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Day 20 - Weight Watchers or Not

 Even though I am in WW, and I talk about WW all the time, I am not married to the program.  Sometimes, it truly frustrates me.  The points values have nothing to do with the calories in a food.  

I understand that a lot of trial and error and data go into their programs, or so they say.  But today, for example, I already have 38 points and still need a bedtime snack, and I have only eaten about 1100 calories.  Of course, sticking with the program exactly is probably going to encourage me to eat in a healthier way.  Lots of fruits and veggies, lean protein, whole grains.  That is good.  I'm probably just sounding off a little bit.

I'm definitely planning on staying in because I need the accountability and the weigh-ins.  Plus, making lifetime is about the biggest item on my bucket list!

I think I like enough flexibility that I would like days when I'm not eating those same healthy foods and still have plenty of points for other things that are not so caloric.  

I think I'm just venting a little, but it is a downside to Weight Watchers.  For instance, if you love cereal and milk, it is going to cost you a ton of points!

Ironically, on the other end of the spectrum, I am thinking about wanting to go super-healthy, like plant-based or close to it.  One woman in my WW group does plant-based, and it works well with Weight Watchers.  I know so many people on that type of eating plan that have had absolutely drastic turn-arounds in their health, not to mention weight loss. Many of them are in superb physical condition.  One woman I know experienced a reversal in her MS.  Other conditions turned around:  heart disease, reflux, diabetes, high blood pressure.  

About a year or so ago, I talked and thought a lot about comparing Keto and plant-based diets.  I wanted to go on one for six months, then shift to the other for six months, and then compare and see for myself whether one worked better than the other or neither.

Well, I did, under some huge inspiration go on the Keto diet--for 5 months!  I lost about 38 points and did see some good changes.  I went off because my insomnia suddenly increased.  I would wake up too early and could not go back to sleep.  I did like that on Keto, my cravings were so in control.  I could go for hours and not even think about food.  It was hard coming up with interesting meals, and really, in my mind, it did not seem that healthy with all of that cheese and meat.  (By the way, I did "dirty Keto," which means I did not track nor eat clean foods, but included a lot of processed foods which happened to be low-carb.)

I still toy with doing plant-based for awhile, maybe trying to shift gradually over to it to see how I do on it.  Today, when I did a grocery run, I picked up a lot more veggies and fruits, hoping to drastically increase that part of my diet.  That is one reason, I decided to shift to the Green Program.  Actually, the Purple Program might work great for plant-based because many whole grains are free (potatoes, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, etc.)  

So anyway, those are some of my random thoughts.  I'm going to try eating a lot more salad, stir fries without meat.  I'll see what happens.  I am getting some almond milk as another initial step to move in that direction.  

I didn't eat any fruits or veggies today except for a banana and some raisins.:/  (I didn't pick up groceries until 6:30.)  Like I said, 38 points but only about 1100 calories.

I put in 10,000 steps again, plus some pushups.  

So all in all, though not pristine, it was another successful day in the weight loss world!

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