Thanksgiving Cheat Sheet from Weight Watchers

Weight Watchers has a good Cheat Sheet to use when choosing between Holiday dishes.  This article provides good tips and an interactive Thanksgiving plate that you can load up with the choices you might make.

Here's the article:

Thanksgiving Cheat Sheet
Article By: Leslie Fink, MS, RD

For some of us, Thanksgiving is a simple turkey dinner and a time to give thanks. But for many, it's an eating orgy and a six-week countdown to the same lose-weight-and-get-back-in-shape New Year's resolution that we make year after year…after year.
Break the cycle this holiday season. Enjoy Thanksgiving but don't overindulge; head into the New Year feeling confident, slimmer and in control.

Ready, set, eat
Consider the worst-case scenario: If you were to eat a serving of dark-meat turkey with all the fixings and sides on the plate above, it would total a whopping 40 PointsPlus^® values. Here's how to slash that number:

Continue Reading on Weight Watcher's Site Here.

WW Points for My Thanksgiving Feast

Images provided by Morguefile.com

My daughters and I are already planning the menu for Thanksgiving.  I know that day will be a day filled with tempting food with lots of WW Points, but I don't dread it.  As I posted before, I plan to enjoy it.

I recently started tracking using the iTrackBites app on my phone just to get in the habit of tracking, intending to really limit points after the holidays, but as soon as I started tracking, I started caring again and have stayed within my 26 points for 3 days.  I guess I'm on the wagon again!

I've already looked up the WW pts for the foods we will be serving.  No matter how I might gorge myself, I vow to track all the points I consume all day.  Basically, these are the foods we are now planning to serve for our Thanksgiving and their WW pt values:

Ham, per slice                                     3 Pts         

Scalloped Potatoes, 1/2 cup                5 Pts

Green Bean Casserole, 1 1/2 cups       4 Pts

Roasted vegetables, 1 1/2 cups            2 Pts

Stuffing, Stove Top 1/2 cup                  5 Pts

Gravy, Heinz HomeStyle, 1/2 cup        1 Pt

1 serving is 1/8 of a 9 inch pie:

Pecan Pie                                           14 Pts

Pumpkin Pie                                       11 Pts

Caramel Apple Pie                              11 Pts



I figure my meal point total will be between 30 and 35 points. Of course we'll have other goodies like a cheese ball and crackers, plus some snacks when we play games later in the day.  I can track that as I go.

My rule is to calculate everything ahead of time, so I can choose how to best use my points. I'm okay if I use my daily and all of my weekly points on Thanksgiving.  This is NOT a day to stress over Points...but I find KNOWING helps me choose better during the holiday and feel better afterward!

Hope your Thanksgiving is full of family, food, and fun!

Lunch at Sweet Tomatoes Restaurant

Image courtesy of Maderibeyza/morguefile.com

Today I made the mistake of having lunch with my daughter at Sweet Tomatoes without doing my homework ahead of time.  Our lunch was for her birthday, so she chose one of our favorite restaurants, and the choice was made spontaneously after shopping. It did sound good to me too, since I hadn't eaten there in quite a while!

When I got home with their nutritional guide, I began adding my points to my tracker and once I was done I was disheartened that I had only 7 points left for the rest of the day, and it was only 2:00 PM.  Yikes!

Here's how I used up my points so fast:

1 cup Wonton Chicken Happiness Salad = 4 points
1/2 cup Joan's Broccoli Madness Salad = 5 points
2/3 cup Four cheese Alfredo = 4 points
1/2 cup Steamed Veggies with Lemon Herb butter = 2 points
1 cup Smokey Pinto and Brown Rice Soup = 4 points

Grand Total = 19 points!

Better choices might have been:

Minestrone Soup - 1 cup for 3 points
My own salad creation with only greens and free veggies and either Champagne Pear, Poppy Seed Orange or Honey Mustard Dressing, all just 1 point for 2 tablespoons of dressing!
Sweet Potato or Skin-on Mashed Potatoes - 4 points each

This alternative lunch would have only set me back 9 points!

The moral of this story is to plan ahead or at least calculate points before eating anything! I proved to myself once more that it's not easy to determine what foods are the most healthy and lowest in points using estimation alone. There are low point foods you can eat wherever you are but you have to find them!

On the other hand, I kept my portions in check and didn't indulge in desert, so even though I could have chosen better, I'm still proud of myself.  I enjoyed the celebration with my daughter and I have been satisfying my hunger since lunch with fruits and veggies. I know I could use some of my weekly bonus points, but so far I still have my 7 points available and it's almost 7 PM.  Time to eat dinner (Lean Cuisine Steak Tips Portobello for 4 pts)!

Souplantion & Sweet Tomatoes Nutritional Guide

Weight Watchers: It's All About Choices....

It only took me a few days to realize that the Weight Watchers Program was all about choices....making the right ones for me.  My daughter is on Weight Watchers too....my best girlfriend is as well; and the interesting thing is that we each use the choices and concepts of the Weight Watchers system in a slightly different manner.  That's the beauty of the point system, you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want, as long as you stay within your total point allotment for the day. And when you have a special event...you can dip into those weekly bonus points!

I think it's the psychology of the point system that works.  No more thinking solely in terms of calories, fat or carbs; it's just about the POINTS...that secret formula that Weight Watchers tell us is based on the Glycemic Index. Stay within the allotted points and you lose weight!

I equate it to having $100.00 n your pocket and walking into a store...you decide: Do I want this designer $100.00 item or these four knockoffs? Some days you want the designer item...but on other days it feels good to get a bargain and a larger bag!

Every day I make eating choices that make me happy and satisfy my needs for the day.  Sometimes my daughter and I splurge on a lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant.  I make the best choices I can while there, skip the cream cheese wontons, choose the plain rice over the fried rice, and often take part of the food home for later.  But whatever points I "spend" during that lunch fits into my daily plan...which may mean that I'll eat a lighter dinner (my Crockpot Broccoli Soup, Progresso soup or some vegetable based dish for example.) The daily total is what counts.

My daughter eats larger meals, and hits the sack early each night.  I usually eat light early in the day with a reasonable dinner, and save points for snacking in the evening since I am a night owl.

I love the Weight Watchers system because it works for me.  I've learned to look for bargains, how to spend my points wisely as well as budget them throughout the day and week.  But I think the Weight Watcher's program  works for me mostly because of all the choices I have...tomorrow is always a new day!