paper vs e-tools

Weight Watchers encourages tracking of all food you eat and the activity you do. At meeting you can get these little paper booklets that have it all laid out, including where you can mark off how many of the extra weekly points you use and mark off the activity points you gain (and choose to use). It also has little check boxes for fruits and veggies and lean proteins and fluids. It's all in a nice little format you can just slip in your purse. Then there is the E-tools tracker. Tons of foods and commons serving sizes pre-programmed in you just have to type and click. Automatically does the math if you have more or less than the normal serving. It will automatically deduct from your weekly points if you go over your daily points target. And they have a mobile version of it that you can access on your smart phone.

My first week on Weight watchers I did the paper tracking, then I switched to the e-tools tracker. And I love it. It is so easy, especially using my phone. But I am a secretary, I type words and numbers into a computer for 8 hours a day 5 days a week. I think my mind doesn't fully wrap around everything I would eat, since it was just another set of numbers and words. I found I was way more accountable to myself when I had to actually write it down.

My 2011 has not been good on the scales. And I got a theory that I tried out this last week. I committed to paper tracking. Didn't track anything online (though I did go online a couple of times to look up something I couldn't find in my pocket guide). And guess what? I had my best week of the year. I lost 2.6 pounds. I think I am gonna have to try to keep paper charting for a while.

Now to see if I can keep it up a 2nd week. I have a retreat this weekend where I wont have control over what is cooked in what. All I can control is how much of it I put in my mouth. I know Barb has said she will be cooking healthy since she has seen that a lot of women in the church are trying to lose weight or be more health conscious.