Day 1 of Entulínea de Weight Watchers

I blame yesterday's overly melodramatic post on hunger pangs. The first day of Entulínea, or Weight Watchers, after the holiday bulk of sweets and treats was a bit harder than I remembered the first (ahem, and second.. and almost third) time around. Then again, yesterday presented a few challenges that won't be part of my everyday life, like:

• I had to go straight from school to the doctor's office, and since I have a two-hour train commute, I didn't have time to eat lunch. I bought a faro and cranberry cookie at the local natural food store when I went to buy bread and ate it on the train because I was feeling shaky. I later learned that a similar cookie (the exact brand is Italian and didn't have any nutrition info) had 6 points... big mistake!
• I walked 4km yesterday because I walked to the metro and then to and from the doctor. I normally walk about 2km per day from school to the train, and with less food in my body, the 4km felt like forever!....
• .... which made me super hungry last night! It wasn't "I want to eat something" hunger, it was "my stomach hurts from being hungry" hunger.

So, I listened to my body and ate a late lunch, a big snack, a dinner, a small cup of oatmeal, and a piece of Wasa cracker before bed. Wow!

I was way over on points. Here is a look at my eTools for yesterday:

That's right! 46 points! Even if you subtract the 6 point cookie, that's still 9 points over my daily limit! :-(  But I told myself that I had to write down everything, even if I didn't like it, because it did go in my body, after all.

So day 1 was definitely a struggle, and I'm still not sure whether I won or lost the battle. Today I tried doing what's called a "Día de alimentos saciantes" or a day where all you eat is Power Foods. I am still hungry, but I feel better knowing that I can satiate my hunger without worrying about eating half a billion points! :)

So what is helping me on my DAS ("Día de alimentos saciates")? This bread:

I bought this bread at a local herbolario, a Spanish shop that is somewhere between a health food store and a natural products store. They sell everything from dried herbs (like malva flower, mint and rosemary, that you boil and strain to make a tea that settles your throat if it's sore!) to 100% natural and ecological peanut butter.

This bread is the only bread that is accepted by Entulínea as an alimento saciante ("AS"). It has to be 100% pure rye bread, and luckily this one is! It's also 100% organic and costs 2.89€ (currently about $3.85) per loaf of 400g. It is very small, but the bread is extremely dense. Each loaf has 8 servings of 50g each and each serving is worth 2PP. It is also an AS, the Entulínea equivalent of a Power Food, and it tastes great. It isn't sour like rye in the US, and it doesn't have an aftertaste. It is chewy and tastes great with fat-free cream cheese (also an AS!). It is really filling, and I've eaten 6 servings between yesterday and today!

I can tell that my body is responding to my new eating habits since it keeps asking me for more food. And I sure am glad that I have something dense, chewy, nutty and tasty to feed it. It makes me glad that I don't have to worry about the 45-calorie bread anymore! :)

Let's just hope that I make it through today's DAS on a higher note than yesterday's first day on plan!