Size 36 Waist!

Cec and I have been on the Weight Watchers diet for just over a year now.  The last time I weighed I had lost 59 pounds, but I suspect that I may have lost a few more in the past several days.  With my balance beam scales in storage, weighing is not as easy as it was before the move.  

The reason I think I may have lost a few more pounds is that I can now fit in pants with a 36" waist.  My old 38s were getting a bit sloppy, and Cec found me some 36" cargos on sale at Wally World yesterday.  They fit perfectly!

I can't say enough about the Weight Watchers diet program.  I was very skeptical when I started.  I had lost 10-12 pounds on the South Beach diet, but that was it.  I eventually gained most of it back.  Then I ran into a guy a work who had undergone a remarkable weight loss.  I asked him how he did it, and he replied "Weight Watchers."

The diet is low calorie, low fat, high fiber.  Weight Watcher diet we used (there are two) uses a points system.  The number of points is equal to calories/50+grams of fat/12-grams of fiber (up to 4 max)/5.  Based on my weight and age, I started with 34 points for the day.  With my weight loss I am down to 28 points per day.  I am permitted 35 extra points per week for special occasions, but you are not supposed to use it every week.

I can honestly say I have not been hungry as on other diets, and we have dessert almost every night.  Usually we have some sort of ice cream (low fat, or course) with fruit.  Every week or two, I have Mexican food with chips and salsa, barbecue, or fried catfish.  But next meal we go back on the diet and stay on it until the next splurge.

In my view you cannot eat out a lot and stay on the diet.  Only Subway and Applebees have food that are easy to incorporate into the WW diet.  You can find things at other restaurants, but you have to choose very carefully.  Cec likes to cook, and she finds recipes that she wants to cook and revamps them to use lower fat and calorie and higher fiber ingredients.

I can honestly say I have not eaten better than on the WW diet.  When you diet, you'd better like what you have to eat because that is what you will have to eat from now on.  You cannot diet, meet your weight loss goal, and then go back to cheeseburgers and lasagna on a regular basis.  

You also need to find something for snacks.  I like carrots, although you have to count points if you consume more than a few.  Dill pickle spears and low cal bread and butter sweet pickles are also good snacks.

If you are serious about overcoming "middle age spread," I unequivocally recommend the Weight Watchers diet.