Four Days In...

Well, here I am, four days in to my weight loss journey.
This is how it got started...
For the past several years, I have been unhappy with my weight. Through watching Dr. Phil, I've discovered that I am an "emotional eater". I eat when I'm tired. I eat when I'm nervous. I eat when I'm bored. I eat when I'm sad, stressed, annoyed, etc. Maybe I should have started my post "My name is Brandi, and I'm a food -aholic". I want to eat to live, not live to eat. That's one of the main reasons why I'm here. For me, it isn't about a new-years resolution, it's more like a new life resolution. I don't know exactly what happened, but something in me just clicked and a little over a week ago, I told my husband "I think I want to start weight watchers". Now, me being a VERY lucky women, I had the immediate support from him. The next day, I called to find out more information, and the day after that, I began my journey!
During my first meeting, they gave us our materials, told us the basics of the "points" system, talked to us a little about how the program works, then told us to write down 10 things we learned throughout this week, from tracking our points*. So, without further ado, here's my list:

1. When I'm tracking my points, I'm a lot less likely to pop a tootsie roll, or an m&m, or anything at all, because I don't want to account for those points.
2. I'm used to eating things that I thought were good for me, when in fact they aren't.
3. My biggest culprit: 16 oz. coke= 8 points. YOUCH!! (sometimes I would have 3 in a day)
4. When you go to the grocery store, bring your point finder. It's very helpful when making decisions about what to put in the grocery cart in the first place!
5. It's nice to know that I can have "filler foods" in my diet. Things like strawberries, mushrooms, peppers, lettus, spinach, blueberries; all have 0 points.
6. Ranch dressing is 4 points for 2 Tbs.. If you are only working with 24 points in a day, you will find it best to steer clear of regular ranch. Fat free ranch, on the other hand, only has 1 point for 2 Tbs.
7. I checked the website of one of my favorite restaurants for nutritional values so that I could make a healthful decision about what to eat for dinner BEFORE we left the house. Before I checked their website, I was planning on ordering an eggplant Parmesan, however, that dish had 19 points. (and that's assuming I'm NOT going to have a bread stick or soup with my meal) I ended up choosing a Parmesan crusted talapia for only 13 points. Then I had enough points left over to eat soup and a bread stick as well!
8. I'm learning to check the points before I eat it, that way, I can make sure I want to spend my points on that food.
9. Careful planning allowed me to have a package of reeses peanut butter cups during a movie night.
10. Speaking of movie night, I learned that 1 cup of multi grain cherios has only 1 point. I like the crunch and slight sweetness this cereal provides. So, I packed a cup of them in my purse to have in leu of popcorn at the movies!

*all foods we eat are given a points value in the weight watchers program. Tracking your points, basically means writing down everything we eat and calculating the number of points the food contains.