Weight Watchers in Belgium

What an adventure! I've checked out WW in BE and those of you familiar with the program are going to shake your head in dismay by the following anecdotes! Read on!

First for some background: as you might know, I've been a ww member since 2004 and a lifer since early 2005. I believe in the program so much that I became a receptionist and then a leader for them (and also to keep my own habits in check--to remain employed I had to remain at my goal weight). But....as soon as that pressure was off when I resigned in June, and the pressure of living out of my own routine (camping, visiting friends, staying with relatives, travelling with kids, eating when exhausted and not when hungry, learning new cooking methods and navigating very different restaurant menus and grocery stores) it was not surprising that several (12) pounds crept back on. So that's why I thought I'd check out the only English speaking WW class in Belgium. Luckily for me its only in the neighbouring community so I got myself there Tuesday night.

It was a very friendly group of 6 women, and the "coach" (not leader) is a tiny (she's never seen 5'0") woman from Italy with two kids, a 9 kg loss of weight and a british background. The assembled were mostly brits, but with me as the sole canadian, and an auster german woman to round out the group.

The reunion (meeting) went as expected, and then I got the materials...here are the highlights of some of the similarities & differences--some subtle and others very telling about the food preferences of the Belgians:

• everything is in french--no surprise there (it may force me to get to some language classes!)
• they have the same pillars of support: meetings, eat right, exercise and being mindful of the habits of living
  
• My daily points allowance is the same as if I was in Canada but there's no weekly flex points (boo)
  
• its 10 Euro a weigh-in (nice that the dollar is increasing, since this works out to about $14 Cndn for me)
• everything is done in Kilograms, so I'm under less pressure, but the number changes will also be less significant (a 1 kg loss sounds less to me than a 2.2 lb loss for some reason)
• they have great stuff for sale in the meetings--bolognese sauce or hollandaise sauce mixes by WW, special plastic deep-fryer BAGS that allow you to keep your fries from absorbing the oil from the fritteur (hah! See if Canada brings this product out!!) as well as the complement of recipe books, magazines, 3 month journals, etc.

the materials are very different though, and the plan has some significant differences...read on.

• week one is very regimented...in order to be successful, they've set a rigid menu for lunches and dinners and the only flexibility is in breakfast or the additional points you can have over and above the 17 strictly set out in each day (another boo)
• the quicktracker is very pretty: rainbow colours, 5 panel fold out brouchure with lots of room for writing
• points allotted to certain foods here are different, probably based on the core plan ideas: apples are free, and potatoes (in any low cal preparation method) are unlimited in portion size for two points, provided you don't exceed the satiety level of comfort...now that is Belgian! The food lists are very Belgian as well: biscuits and pastries are extensively represented; beer is in 5 categories based on percentage of alcohol (ranging from 0 - 3 points); chocolate products have their own category of 20 or more entries (did you know nuttella is only 0.5 point per teaspoon?); and there's a full page of cheeses (of course!)
  
• and in the prepared and restaurant foods area I found the following entries: Waterzooi (chicken stew) is 8 points, as is a croque-monsieur (a Belgian grilled cheese sandwich); moules et frites are 14.5 points and syrup Liegois is only 1 point per tablespoon!

the best thing though is about the potatoes...now only if chocolate was on the same free-for-all, I'd be set!

Will give you an update once I go back next Tuesday--we'll see if this plan works as well as the Canadian one!!