Tales of a (Recovering) Disordered Eater

From what I’m hearing through the grapevine (as I’m an online-only member) on December 7, Weight Watchers will unveil its (much-hyped but unknown-as-of-now) new program.

Each December, the company tweaks its current programs, and then every two years or so, the brains behind the program come up with an entirely new plan, often disbanding an existing plan in favor of a new one.

Some people stick to what they love and have had success with; others embrace the new plan with gusto.

Let’s be honest … after Thanksgiving and before Christmas/New Year’s, many people are desperate to try anything.

In no way do I know what this new plan will be. But I have to admit, I’m excited to see what it has to offer. I like to see how the program has evolved since I began WW in 2004.

While I really like the focus now on “satiety” and intuitive eating that Core professes, I’m a Type A person who honestly doesn’t mind journaling or counting points. In other words, it’s not a chore to me the way it is for so many people; I keep a daily personal journal anyway and have written in it almost every day since I was 11.

Plus, I look at my points as money –and I get a kick out of trying to get the most “bang” for my buck. It doesn’t annoy me to keep tabs.

Naturally, then, I enjoy the distinct boundaries of Flex, which for me is 20 target points (TPs) a day plus 35 weekly allowance points (WPAs) and activity points (APs) — though I’ve learned I can’t eat APs and lose.

Anyway, over the years of flitting between the two programs, I’ve taken what I’ve learned from each and applied it to the other. I’ve learned to make good choices within those Flex parameters when I’ve switched back.

I know Flex gave me the tools to understand portion control. And on Core, I learned to eat to satisfaction and was encouraged to follow the 8 Good Health Guidelines. From Core, I’ve learned that the 100-cal packs and fat-free/sugar-free foods aren’t worth wasting points on; they just don’t fill me up, even if they’re low-point. I’m much more sated with an apple and peanut butter, for example (for which I’d need to count the points for the peanut butter but not the apple).

So for me, the much-ballyhooed notion of “Flore” (i.e., eating mostly Core foods but still weighing/measuring/counting/journaling) was my happy medium, even though I never called it that or I would have gotten pure crap for it.

Of all the weight-loss and weight-maintenance programs out there, Weight Watchers seems to be the winner every time in terms of percentage of pounds kept off once reaching goal, as well as how people have changed the way they eat and their relationship to food.

Research has shown the program works. Eat less, move more. Core and Flex are just two different approaches to the same thing, and hopefully the new program will be a synergy of the two.

I’ll be looking forward to the details this Sunday.

How about you? If you’re a current WW member, are you looking forward to a new program? And if you’re not, would a new program pique your interest? Or are you through with programs of any kind? (If so, I respect that a ton!)