Counting Calories Vs. Weight Watcher’s Counting Points

I have always stood behind Weight Watchers and have lost many, many pounds while on it.  I have memorized those points, written them down on a refrigerator note pad and also written point values on all our pantry food.  I was a Weight Watcher’s diehard.  A few months ago, I got VERY serious about my workouts and took up a 5 day workout plan that my personal trainer designed for me.  I continued to count points as I attended every workout session and did lose weight, but it didn’t “melt off” me like I had thought that it would. . 

For Christmas, I bought my husband a calorie counter bracelet that tracked steps, calories eaten, calories burned, sleep activity and water consumed each day.  I thought it was pretty neat and wanted one for myself, but refused to use the food tracking portion because I was NOT going to deviate from my current Weight Watcher’s plan. My husband convinced me just to try and said that I could always go back to my Weight Watcher’s plan if it didn’t work.  I wasn’t too happy about this change and half way fought it for two weeks before I broke down and became loyal to logging my calories in my new fitness band.  Well, I was wrong and husband was right – Yes Michael, I said it!  I should have listened to him before, but I didn’t want to change what I had currently been doing because I had lost weight and was feeling good about myself.  The first week I loyally swapped over from my Weight Watcher’s plan to counting calories on my band, I could tell the difference!  I have lost more weight and hate to take my band off to even let it charge for a few hours.  Its’ app tracks my daily progress and it even tells me how many calories I have left at the end of the night.  Basically, if I am out of calories and want to eat, I go hop on the elliptical long enough to earn “eating calories” and then I have my low fat snack and I am satisfied.

So, if you haven’t tried counting calories, hop on board and give a try for at least a week, you may surprise yourself.  I know I did!

 Photo Credit:  NyTimes.com