Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Counting Weight Watcher Points - What's the point?

I don't get it. I shake my head again as I talk to another friend/acquaintance who tells me the same story I hear over and over "I'm going back to Weight Watchers to count my points". Oh, okay, because it worked so well for you last time?

I do not understand the concept of counting points to lose weight!

Oh, I can understand the technical part of it. You have a certain amount of points that you eat per day. You have a certain amount of points for activity each day. Your job is to count points and stay within your range for that day. Kind of like counting calories, but it's not. A calorie is not a calorie in Weight Watchers apparently because you can still have a day of desserts and not go over your daily allotted points. Huh?

But - the emotional part. Two things:
  • The counting part. Taking the emphasis off the nutrition of the food, the wholeness or goodness of the food you are eating, esp. eating natural food as opposed to packaged foods. But just counting. Doesn't that get old? It's a die-it, which means you will most likely "die doing it". Well, that's what it means to me. 
  • The part where you think it will work this time. Most people start with this program, lose some weight, but not all, but keep working the program and never actually get to their goal weight. BUT - their mind REMEMBERS that they lost a few pounds using this, so they go back to it, time and time again. Anytime you need to lose weight, oh, get out the points, here we go. 
Why not deal with the emotional part of losing weight? 
Why not deal with food cravings? 
Why not deal with emotional attachments to foods? 
Why not deal with emotional habits to foods?

Because the bottom line is:

You're not going to make the changes that you need to make by "Counting Points". This is a temporary fix. Do you really want to count points every day of your life. Can't you just enjoy your life without living inside a points box?

You can.
You can lose weight.
You can do it by using common sense.
You can do it by a good nutrition program, a good cardio program, a good strength training program, a strong backbone that allows you to become stronger emotionally.
You can do this.

I can show you how. So, will you?