Restart Your Weight Loss!!

Here is a summary of my Weight Watchers meeting on July 20, 2010.

Definition of Restart – Merriam-Webster Dictionary
1 : to start a new
2 : to resume (as an activity) after interruption



Why restart?

Some of us may feel “plateauing” or that we’re “stuck”, not losing at the rate we hoped, or simply bored with our meals and choices, feel we are off track and can’t get back. Even the most disciplined person can get off track. Life happens! Unfortunately, many people get discouraged and overwhelmed with guilt and frustration which may cause them to give up on their goal. If you are facing challenges at the scale, this week’s meeting showed you ways to help get back your focus and back on track with your weight loss. Are you ready for this? I want you to push that restart button you see above you… go ahead and press your little finger to the screen…it will make you feel better. Done it yet? Okay you have just officially hit restart on your weight loss. Do you remember your very first week on weight watchers? I want you to pretend that you have just walked out of your first weight watcher meeting. The following steps are what you need to do to get back on track and start losing…CAUTION: before going any further you must have pushed that restart button!

1. Reread your week 1 book: Start eating Smarter from cover to cover. That book alone is packed with tons and tons of information about this program.

2. While reading be sure to focus on those Good Healthy Guidelines. Remember those guys? That’s getting in your servings of fruits and veggies, lean proteins, dairy, whole grains, vitamins, liquids, oils , activity, and limiting that good ole’ sugar and alcohol. According to the national weight registry surverys taken by people who have lost over 50lbs and have kept it off over a 5 year period have all of those things in common! Each day they are getting in their GHG’s. Hmmm….maybe there IS a reason to eat them.

3. Go home and go through all of your cabinets, pantry, drawers, and fridge. Clean out all of that tempting “junk” that has led you astray! If it tempts you get rid of it! Next step is to go shopping and stock up on all those healthy food choices. Take your calculator with you and figure up the points values of foods before you bring them home! Remember you can’t eat healthy foods if you never bring them through your front door! To eat 5 servings of fruits and veggies you must buy fruits and veggies!
Speaking of which…this seems like as good a time as any to tell you about this week’s fruit and veggie challenge! This week try at least one fruit/veggie you have never had before…or try a familiar fruit and veggie in a new way. Maybe cooked differently or in a new recipe!

4. Track like you have never tracked before! Write everything (and I do mean everything) down. All of those BLT’s- Bites, licks, and tastes add up at the end of the day! That swig of sweet tea, or handful of m&m’s still has points in it. You don’t need anything fancy to track all you need is a writing utensil and something to write on. Chalk, crayon, paper towel, or napkin anything will do. We know how tracking can “make us” or “break us!”

5. Choose more filling foods. Those filling foods offer you the best nutrition possible and the best part is they keep you from being hungry. If you are wanting to try something different try a week of following the SIMPLY FILLING TECHNIQUE. What this is, is kind of like the old CORE plan. What you do is you eat only filling foods throughout the day, as much as you need to be satisfied not stuffed. You only have to count points when you want to eat something that isn’t a filling food. You still have your 35 extra points a week that you can use on foods that are not filling.

6. Limit your 0 points foods to 5 a day. Sometimes we go “overboard” with 0 points foods that eventually sum up to more than 0 points. We also miss out on necessary nutrients we should be getting from our food, and which will help us to lose weight.

7. Measure everything! Some of us think that we are experts (been doing this program for forever) and we think that we can just look at something and know how much it is. Familiarize yourself with your measuring cups and spoons. Remember a teaspoon is a leveled off spoon not that big heaping mound that you have been using!

8. Move more. Yup I said it! Move more every chance you get. Take a walk, ride your bike, climb those stairs, ha how about actually going to that gym that you have a membership to? You can do it don’t be intimidated by activity. It is an amazing stress reliever and really helps you to burn more calories thus losing weight faster. We have several amazing workout dvds that we offer that help introduce you to activity. The Get Moving DVD and the NEXT Move dvds are just ten bucks! They each offer several different work outs so that you can pick which one best suits you. We also have the new belly butt and thighs kit and the punch kit available!

9. Non scale victories are victories too! Remember all that you have accomplished. Think back to the way you used to eat and just look at what a difference you have made! How are your clothes fitting? How do you feel? How are you sleeping? Success isn’t about just what is on that scale!

10. Tell yourself that you can do it! Losing weight is not easy but yet you are pushing yourself and taking every step possible to be healthy and I am so proud of you. Don’t give up now just simply restart!

Have a wonderful week!......be sure you hit that restart button!!