Switching Plans

The switch from Medifast to Weight Watchers this week has been a lot trickier than I anticipated, but I've finally started to settle into a groove, and will be giving it another week before I make any final decisions. My weight has crept up this week, a little every day, and it's hard to say if that's due to the increase in carbs or because I've been straying from both plans on various days. I'm guessing a combo of both, so once I can nail down sticking to the WW plan I should be in good shape. I already started going back down with this morning's weigh-in!

(I weigh in every day, although I only record my weight once a week. It's not for the faint of heart; daily weighing requires a steady emotional response. You can't freak out if it bobbles up here and there, but you do need to watch patterns. A week of increases is a pattern needing attention.)

Some good things about the WW plan:
1. Variety is back in my diet. No more deprivation! If I want strawberries or a glass of skim milk or a turkey sandwich, I can have it.
2. 21 points, when you choose the "filling foods" (i.e. the old Core foods) instead of empty calories, is a heck of a lot of food.
3. I can eat as many or as few meals per day as I want. I don't have to stick to a regimen of 6 meals, one every two hours. I am still aiming for 5 meals/day, but I have more flexibility on the timing because I'm not starving at the 2-hour mark.
4. I did the Core plan for so long that it is still second nature; I know how to prepare the food healthily, I know which foods keep me full longest, I know how delicious well-prepared veggies can taste.
5. I feel genuinely full, sometimes too full, after a normal WW meal. I had Quaker Weight Control oatmeal a few times this week (just 3 points per packet), and I actually felt stuffed. I wasn't hungry for almost 4 hours afterward, which I am not used to at all.

Some tough parts about transitioning to WW:
1. The abundance of options is a little overwhelming. I'm used to looking at a menu and only having 1-2 options that would fit my meal plan. Now I can have everything, and I'm not quite making the smartest choices each time. (Which also has to do with my weakness of treating myself with food. I think I deserve it, which is dumb.)
2. After 5 measly bars, 6 ounces of meat and a 1.5 cups of vegetables every day for 6 months, 21 points is a LOT of food. Sometimes it feels like too much, especially when a bowl of oatmeal keeps me over-stuffed for the entire morning.
3. I am used to one larger meal and 5 tiny ones, and the larger meal was only made up of 2-3 ingredients and was eaten in one bowl. I've been able to come up with some great complex small meals/snacks, but I don't know how to put together a real lunch anymore! Since I am ending up with too many points at the end of the day, I need to add more in at lunch, but I feel so full as it is from the foods I already picked I'm not sure what to do. But the alternative is that I have too many points at the end of the day and I'm nibbling away all night when I'm not hungry anymore, I'm just restless and bored, and that's not good.
4. I have a ton of MF bars still to use up, and I am used to them being the whole meal. But they're only 2 points now so I need to eat them alongside something else to use up enough points, and that is a huge mental block for me. That's my whole meal! Eating more than that is "cheating"! I have the same issue with my dinner -- anything more than veggies and meat is "cheating".

So a lot of it is learning new food combinations and tricks of WW, and a lot is re-training my brain to look at food differently, yet again. One brilliant thing that Medifast's plan does is it smashes down our approach to food to the bare-bones molecules; it's no longer about taste or emotional responses or favorite recipes. Food is fuel, and the right kind of fuels put into the body at regular intervals through the day allows the body to rid itself of all its excess fat.

Now, I have to learn to blend that concept with the idea that food can be delicious, and varied, and accept that I can still lose and maintain weight without that rigidity. I have to learn to see the shades of grey between the black and white.

My plan of action for this week:
1. Keep on plan with WW. Write all my food down, pay attention to new patterns, and don't blow all my 35 points in one sitting. :)
2. Attend the WW meeting tomorrow morning.
3. Get 5 days of exercise in. (I will only get 3-4 this week, which didn't help.)
4. Get bolder with lunches, and add more in. Leave only 5-6 points for dinner.
5. Really follow the Healthy Guidelines, which means adding in more dairy and whole grains. A glass of milk and a serving of couscous is okay to have!

The goal is to lose weight this week, any amount. I can do that; if I can't, then I may have to go back to MF to get these last few pounds off. And I *don't* want to have to do that.