-old
will be old enough to lend me a hand. I
can stay at my current point value and have a full stomach.
The points are not just based on the foods you eat, but the
quantity as well. A cup of rice is worth
fewer points than say three cups.
Everything is measured out, which means that now measuring cups are part
of setting the table. Knife, fork,
spoon, and measuring cup. I am no longer
allowed to drown my salad in dressing and I have to be careful how many
croutons I add to it. There are foods
with “free” points, but sadly those are not the fun, tasty ones.
I was also told I couldn’t use the measuring cups the way I
wanted to. The first time I picked one
up to measure out my potatoes, I smashed them down in the cup to fill it up as
much as I could. There were air pockets
and I wasn’t eating air or having it used against me. I was quickly informed this isn’t the way to
do things and now have my food measured out for me. I’m halfway to the old folk’s home and eating
baby food.
I know, I’m grumbling.
That’s actually my tummy rumbling.
I have lost weight. I’ve also
lost my patience. And temper. Diets are not fun and most are not easy. We are creatures of habit, especially
me. I am used to having that afterschool
snack with the 9 year-old and then popcorn late at night as I catch up on my
shows. I’m used to eating the fun foods
and avoiding the healthy choices. It’s
been a lifestyle change to be sure and not an easy one. Still it’s a better one and it’s supposed to
help me be around to aggravate them for a long time, which is the main goal
after all, and makes it all worth it.
I’m just hoping they have Chunky Monkey ice cream in Heaven.
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My idea of a healthy diet |
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Other posts you might enjoy ~ The Punishment Continues
Thanks for visiting The Mess! Keep chasing your dreams!
Rollover points would be awesome! It was kind of bittersweet when I got the message, "Congrats! You've lost 5 pounds! You now have one less point a day!" Yay...wait, what?
ReplyDeleteExactly! It's like you're being punished for being good. That is not good psychology lol
DeleteThanks for visiting!
I can feel in my heart there are all kinds of ice cream, cheesecake, rich hot cocoa, and a variety of chips in heaven that won't cause anyone to feel full or gain a pound.
ReplyDeleteThis was an absolutely delightful post that's helped me decided against a wedge of pumpkin pie for breakfast! I'm off to the kitchen first, to check on my grandson who should be concentrating on his new potty seat instead of filling the diaper he asked me to put back on him, and second to concoct a super-juice.
Best of luck!
LOL..The life of a grandparent. This diet is driving me nuts and readjusting ingrained habits that I didn't realize I had. I miss my habits lol
DeleteThanks for visiting!
Wow, "helped me decided against" and they let me teach foreign people how to speak English! My daughter has a four-day Thanksgiving holiday. She can fight the good fight while I recharge.
ReplyDeleteI always blame my phones auto correct feature for my mistakes lol.
DeleteEnjoy the recharge!