weight watchers has a new program (lyn)

I was going to skip my Weight Watchers meeting today.  One, the weather was dreadful…gusting winds and sideward rain.  And two, I wasn’t ready yet for an official weigh-in.  But then I remember that today is the day that the new program is being introduced, and so I go.

Weigh-in isn’t horrible…I’m 121.6, up 1.6 from pre-Thanksgiving weight.  But now with the new program all the point values have changed.  I feel like I’m starting over again.

The new program is not difficult to learn.  It’s just that all foods are not yet assigned values, and there is no rule of thumb for calculating them.  In the old system, 50 calories were roughly equal to one point.  But the new system calculates points based on fat, fiber, carbohydrates and protein so there’s no quick and easy conversion.  I’m sure that after the adjustment period, it’ll be easy, but right now it isn’t.

I get home from the meeting soaked, and then calculate tonight’s dinner of a turkey burger on a brioche roll that used to be 11 points.  Here’s what I do.

Step One:

Find the value of a turkey burger.  3 ounces is 5 points.

Step Two:

Weigh the turkey burger; it’s 7.8 ounces

Step Three:

Calculate the points (it comes to 13).

Step Four: 

Find the value of a brioche roll.   I can’t.  So I make an assumption.  Under the old plan, a brioche roll was twice the value of a plain hamburger roll.  That would make it 8 points under the new plan.

Step Five:

Add the value of the turkey burger and roll together; 13 + 8 is 21.  That’s 75% of my daily allotment. Under the old program it was only 61%.

Hmm, I think I must be doing something wrong.   Maybe I undervalued the turkey burger in the old program.  Or maybe I should just be eating a smaller one.