Scorecard Update for the Week of 5/10-5/16

For all my struggles last week, I lost 6.4 pounds when I weighed in on Sunday. How? I have no clue. I really thought I was going to gain or stay the same again. I guess my worrying about it may have subconsciously made me watch what I was eating more since I had not been exercising like I should have been.

I started logging my food and exercise in Sparkpeople yesterday and I think I may like this better. I like that I can also track my protein, sodium and fiber intake which is not something I could do by counting weight watchers points. I had no idea just how many calories I was taking in since some foods may be 100 calories, but because of the high fiber content, they may only be calculated as 1 point rather than 2 points. If I have too many of these foods in a week, that may have been throwing off my weight loss as I would be eating more calories as a whole.

I also like how the website will calculate how many calories you may have burned during any one activity and it will put it towards your weekly goal. Right now I only need to burn 840 calories a week. If I walk three days, at 30 minutes a day, for a total of two miles each time I walk, I can just about burn that alone. Add in strength training and other activities, it seems more easily attainable to me to do that when I have it all laid out like it is on their site.

One problem I have with Weight Watchers is that it really doesn't teach you to eat healthier. It just gives each food a points value. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a GREAT starting off point for most people, but now that I am more knowledgeable about food and what it can do to your body, I need a little more. I have not tried the new Momentum program, so maybe these issues are addressed today, and I have never signed up on their site, so maybe they have some great tools on their site as well, but Sparkpeople is free, and free is good...LOL.

I was going to keep track of points as well as my food list on Sparkpeople, but I forgot my notebook today, so maybe it's a good time to drop the points counting all together. I was a little afraid to stop counting points....it was becoming a crutch for me. Like if I counted points and stayed within those points I was in control. But I just have to get it through my head that I am still tracking my food just in a different way, and in fact, more accurately than before.

At the end of the day, when you have finished logging all the food you have eaten, it can graph out what you've eaten, so you can see just how many carbs, protein and fiber you've eaten as well as other graphs based on what you want to track. Yesterday, I was a little over on sodium. I will track for a few more days and see how the sodium intake looks. If it is still too high on a day to day basis, I will probably have to cut out even more of these frozen meals that are so convenient for me to take for lunch. I may be forced to make time and make up my own meals. I know I said I was going to do that anyway, but I just haven't had the time to really spend on meal planning and cooking ahead.

I've also modified my goal a little bit. My initial goal was to lose 100 pounds. That would have brought me to just under 200 pounds. I really didn't feel like I could maintain anything lower than that, but I am going to shoot for a final weight of 170 pounds by the end of 2010. It's a slow enough weight loss, that I think I can handle it and maintain it for the long term. That would probably bring me to a weight that I was in high school. That would be wonderful! I'd love to be able to fit into a size 16 comfortably, or even lower. When I started Weight Watchers in November 2008, I was a firm size 26 with some clothes a 28 and now I am in a size 22 with some brands of clothes being a 20 or even an 18. I wish all the brands fit the same. Now I need to try on just several sizes because I never know how one brand will fit next to another. I guess I could have bigger problems...LOL

I've updated the tracker at the bottom of the page to reflect my goal change. If it is not updated automatically, you may need to refresh the page.

Have a great week everyone!