How Often Should You Weigh Yourself When Dieting?

Image courtesy of Clarita/morguefile.com

I personally LOVE the Weight Watchers once a week weigh-in.  I am planning on adopting this as a lifelong habit! Here's an article I wrote in support of this practice.

How Often Should You Weigh Yourself When Dieting
Article pub. 1-31-12 Suite 101 

Stepping on the scale regularly is a healthy habit for everyone to adopt. But when trying to lose weight, how often should a dieter weigh-in?

Dr. Mike Moreno reports in his book, The 17 Day Diet, “Not too many people like to weigh themselves. Doctors know this. After patients step on the scale, they think it is giving them the weight of a completely different person, like Hulk Hogan.”

Should a Dieter Weigh Daily, Weekly, or What?

Most dieters are impatient to see results and many jump on the scale every day to find out the verdict. Is this wise?

Some weight loss experts feel that weighing daily can have a detrimental effect on motivation if the number on the scale isn’t what a dieter had hoped to see. Additionally, it takes a reduction of 3,500 calories to lose a pound. Due to these two facts, many weight loss plans incorporate a weekly weigh-in. 

There are great digital smart scales available right now. They are set up initially using your physical measurements and can be tied into an app for your phone. The app tracks that your history, which is helpful when you’re on a weight loss journey.  I have the Arboleaf Smart Scale, which is one of many smart scales. It that shows your weight on the scale and records 14 essential body measurements, including weight, BMI, and body fat percentage on the app. It can support multiple users too. 

So, in summary, weigh yourself regularly and track your results in the WW app, but don’t obsess. Think health and don’t have a quick loss, crash diet mentality. 

Banana Split for Weight Watchers

The secret for Weight Watchers is to find low point foods that are a good substitute for the more fattening foods you like.  I'm sharing the treat I made for myself tonight that I'm calling the WW Banana Split. I had a bunch of points leftover tonight and this was just 4 yummy pts!

First I placed 1 graham cracker square in a bowl topped by a 1/2 cup scoop of Breyer's Fat Free ice cream.

Next I spooned strawberry and banana slices on top of the ice cream.

Fat Free Whipped Topping was the grand finale!

Weight Watchers with a sweet tooth, as simple as this was, it tasted almost decadent! :)

Chicken Chow Mein for Weight Watchers

I love Chinese and have made this dish forever.  Most oriental dishes make for great meals when dieting. They are inherently low in calories and points because they are filled with vegetables, but I leaned it up even further for Weight Watchers and don't miss anything I left out! This recipe is as easy as it is delicious, especially if you can get your significant other to slice up the veggies!

Serves 5
WW Pts+: 3 per serving

Ingredients:
3/4 pound chicken breast, sliced thinly
1 cup uncooked, sliced celery
I med onion, sliced or chopped as preferred (I like to see my onions)
1 can water chestnuts, drained
2 cups sliced peppers, green, red, yellow or orange
1 can bean sprouts, rinsed
1 can mushrooms, drained
1 tablespoon olive oil
Several sprays of olive oil spray
2 tsp soy sauce (or to taste)
1 envelope turkey or chicken gravy, prepared as directed
Optional: Sesame Seeds

Directions:

• Spray skillet generously with Olive Oil Spray and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Heat pan to medium high and add onions, peppers, and celery and stir fry for 3-4 minutes.
• Push veggies to one side of pan, spray again with Olive Oil and add sliced chicken breast. Cover pan and cook 2-3 minutes.
• Turn chicken pieces to other side and cook another 2-3 minutes, covered.
• Uncover pan, add water chestnuts, bean sprouts, mushrooms, and soy sauce.  Stir all ingredients together and cook a few minutes to heat thoroughly
• Prepare turkey gravy and stir into mixture.
• When the gravy liquid starts to thicken, turn off heat.
• Serve over rice or noodles. (Pts not included) Sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.

Variation:
If you prefer beef, use 4 ounces of sirloin, round, flank or skirt steak, tenderize first, and then slice steak very thin. Pan sear beef in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, add 1/4 cup water and simmer 30 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook as directed, except use beef gravy.  Same Weight Watchers point value!

Special K Cracker Chips

If you are a Weight Watchers snacker and haven't tried them yet, be sure to check out Special K's Cracker Chips.  They are so good and, at 3 pts per serving (27-30 chips), they provide lots of crunch for your Weight Watchers Points! I've tried the Southwest Ranch, Cheddar Cheese and Sea Salt varieties and like all three (the Southwest Ranch is a bit spicy). They are baked and made of potatoes and brown rice.  I like mine with a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese for a healthy 5 pt snack that also gives me a milk serving.  I love being able to eat a snack while I am "dieting" on Weight Watchers, don't you?

