My Love for Weight Watchers

Let me just say, I adore Weight Watchers. I've been doing the program on and off since I was a senior in high school.

I remember at the time, the mothers of three who were looking to loose baby weight, or others who had packed on 50 pounds over the course of 20 years of marriage, were looking at me - a teenage girl weighing in at a whopping 134 - like I had no business being there. I had become increasingly self conscious of the few pounds I had gained since my junior year of high school though, and in typical over-dramatic, high-school-girl fashion, I had begged my mom to let me join a silly "quick fix" fad diet program to help shed the pounds. My mom said "enough" and insisted that if I really wanted to lose weight, I was going to do it the right way by learning how to monitor calories with real food, rather than following a ridiculous plan that in no way would help prepare me for eating right in the real world.

I joined Weight Watchers, and went to my meetings each week (probably still in my cheerleading uniform no less) and ended up losing about 7 pounds if I recall. I've gone back on the program informally several times ever since, skipping the meetings and weekly fees, but still using the same points calculator and food guide booklet that I got about 7 years ago.

By now, I'm freakishly good at estimating how many points are in something just by glancing at the nutrition facts, and still use my calculator to get familiar with how much the things I like to eat can be factored into my day-to-day calorie intake.

I would say my weight has fluctuated within 10-15 pounds ever since my senior year of high school (eeek, college...), but I'm now back to my slimmer weight and I think I'm finally getting the hang of how to follow the basics of Weight Watchers and incorporate enough of the things I love to do and cook to keep me staying with it.

This blog is a tribute to helping others stay encouraged, and sharing the recipes I find that have helped me.