The great weight update

OK, OK - I know I promised a weekly update on my Weight Watchers progress, but last week was so dang discouraging I couldn't bring myself to blog about it. After one week of faithfully following the flex plan, I weighed in and found myself nearly two pounds heavier than when I'd started. Needless to say, this was not the direction I was hoping for.

(warning to male readers: the next paragraph briefly and unexplicitly mentions female-related things - if this grosses you out, stop reading or grow up.)

The first question they asked was "Are you on your period?" and when I answered in the affirmative, they assured me that the gain was likely just water weight, and that I'd lose it in the next week or two. I stuck with the plan, and this week when I weighed in I had lost 8.8 pounds! Whoohoo!

The coolest thing about this plan is that (thus far at least) I truly don't feel deprived. Because I'm so heavy, my daily point allotment is pretty high (as I continue to lose weight, this will gradually drop), and since I'm eating healthier foods with lower point values, I can eat quite a bit of them if I so desire. These foods are often quite filling, so I don't have to eat very much to feel full. In fact, it's sometimes a challenge to eat all of my points for the day (until I remember the presence of chocolate covered pretzels in my pantry, and then it's a cinch!). I've also noticed that I feel hungrier than I used to before meals (since I used to eat only once or twice a day), but it's actually pleasurable to feel that hunger and then satisfy it with something healthy and delicious.

Here are a few of the yummy things I've made/discovered in the past couple of weeks:

One point chili (one point per cup)
Grilled cheese, carmelized onion and apple sandwich (6 pts per sandwich)
Vegetable curry (potatoes, onions, cauliflower & peas) made with Trader Joe's masala or korma sauce and served with brown rice (1 cup brown rice = 4 pts, 1 cup curry = 4 pts)
Kozy Shack no sugar added puddings - chocolate and tapioca (one pt per serving)
Trader Joe's Cinnamon Graham Toucans (100-calorie packs = 2 pts per pack)

That's all for now - I'll keep you posted on my progress. Have a terrific weekend, everyone!