Crepes for Weight Watchers

Makes 12-15 crepes
WW Pts+: Appx 1 per crepe

Crepes are easy to make and a great way to create a main dish or dessert great for any dieter and low on Weight Watchers points.  You don't need a special pan and probably have all the ingredients on hand.

Here's my recipe for basic dessert crepes:

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup flour (any type)
1 cup skim milk
1 T sugar
 1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt

Directions:

• Mix ingredients with whisk.
• Heat small skillet that has been sprayed with Olive Oil spray to medium heat (spray before the first few crepes...you probably won't need to after that)
• Add scant 1/4 cup batter to pan and swirl until it covers bottom of pan.
• Cook until the top of crepe is no longer moist and starting to curl
• Lift edge of crepe with fork or spatula and place crepe on plate (cook only one side)
• Continue until batter is gone.

Filling:
Fill crepe with pudding, whipped topping, fruit, ice cream, etc.

My favorite filling is a spoonful of fat free Strawberry yogurt spread down the middle, slices of strawberries, blueberries and banana, topped with a generous spoon of fat free whipped topping.
This filling adds less than 1 pt to the crepe.  Without the yogurt the filling is zero pts!

Notes:

• I use whole wheat flour, but you can use any type of flour you prefer.  You could try 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat to add more fiber to your diet. 
• Be sure to refrigerate your crepes right away and eat within a few days as they will spoil. They're so easy to make, you can make 1/2 batch if you don't think you'll eat them up fast enough.
• For dinner crepes, omit the sugar and vanilla.

 Enjoy fellow Weight Watchers!!

Crockpot Potato Soup for Weight Watchers

Here's a recipe that I am making almost weekly now.  It is a very filling 4 points!

Image courtesy of Joy Schantz

Crockpot Potato Soup

Makes 10 cup servings
WW Pts+: 4 per cup

Ingredients:
1 26-30 ounce bag frozen hash browns (plain)
2 14 ounce cans non-fat chicken broth
1 10-3/4 can 98% fat free cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp pepper
1 - 8 ounce pkg lowfat (1/3 less fat) cream cheese
1 cup fat free milk

Directions:

• Add first 5 ingredients to crock pot and cook on high for an hour and a half or until bubbly.
• Stir and then add cream cheese, cut into cubes,  and cook another hour 1/2 or until cheese can be stirred into mixture.
• Add milk and cook 10 - 15 minutes longer. (Crockpot should be almost full. If not, add more milk

Optional: Garnish with chopped green onion and bacon bits. (Add 1 pt for garnish)
Variation: Use frozen Country potatoes or Potatoes O'Brien in place of the hash browns.

Enjoy!

Nutrition Info per cup serving:
 

Calories	177
Fat	5.4	g
Sat. Fat	3.5	g
Carbs	24.5	g
Fiber	1.6	g
Sugars	1.6	g
Protein	5.7	g
Sodium	308	mg

NOTE to Weight Watchers:  I have amended the point value for this recipe and added nutritional information based on the comments.  My original point value was calculated via the WW recipe builder on the Weight Watcher site....but when the ingredients are entered into the recipe builder in Myfitnesspal and then entered into the iBites point calculator this is the result.  Interesting that it was lower in points using WW tools...right? Go figure.  I still feel a cup of this soup is worth the new 4 points!

What's Your BMI?

Image courtesy of Cohdra/morguefile.com

Most Diets, including Weight Watchers encourages tracking, which I enjoy.  I love the online tools on the Weight Watcher's site that I use faithfully to determine the points values of my food choices, as well as their tracker for logging in my food intake and exercise.  I do wish they had a few other tools: a Body Mass Index or BMI calculator for one.

I consider it important to know what your height/weight relationship means in terms of the amount of fat you are carrying around. Besides not fitting into cute clothes, too much fat equals health problems.

In searching for a BMI calculator, I found a good site that is filled with helpful tools, which includes a BMI calculator and even a Pointsplus calculator tool! In calculating my BMI today, I have a 28.7 BMI, which means I am still overweight (no shock here).  It indicates that for my age and height, my BMI should be between 18.5 and 25.  I am setting a goal of hitting that 25 BMI by the end of the year (which equates to 30 pounds).

What's your BMI? 

Here's the link: BMI calculator