1-18-11 Tuesday (Benefits Of Recycling)

The other day Jim and I were out and about and stopped at a Panda Express for a beverage and egg roll.  Let me tell you first that I’ve tried several Panda Express foods and don’t like them.  The egg roll was OK, but just OK.  Anyway… Jim spotted a Weight Watchers office across the street.  I needed a new PointsPlus™ calculator.  It was under $10 and worth every penny.

So, if you’ve followed me since May you know that I joined Weight Watchers online (all online, no meetings!), lost 25 pounds in 3 months, and hence absolutely loved it.  You also know that I started working and grew lazy about tracking points.  I eventually let my online subscription expire and began to grow and grow.  What you may not know is that Weight Watchers reinvented itself with the all new PointsPlus™ system.  If you want to know about the program, read the blue text below.  When you’re done, I’ll continue after the article.

The PointsPlus™ Program: A Scientific Approach

Article By: WeightWatchers.com

There’s years of science behind the new Weight Watchers program. Our chief scientific officer, Karen Miller-Kovach, MBA, MS, RD, gives the scoop on why we changed an already successful program.

The story of the new PointsPlus program really begins four years ago. Karen Miller-Kovach and her team were looking at the pool of research on how calories from protein, carbs, fiber, and fat provide satisfaction and are processed by the body. Based on that data, Weight Watchers developed what became the PointsPlus program. The program was thoroughly tested in scientifically supervised trials — at various locations including Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) — starting in 2007. Here, Miller-Kovach answers our questions about the whole process.

Q: The POINTS® Weight-Loss System has helped many people. Why change it?
A: At the time we developed that Plan, in the mid-1990s, it reflected the latest scientific thinking. Since then, we’ve seen many advances in the science of weight management — the PointsPlus System reflects that.

Q: If you were confident the new eating plan would work, why go to the trouble of testing it?
A: Well, Weight Watchers is a science-based company, and we stand behind our claims. It’s very important to have the trust of our members, so we provide programs that are proven to work in a valid and reliable way.

Q: How did you create the MUSC study? Is there some scientific standard?
A: We designed what is called a “randomized clinical trial,” which is the gold standard. You test two different systems at the same time, under identical conditions, with participants randomly assigned to one or the other.

Q: What did you look for in choosing participants?
A: Healthy adults who wanted, and needed, to lose weight — though they couldn’t have been on a weight-loss program at the time or recently, nor could they be on medications that affected weight. They also agreed to attend a weekly meeting at the research center for the 12 weeks of the study.

Q: How did you ensure that the trial was truly independent and the results accurate?
A: The weight-management research team at MUSC is very experienced. They designed the trial, recruited participants, and analyzed the results. Weight Watchers had no access to participants or data at all during the trial.

Q: What were the results?
A: In addition to weight loss, we found an improvement in behaviors that help people maintain weight loss and a reduction in the desire to eat when there’s no physical hunger or need for food. So the PointsPlus program proved itself!

I’m here.  So basically, what I’ve found so far is the points run a little higher but they give me more points too.  Calories are no longer used in point calculations.  It used to be all about calories, fat and fiber.  Now it’s about fat, fiber, carbs and protein. 

Today I started Weight Watchers again.  Yesterday Jim and I grocery shopped.  I loaded up on snack cakes,pickles, healthy stuff, etc.  I plan to pretty much duplicate my previous weight loss tactics.  They worked. I have to get used to the new point calculations but I think that will be easy enough.  I signed up for the online plan once again. 

Above: Contents of my recycle bin.

I’m back.  I’m large.  I wanna be fit!  Fit.  Fitness.  Let’s talk about that.  I don’t plan to join a gym for a while.  I don’t plan to exercise.  I plan to do the same thing I did the last time.  As I said, it worked.  I don’t particularly like dieting and I truly hate exercise so why do both which may potentially discourage me?  I’ll worry about exercise later.

Blogging and Weight Watchers:  I’m not going to constantly recap my food intake for the day.  I certainly will brag about my milestones during the weight loss process.  Love ya but the screen shots are a lot of work. 

On the Weight Watchers site:

You have to buy 5 to save $1.00.  20 frickin’ cents per item is the best you can do?

Since I am talking about Weight Watchers, I finished the day perfectly.  I was left with 0 points and used none of my weekly.