“Here's to alcohol: the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems.” Homer Simpson

Crazy weekend ahead: Winter Anarchy and Pink Pony Party. Two giant sailing parties.

If I can stick to my planned drinking for tonight, I should be able to keep within the daily allotted points. I planned for three rum cocktails and three beers.

The tricky part, of course, is not stopping somewhere for a giant burrito on the way home. Or eating my way through the pantry once I get there.

Tomato soup

"A world devoid of tomato soup, tomato sauce, tomato ketchup and tomato paste is hard to visualize. Could the tin and processed food industries have got where they have without the benefit of the tomato compounds which colour, flavour, thicken and conceal so many deficiencies? How did the Italians eat spaghetti before the advent of the tomato? Was there such a thing as tomato-less Neapolitan pizza?”
Elizabeth David (1913-1992)
An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, 1984


I am currently addicted to tomato soup. It's delicious and low calorie/fat/point and it's a "filling food." WeightWatchers has a new twist to their "Momentum" system and that is this: they are now all about the filling foods.

A quick primer on WW. The cornerstone of the Momentum plan is the proprietary Points formula, which allocates each food a value based on its calories, fat, and fiber. Members are allocated a certain number of points each day based on their height, current weight, age, and activity level. Members are also allowed 35 optional Points each week.

The beauty of WW though is this: you can have whatever you want on the plan. This is why it is so successful. You want chocolate cake? Fine. You want nothing but cookies? Knock yourself out. You want pizza? Eat it every day. As long as you don't exceed your points, you can have WHATEVER you want. This explains why WW has such a high success rate: no limits on what.

The limit is on how much. If you eat all of your points in chocolate cake, you'll be starving by lunch. That's not gonna go well. For anybody. This is why you don't eat chocolate cake every day for every meal.

So, in addition to the points deal, WW has come up with the concept of filling foods. While WW certainly doesn't want to judge you or your food choices, they have developed this list of filling foods, which is all the stuff you're supposed to eat. The healthy stuff. The fruits and veg. The whole grains. Lean meats. And the great part about this stuff is that you get more bang for your buck! They're lower in points AND they keep you full!

(Yeah, they just marketed veggies to me in a brand new package. And I'm buying it.)

The good news is that Campbell's Tomato Soup is on the list of filling foods. (Not the soup with the cream. The one with water. Let's not go crazy with the awesome.) Campbell has made a bowl in the 15.4 oz size that's perfect for lunch. Four points for the bowl (which is technically 2 servings, but who are they kidding?)

Thumbs up for this filling food.

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do." Eleanor Roosevelt

It's a bad sign when you wake up thinking "I don't wanna do this."

More bad news. According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institutes' Body Mass Index calculator, my BMI is 39.9. This is "obese." I think it's approximately 3 points from "the-only-way-we'll-get-her-out-of-the-house-is-to-cut-a-hole-in-the-wall-and-use-a-back-hoe."

At this point, I was going to list some things that are 277.8 pounds. However, all I could find when I googled it were other people trying to lose weight and giant marijuana busts.

Let's discuss goals. Long term & short term.

Long term: I want to get out of the "obese" BMI. Which means that I'll need to drop to 208 pounds. Or approx 70 pounds. Ideally, I'd also like to get out of "overweight" too. That means weighing 173. Is that even possible? That's nearly 105 pounds.

Longish short term: I turn 4o on July 10. 23 weeks. I'd like to lose 40 pounds by then.

Short term: I'm going to Mexico in 49 days. I'm going to the BVIs in 57 days. I'll be on a sailboat regularly in approximately 90 days. Realistic goal for Mex: 15 pounds.

Short short term: I'd like to make it through the morning without eating something unhealthy.

Back to the drawing board

I'm fat.

That's the long and short of it. No way to sugar coat it.

I'm a lot of other things, of course. Smart. Funny. Pretty.

But the fact of the matter is that I'm fat. And that needs to stop.

So I joined Weight Watchers tonight with my friend, CeeCee.

This blog will keep track of my progress.

Let's start with the ugly truth.

Age: 39

Height: 5'10

Weight: 277.8

This is me tonight. It's not a good look: