Weigh Day

I plowed through the abundance of snow coming down this morning to get to the WW meeting. There were only a handful of people there, which allowed me to ask the leader some very specific questions about activity points. Without going into way too much detail for those who aren't interested, I'll explain a little bit about how this works.

Basically, WW is based on a points system. You get a certain number of points to work with each day (along with a separate weekly stash you can dip into if you need to). Each food has a points value, which is based on the amount of fiber, fat and the number of calories. However, there's also a scale for figuring out what WW calls "activity points." Activity points can be added to your daily points total (actually, they just changed it to your weekly points total, so you can use what you earned all week) to allow you to eat more.

Here's where I had questions. The scale suggested you figure your activity points using intensity level (low, medium, high), time your activity encompasses and your weight. My issue was with the description of intensity level, which has to do with how much you are sweating. I found this was not a good way to measure intensity, and considering I'm going to start my training next week, I wanted to have a really accurate indicator. Luckily, the leader was able to give me some better indicators to use.

I read somewhere (probably Shape magazine) a while ago that people who are very active tend to eat a lot more and justify their eating with their activity level. Here's the problem. Sometimes that eating is not commensurate with the amount of activity they're doing. In my mind, the purpose of eating extra food is to have enough energy to sustain your extra activity, not to use it as an excuse to binge.

In theory that's great, but in practice I tend to be a binger. I'm trying to change that, though, so I want to be really careful with my points to make sure I'm not using training as a license to eat whatever comes my way. That's particularly important when you're starting your training the week of Christmas.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for (unless you skipped to the bottom right away). My weight loss for the past week was 3 pounds. Not bad, considering I had Hungry Howie's at a friend's party and ate buffet-style at New Holland after the race last Sunday. (I was happy with how I behaved at both. It may have been the first time in my life I've only made one trip to a buffet.) Anyway, that brings me to a grand total of 8.4 for two weeks. This coming week, however, is going to be the true challenge. (I will have my prime rib on Christmas. It wouldn't be Christmas without it.)