Those 26 Points Go Fast, Let Me Tell You!

photo credit

Today is Day 1 of Weight Watchers.

(Don't worry, I won't be doing a daily Weight Watchers check-in -- that would be hideously boring.)

It's just that since today is the first day and it's new, I want to document my thoughts.

(Maybe months from now I'll look back and feel a sense of accomplishment? One can only hope.)

Weight Watchers works on a PointsPlus program, which is based on the dieter's height, weight, and age. I get 26 points per day to spend as I like, although, there are guidelines/suggestions about eating certain numbers of fruits, vegetables, essential oils, dairy, protein. (This is the part that I think will be hardest for me...hitting all of these.)

Here's what I had today:

Breakfast:

• 1 serving Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal (5 pts.)
• 1 serving Lactaid fat-free milk (2 pts.)

Mid-Morning/Early Afternoon (I ate lunch late):

• Grapes (0 pts.)
• Water (0 pts.)

Lunch:

• Smart Ones (Weight Watchers frozen food) Tuna Casserole (6 pts.)
• Salad with lettuce, radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms (0 pts.)
• 1 serving Newman's Light Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing (1 pt.)
• 1 serving/stick of 4C Light Cranberry Pomegranate drink mix (0 pts.)
• Water (0 pts.)
• Weight Watchers Carrot Cake (2 pts.)

Afternoon:

• Grapes (0 pts.)
• Water (0 pts.)
• Carrots (0 pts.)

Dinner:

• 1 serving Dreamfield's pasta (5 pts.)
• 1 serving Hunt's tomato sauce (1 pt.)
• Mushrooms, basil, garlic (to add to sauce) (0 pts)
• 2 tsp. olive oil (to saute veggies in) (2 pts.)
• Salad with lettuce & cucumbers (0 pts.)
• 1 serving fat-free croutons (1 pt.)
• 1/2 serving Ken's Healthy Options Ranch dressing (1 pt.)

If you're doing the math, that comes to 26 points.

Yup, that's right. Yup, it's 7:45PM and guess what?

I'm.still.hungry.

Now, here's the deal. I have this additional 49 PointsPlus allowance per week that I can use as I'd like. However, it's the first day. So, in keeping with my perfectionist mindset, I believe I'll have some grapes in a short while and see how that goes. If my stomach is still feeling on the empty-ish side, I'll break out the 100 calorie pack cookies.

As an observation, I had the thought that I would have turkey sausage with my pasta to get my protein, but I totally flaked at the grocery store and didn't get it. So, not having protein could be the cause of not feeling full.

A tip I learned at today's meeting: The jar pasta sauces (Newman's, Prego, Ragu) are much less healthy than buying a can of plain Hunt's Tomato Sauce and then sauteing veggies (as I did) and adding those and spices in. I must say that the sauce wasn't bad. I actually winged it (wung it?) with amounts, etc.. (except the oil), which is totally not me, but I went for it and it worked out OK.