My new day

Jennifer Hudson, here I come.

All day yesterday, her new song was playing over and over in my mind, except I imagined her singing to me -- "Val, it's your new day!"

And I did what I said I would do yesterday: I made my Weight Watchers meeting. It really was like coming home. My leader, Karen, was really happy to see Jack and me, as was my WW buddy, Donna, the lovely woman Jack and I convinced that Weight Watchers really is the way to go -- and the one who has now lost 30 pounds and is looking really great.

I could have been Donna. Instead, I am exactly 5 pounds heavier than I was this time last year. But enough about the past. It's time to concentrate on the future. For me, 2011 will be the year I shed my extra weight -- forever. I am not looking for a quick fix. I am looking at this as my year-long project, and by the time I ring in 2012, I will be thin.

And I love WW's new plan, PointsPlus. The fact that I can eat all the fruits and veggies I want -- without counting them as any PointsPlus -- is freeing. On the way home from our meeting last night, we stopped at the grocery store and I bought bananas and grapes -- fruits I would have to portion into servings on the old plan -- but now fruits I can eat with abandon.

Kind of. We are still instructed to eat until we are full, so if I am really hungry, I should slowly eat a banana, wait 20 minutes, and then see if I am still hungry. If so, eat a second.

Sounds easy. Of course, I know it's not. But it can become a learned behavior. Besides, it's really time this old dog learned some new tricks.

We are also encouraged to set a goal for the week. Always the over-achiever, I have two.
1. I will drink 8 8-ounce glasses of water a day.
2. I will journal, writing down everything that passes my lips. I know the importance of journaling, that studies have shown those who journal lose double the weight of those dieters who never journal. So journal I will.

And oh -- one more thing. I will forever delete the word diet from my vocabulary. It was made very clear to us last night that WW is not a diet -- that it is a way of eating for life. And what a phony I am to call my blog Diet? Not Again!, and then call WW a diet plan.

This is my new day, my new way. And right now I am feeling on top of the world. If Jennifer Hudson can do it, so can I.