By Jackie Stinson
If you’ve tried to lose weight, you’ve inevitably read about or even tried a few of the literally thousands of diets that exist. Some of them make ridiculous promises of weight loss and fat loss with a pill or supplement. Others swear that you’ll lose significant pounds by eating one or two foods like cabbage soup, grapefruits, or carrots.
On the surface, each of these diet programs appears different, but they all have one thing in common. They do not work. Let me be clear about that statement. I am not implying that if you do nothing but eat cabbage soup for a week or two, you won’t lose a few pounds. It’s entirely possible. Of course, when you stop eating soup and start eating real food you won’t necessarily keep off the pounds. What I mean is that to lose weight, be healthy, and be able to live your life, you need to be able to eat real food & things you love to eat . A life of deprivation and vegetable soup doesn’t sound so appealing.
This is the reason I love Weight Watchers
No food is off-limits or forbidden. Consider that for a moment. Think about the last diet you tried. Was there a type of food that you were not allowed to consume? Was it a food you loved? At first, you may have had a great deal of willpower to give up food you like. But after a few days, it’s all you wanted to eat. So, you gave in. You had French fries or a piece of cheesecake. Then you probably considered yourself a failure, felt guilty, and ate more. It’s a vicious cycle and it gets you nowhere.
With Weight Watchers, you can eat the foods you love
That means that you’re in charge. It also transforms the way you think about food and helps you to make the best choices. . When you begin the Weight Watchers 360° program you’ll be given a target PointsPlus value for each day. Every food is given a particular point value Your job is to stay within that target range. So, let’s say you’re craving those French fries again. Well, they have a PointsPlus value. Eat them and deduct the number of points from your daily total. To achieve your weight loss goals, you want to stick within your daily and weekly PointsPlus allowance.
So, how does this help you to make better food choices?
First, it’s important to know how a food is given a PointsPlus value. Four elements are considered in the PointsPlus formula: fat, carbohydrates, protein, and fiber. Add up (in grams) the total fat, carbohydrates, and protein, and subtract (in grams) the amount of fiber. Don’t worry if you’re not great at math. Weight Watchers has an enormous list of foods and recipes with PointsPlus values that are available with mobile and web-tools. You’ll also find a PointsPlus calculator where you can simply put in the elements from the nutrition label and get a PointsPlus value. Now that you know where the value comes from, let’s reconsider the question: how does the PointsPlus system help you make better food choices?
Suppose you are still craving those French fries or you just want to splurge on that . 10 PointsPlus value food item. If your PointsPlus target for the day is 30 points, you have 20 points left for the day. Being aware of your daily goal means that you have choices. Perhaps understanding that the French fries will comprise one-third of your total PointsPlus points means that you’ll opt for something healthier, like fruit or a hearty salad or soup. But the best part of this system is that you don’t have to. Eat your fries if you really want them. As long as you stay within your PointsPlus target, you’ll experience success with Weight Watchers.
As you progress through your journey, you’ll find that you want to make healthier choices.
When you opt for foods with lower point values, you’ll eat more, be hungry less, have more energy, and lose weight.
Another perk is that you don’t have to eat any pre-packaged foods. You can eat them if you love them, but it’s not required. The benefits of this are two-fold. First, if you love the pre-packaged meals in your supermarket’s freezer case, you can continue to eat them. They have PointsPlus values as well. Some of them are delicious and they can be really convenient to toss in the microwave and have for lunch or dinner. But you don’t have to eat them. If you love to experiment in the kitchen, your creative juices will flow with inspiration as you invent healthy, flavorful dishes to enjoy. If cooking is not your forte or something you love to do, you can still enjoy your favorite pre-packaged meals. The options for what you can eat and enjoy are endless.
Perhaps the best features of Weight Watchers are the customizability and the ease of which you can incorporate healthy changes into your lifestyle. If you’re a fast food lover who’s always on the road or a mom who loves to cook for her family, the plan can be tailored to your life.
You. In Control. Always.
Eat what you love, live the way you want, and become healthier with every choice you make.
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