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.

Chex Party Mix Points

I've been planning for Thanksgiving over the past few days, and I'm sure you have been too.  Even though I know I'll rack up a bunch of WW points on Thursday, I've been good and staying the course since I started back up on Weight Watchers. Today was my weekly weigh-in and I'm happy to report that I lost 1 1/2 pounds.

Today I started making the snacks I'll serve to my family, one being our traditional Chex Mix which will get snacked on before and after dinner.  As I posted earlier, I'm calculating every dish I'm making for Thursday so I won't have to do that then, or eat something with a mystery point value and feel surprised and guilty afterward.  Also, I'm not necessarily trying to reduce points for a traditional dish, because I'd rather eat less of something I love than more of something that tastes wrong.  Of course, I will substitute where it doesn't matter.

Here's how our Traditional Chex Mix turned out (calculation may be slightly off):

Ingredients:
9 cups Chex (I just used Rice this time)
1 cup Cheerios
2 cups zero fat pretzel sticks
2 cups Cheezits
1 1/2 cups cashews
6 tablespoons Smart Balance
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
2 teas seasoning salt
3/4 teas garlic powder
1/2 teas onion powder

Appx Total Points:100
Appx Per cup: 6

Now I know what I'm getting myself into when I start snacking on this goodie.  If you adjust this recipe to lower points successfully, please post your changes! Happy Thanksgiving!

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!

Happy Holidays? How Do We Watch our Weight with Weight Watchers Right Now?

Well, it's that time of year...The Holidays...Friends, Family, Parties, and a time when all those tempting goodies will be right there in our face.

I've slacked off the past six months and I need to get back on the wagon, but let's face it, this isn't the best time to try to lose weight.  However, it is a good time to remind ourselves of the WW principles and find ways to get back in control if we've lost our way.  So, I've made a plan today that includes the next 6 weeks and after the holidays are over.  Making a plan makes me feel better.  Here's my plan:

Make soups.  I love my Crockpot soups...the potato and broccoli are my favorites.  It's soup season, and I plan to have more soups for my meals.

Look for more recipes in which vegetables are the stars. Sprouts is filled with lots of winter vegetables like winter squash, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli. And I see yummy recipes all the time on Facebook and I've tried a bunch of them that were very good.  I vow to focus on the ones that primarily use vegetables and adapt them to lower WW points. Likewise, I will look for fruit based recipes that fit the WW model to stave off my craving for sweets during the holidays.

Stock the freezer with low point frozen dinners and WW frozen deserts.  I really need these.  Sometimes I am too lazy to cook for myself. I love most of the Lean Cuisine dinners and they provide WW points on every box, so I'll be stocking up. I'll always make sure I have some kind of frozen WW sweet treat in there too!

Start tracking points again and weighing myself regularly.  I'm going to go easy on myself, but it's time to start tracking again, to get my mind in gear.  I think I'll set my daily point goal at 35-40 a day during this time period, so it will be easy to feel in control. I'm also going to start stepping on those dreaded scales. It's time to click on our brains and have the right attitude!

Enjoy the holiday dinners. Yes, I'll be eating and enjoying! I won't be worrying about WW Points on Thanksgiving Day or for Christmas dinner....if I do I'll feel too deprived.  However, every OTHER day, I will put on my WW thinking cap.  And after the dinners, I'll make everyone else take home high point leftovers!

Sign up for Weight Watchers online again after the holidays. Come January, it will be easy to slip into weight loss mode and hopefully, lose the pounds I've gained. I find using the website helps me stay focused.

I'll be sharing the good ideas I discover over the next 6 weeks, so check back. I hope you'll share your ideas for how to stay a Weight Watcher during this time too!

Happy Holidays everyone.  Enjoy, but keep watching your weight!

My Annual Weight Watchers Refresher

Holidays are a time for family and friends!

Oh boy, have I been MIA!  So sorry.  But my absence doesn't mean I have abandoned my Weight Watcher attitude. In fact, after the holidays my daughter and I decided to sign up for a 90 day stint to lose the holiday pounds that crept on.

I think it's important to be realistic about maintaining my weight loss.  I've lost a total of 50 pounds over the past few years, 35 of that since joining Weight Watchers last January, but we all know that it's never a straight line from fat to thin, especially if you regularly track your weight. When I went on maintenance, I made a vow to jump back on the WW weight loss routine if I gained more than 2 pounds, which I have now done.

Yes, I enjoyed celebrating the holidays with family and friends, and don't apologize for eating an Almond Roca occasionally during this time-frame.  But I NEVER want to have to lose those 50 pounds I've already lost ever again. At this point, I have lost the few pounds I gained from all the Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's parties.
 
Even though my eating slipped on occasion end of the year, one thing I've never stopped doing is weighing myself weekly.  Every Friday I step on that scale religiously, sometimes with trepidation, and it always makes me feel better afterward.  Better to know the truth than imagine the worst.

In addition to losing the holiday pounds, my goal this time was to lose an additional 5 pounds, which I am still working on....3 more pounds to go!  I think this will be an annual event for me.  It erases any guilt I had about enjoying life with my family for our celebrations, and it reminded me of the WW basics.

Staying healthy is a lifetime endeavor, so if you slipped a bit during the holidays, don't despair.  Jump back in and you'll be ready for those Spring clothes in no time at all! Losing a few pounds now is much easier than 50 pounds later, trust me!

Birthday Dinner with my Granddaughter: TGFBP! (Thank goodness for bonus points!)

I have seven grandkids and I take each of them to dinner for their birthdays every year.  As they have gotten older, the dinner tab has gotten more expensive, but I relish this annual one-on-one with them.

Last night my second oldest granddaughter, Kayla, and I went to her place of choice in Phoenix, The Melting Pot.  We have talked about this plan for several years, deciding that her 18th birthday deserved such a celebration (Our total with tip was over $100!)

I was worried about the plan from a Weight Watchers perspective because she wanted the 2-person, 4-course dinner which included a cheese fondue appetizer, salad, dinner fondue (with 4 different meats) and a chocolate dessert fondue to top it all off.   I KNEW that this would be tricky for me but I also wanted to partake in the celebration.

We chose the spinach artichoke appetizer, which came with veggies, bread cubes and chips.  I got the salad wedge with raspberry vinaigrette for my salad.  We picked a broth-based fondue to cook our meats (lean sirloin steak, ahi tuna, shrimp, and chicken breast).  And for the final temptation, we ordered the Yin-Yang fondue which was half milk chocolate and half white chocolate. The Yin-Yang had several diet-busting choices for dipping that included red velvet cake, brownies, rice krispie treats, marshmallows, bananas and strawberries.  Since it was her birthday, they added a piece of cheesecake. I tasted a piece of each, concentrating on the fruit....but there was that chocolate part with every dip...yikes....

I had saved up 21 of my daily points and I had all of my weekly bonus points available, but I knew that as hard as I was trying to keep the point count down, I was racking them up with every course. I did my best to estimate the total damage on my food log (31 points) but to be honest, I wasn't sure how close I was, and I worried I was underestimating.  I sent the meat and dessert leftovers home with Kayla, so at least I don't have to worry about them staring me in the face today!

Bottom line, I enjoyed the night with Kayla and indulged a bit, but afterward I didn't throw my hands up and say, "Might as well forget about dieting now!"... like I might have on other diet plans.  Instead, I knew I'd gone into my bonus points a significant amount for one day and decided I'd be extra careful not to exceed my daily points the rest of the week. Also, as soon as the food had settled, I got in 20 minutes of low impact aerobics to try to burn a few of those yummy calories I'd eaten!

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that I will still lose weight on my Friday weigh-in.