New Method = New Results?

I was just looking at my weigh-in history the other day, and couldn't believe that I have been in the upper 150's for about 6 months now.  It's to the point where I am actually embarrassed about my lack of weight loss, and did some hard thinking over the weekend about what I can do to fix it.  I came to realize that I might have to sever my relationship with Weight Watchers, which has always been my go-to weight loss strategy.  Particularly since I stopped breast feeding and my points went from 43 down to 29, I have had little to no success at losing the weight.  The reduction in points was a difficult adjustment, so I have been compensating by eating what is probably way too much fruit. 

I do have to admit that there have been a couple of weekends where I might have gone a little bit off plan.  Usually, though, I would still stay within my weekly points target.  Given the fact that I don't use my weekly points during the week, it technically shouldn't make any difference if I use them all at once over the weekend or not.  The scale has showed otherwise, though.  I am also frustrated by the new points system because of the fact that you have to plug in four data points just to get the points plus value for the food.  I think I just need something more simple.

After much thought, I decided I needed to get back to the basics.  I am going to go back to counting calories, plain and simple.  When I first came to this decision, I was a little weary about saying goodbye to my long-time friend, WeightWatchers.  But, then a feeling of relief came over me.  No more looking at food labels several times to get all the necessary data to input points values.  No more trying to find bread that has enough fiber to be 2 points instead of 3.  If something is 100 calories, then I take away 100 calories from my daily alloted amount.  Simple, right?

Now, don't get me wrong.  I know it is important to look at the rest of the nutritional information to make sure it is high fiber, low fat, and all that good stuff.  I'm not going to start eating junk just because I am focusing mostly on calories.  I just need a new method to help me get back to being excited about losing weight again.

I decided to go to my phone for some additional help.  I know I am going to have to track everything I eat, since counting calories is a little more difficult to keep track of than points.  For example, if I have eaten 678 calories so far, that is a little more difficult to remember than say, 10 points plus.  I have an Android phone, and there are several apps on it that help you count calories.  I decided to try out MyFitnessPal.com, since I know a couple of other bloggers who use it and really like it.  The best part about the phone app is you can use a barcode scanner to scan in any food with a barcode.  It will then input it into your food journal with all of the nutritional information.  Nice!  That alone is enough to get me excited about using a new plan.  It's like having a new gadget or toy to play with.  Yeah! 

My favorite motivational quote!

According to myfitnesspal, I should be eating 1200 calories a day if I want to lose 2 pounds each week.  If I exercise, I get more calories.  Yesterday, I tried out counting my calories, and went over by 54 calories.  Not too bad, considering I wasn't sure at that point how much I was supposed to be eating.  Now I am logged into the program, I have the application downloaded onto my phone, and am ready to go.  I have been using my treadmill to jog (5mph) for 30-40 minutes every other day, which should help me lose the weight as well. 

I really hope this is it.  The final time I will have to lose this weight.  I am not planning on having any more children, so I will never have to lose the baby weight again.  I just want to get into the low 140's and stay there.  Previously, I never allowed myself to go above 145 pounds.  I want to get back into that mindset again.  I'm not that far off - I just need a final push in the right direction.  Hopefully this change is what I need.