So Confusing...

So I've decided that staying within the technical specifications of a weight-loss program is only one piece of the puzzle. Figuring out why each program works (or doesn't!) and why they stress different foods is almost more important than sticking to your daily points or carbs or calories or whatever you're counting. Or maybe that's just the way my brain works and other people don't care why a program works as long as it does, in fact, work. I don't know. My intake for the last two days:

Tuesday
Breakfast: Oatmeal - 7 points
Lunch: Turkey pastrami wrap, tomato-beef broth - 14 points
Snack: Cottage cheese with canned pears - 9 points
Dinner: Sauerkraut and sausage - 21 points
Dessert: Sugar-free Jello pudding, Cool Whip - 5 points
Total: 56 points

Wednesday
Breakfast: Oatmeal - 7 points
Lunch: Salad, banana - 16 points
Snack: Plain Greek yogurt with blueberries and honey - 4 points
Dinner: Ham steak, red potatoes, peas, milk - 20 points
Dessert: Sugar-free Jello pudding, Cool Whip - 5 points
Total: 52 points

Anyway, I've been doing a pretty good job of staying within my WW program guidelines so far, although squeezing in three servings of milk and nine servings of fruits and vegetables per day hasn't quite worked yet. I'm working on it! Some of the points values are very confusing and counter-intuitive to me, though, particularly coming from a low-carb program like Atkins. Fruits and vegetables are for the most part zero points. While that's really nice and I love being able to eat fruit again and have more than half a cup of vegetables with my dinner, it's also a little mind-blowing, because fruits in particular have a lot of carbs. A banana has about 25 carbs! That's as much as I was allowed in a whole day on Atkins, and I don't have to count it at all on WW? Even an apple is about 15 carbs - unthinkable on a low-carb program.

The last few days I've been having oatmeal for breakfast. Once again, something that I really like, high nutritional value, lots of fiber, very natural, but very high carb. Half a cup of dry oatmeal is once again about 25 carbs, or a whole day's worth on Atkins - but only costs me 4 points. The reason I've been having oatmeal for breakfast instead of eggs and bacon or sausage? I was planning to have sausage the other day - and then I looked at the points. Bacon is fairly reasonable on points value, 4 points for three pieces. Sausage is not. Sausage is 15 points for 8 ounces! It reminds me of my reaction to learning that butter is 3 points per tablespoon. What?!

I think retraining my mind and reactions to work with the WW program instead of Atkins is going to be the hardest part of the whole diet!