I’m someone who relies on routines to help manage my anxiety. My Weight Watchers (WW) week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday. The week starting September 23, 2024, was a bit off for me. I had a major, stressful deadline at work on Friday, September 20, 2024, so I decided to take Monday and Tuesday off to recover.
Normally, I go out to eat with my mom every other weekend, but since she knew I was off work on Monday and Tuesday, she suggested we go out for lunch on Monday instead of the weekend. This change threw me off because I usually save dining out for the weekend. By then, I've had time to build up my activity points and weekly points, giving me a clearer idea of how much I can splurge at a restaurant. Since we were going out on Monday, I knew I needed to choose a sensible meal that wouldn’t use up all my points for the week. My mom chose Cracker Barrel, so on Sunday, I sat down with the WW app and the Cracker Barrel menu to plan ahead. I decided on grilled chicken with glazed carrots, which I found to be surprisingly low in points, and I allowed myself a splurge on the hash brown tots. Since I love bread, I added two biscuits with butter to my meal.
When Monday came, I was surprised at how quickly I got full. I ended up taking home half of the grilled chicken and one biscuit home, which I then had for dinner, using far fewer points for the day than I expected.
On Tuesday, I remembered I had promised to take one of my work teams to Cone Cottage, a local spot, as a thank-you for meeting a big deadline the previous year. So, on Friday, I was eating out again. I planned to just have a small sloppy joe sandwich, which I tracked using the closest match in the app. After lunch, we ordered ice cream. Even though Cone Cottage is like a generic Dairy Queen, I stuck to a simple soft-serve in a cup with sprinkles. Once again, I ended up using fewer points than I had planned for the day.
Then, on Saturday, my son went to a local Oktoberfest and brought me home a funnel cake. Luckily, he texted me just as I was about to make dinner, so I decided to skip the meal and split the funnel cake with my other son. That became my dinner, and I paired it with some grapes for dessert to avoid going over my points for the week.
Even with these spontaneous meals, I managed to keep all the other days as blue dot days and even added extra activity throughout the week. I was amazed that I stayed within my points for the week. I didn’t expect to lose weight, but this week really opened my eyes. I realized I can handle life events and still stick to the WW system. I just need to stop getting anxious about being invited out!