I want...
I want cupcakes. I want ice cream. I want a big breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and eggs. I want to be able to eat something without worrying about the points.
Last Friday we went to a self-serve frozen yogurt place that's new in town. Thanks to Hungry Girl's tips on these places, I was able to calculate the points before leaving the house. I portioned one cup of yogurt into my giant cup, two tablespoons of marachino cherries, one tablespoon of cheesecake bites and two tablespoons of hot fudge. It was a large meals worth of points, but I hadn't touched my Weekly Points for the week, so it was fine. It was SO GOOD, and really satisfied my craving for an ice cream sundae. Yeah, it's still junk food, but it was an appropriate portion size and I tracked with my Weekly Points instead of just giving up and giving in.
 |
| Tip: If you fill this cup, it's probably a days worth of Points. |
The problem I have is when I see people on the boards say "Oh, I know, binging is such a problem for me! I never use my Weekly Points. Today I had 15 nilla wafers [approximately 8 points]; I'm such a pig!"
 |
| Seriously? This is not a binge. Call me when you've gone through a half gallon of amaretto cherry cordial. |
First of all, if your "binge" is 15 nilla wafers, then I don't know how you got fat in the first place. For most of us a binge is not counted; it's out of control eating and then you look back and go, "Whoa, what did I just do??"
Second, WHY AREN'T YOU EATING YOUR WEEKLY POINTS?! I'm not saying eat all of them, or even to eat when you aren't hungry. But 29 daily points is approximately 1,100 calories (hard to pinpoint since points don't take calories into account). That is really low. On the old plan, I ate around 1,500 calories a day. The Weekly Points are there to supplement the daily points. They're not shameful. You're not cooler or holier-than-thou because you don't eat them. You're just setting yourself up for a plateau as your body clings to every last bit of calories and fat you give it.
Some of the folks on the boards can be very competitive...trying to out-do each other with how little they can eat. I know this is not good Weight Watchers policy and they don't condone it, but they do make it easy for people to fall into a destructive eating spiral. If you have a genuine fear of eating all your daily points, or touching your weekly points, I urge you to go to a meeting or talk with a nutritionist or specialist.
Healthy eating is not all or nothing. We don't need to be afraid of food.
Oh geez. 15 nilla cookies? I could go through a box in an hour. With a banana.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I totally get the temptation to "go extra" by eating beneath your daily allotment, even though that can be equally detrimental to your diet as eating beyond it. It's still obnoxious when people do it though.
...omg, now I really want frozen yogurt.
The place was really good! You've just got to be diligent about portion size. I'm trying to limit it to once a week, but it totally helped my ice cream craving.
ReplyDeleteIt's harmful to themselves when they do it. It's obnoxious and harmful to others when they brag about it and make themselves out to be SUPER dieters because of how little they can eat.
yeah, my binge would have been finishing off the box of vanilla wafers, or just half if I had any self control whatsoever
ReplyDelete