...Because It Works! (For free!)

Is anyone else seriously annoyed by this commercial??

OK.... So, I'm going to post this and I need to post a disclaimer... I am in no way a doctor, nutritionist or any have other career that has to do with health and pays a buttload of money. I just do this - and it works. So I share. With you. The reader. MmmHmm.

Weight Watchers. Bam. There it is.

So, a tiny bit of my background..... I grew up a tall, skinny girl with big knobby knees. My sister called me "Beanpole". But when I hit puberty, I started gaining weight. When I graduated high school I enlisted in the Air Force and was told I couldn't leave because I was 3 lbs over the weight limit. My recruiter told me to starve myself until the weight was gone. I was instantly offended and made the decision to say "Screw you, Air Force! I'm fine the way I am!" So... I didn't. And I continued gaining. Right before I got pregnant in 2009 (7 years after high school) I had gained 80 lbs. At my heaviest (July 18 of this year) I was an additional 50 lbs heavier.

When I stepped on the scale I made a decision right then. "This is the last day I will ever weigh this much." And it was. My husband and I made the decision to join Weight Watchers and haven't looked back. Guess what? IT WORKS! I track everything before it goes in my mouth. If it's too many points, I  give myself a minute to really think whether I really want it or not. More often than not, I don't.

So here's how it works.

You fill in some info about yourself.... Your height, weight, age, sex and activity level. From there, they will assign you a number. This will be your starting daily points plus allowance. As you log your food, you should not exceed this number. BUT - you are given "cheat points" to use every week. They give you these so you don't deprive yourself. When you deprive yourself, you are far more likely to fail.

Really, it's as easy as that. If you follow the plan and you log everything before you eat it - you WILL lose weight. I promise!

I started watching what I ate on July 18. I joined Weight Watchers on August 1 and I am currently at a 28 lb loss. This is the ONLY thing that's worked for me. Low carb made me moody and I would always cheat and gain back whatever I lost. Counting calories was hard to stick to. But this... it works! And it's easy! I don't go to meetings, but I do get a scanner app on my phone that figures my points for me as well as the Weight Watchers app that tracks my weight, points and activity.

So, they are almost always running promotions. Right now you can sign up for free and just pay $56.85 for 3 months. Every month after that is $18.95. I don't think that's TOO bad for what it is. But - it can get fairly pricey - especially in these times.

So - being the frugal gal that I am - I'm gonna hook you up. Did you know you could do Weight Watchers for free?!? Listen here, Grasshoppers....

First, you will need to calculate your points allowance. I just happened to stumble upon this handy dandy Points Allowance Calculator! Go enter in your info and you'll get your magic number.

Now, you will need to figure out how to calculate the points in any given food. You'll want to use this Points Calculator. And you can get a portable version by downloading a scanner app for iPhone/iPod/iDevices Here and Here for Android. (Both are FREE!)

Should you need to manually enter the info to figure point values, you will use the info on the nutritional label of the food you are about to devour. You can learn how to read one Here.

So. You now have all your tools to do Weight Watchers Online - FOR FREE!!! The only bummer is that you will need to keep a journal of what you eat and how many points it is. (If you decide to become a WW member, you will have everything stored in your tracker and it adds them up for you.)

There you have it. After doing the program for almost 2 months now, I can't believe how poorly I used to eat. I would literally pay no attention to what I ate and would shove anything down my throat. I'm now really conscious of what I eat. I still go out to eat every so often. I still have fast food every so often (I had a cheeseburger and  fries for lunch today - and felt guilty afterwards!)... like I said, as long as you log your food, You'll lose weight.

If you decide to try it, let me know and we can be WW buddies. If I end up losing another 20 lbs (or get to a 50 lb loss), I'll post a before and after pic of myself. I promise I won't become as obnoxious as Jennifer Hudson with it, either. I love her, but man... those commercials drive me batty. We get it. You lost 80 lbs. Slow clap for you!

Good luck everyone!