All I Have To Do is Track

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This morning, I want to give you the meeting summary from my Weight Watchers meeting on Saturday, February 11, 2012.

Only track on the days that you want to lose weight!

What a powerful statement huh? We all know that tracking is one of the foundations to the Weight Watchers plan. Tracking, holding yourself accountable for what you are eating makes a huge impact on your weight loss journey.

And yet, day after day, week after week we somehow find an excuse to not track. Why is that?

We as humans have a tendency to forget things, especially over time. If I asked you to list every single thing that you put into your mouth 5 days ago... How accurate would you be? Whether we mean to or not, we often forget some of the things that we put into our mouths.

Tracking helps you to stay true to your PointsPlus values.

Now there are many different ways to track. If you are a monthly pass holder, you can track using e-tools on the computer or on your smart phone. You can also use the awesome barcode scanner as well. You can track using one of the weekly paper trackers that you can pick up at the weigh in station, or you can stay for one of the power start sessions and get one of our colored trackers to use each week. We also have available a three month journal which will hold all of your information for 12 weeks. This makes it really easy to refer back to later to look up PointsPlus values of foods, and to notice trends in your weight loss journey. We offer electronic devices to assist with tracking. You can use your PointsPlus calculator to account for the foods that you eat, or we do have the clicker where you just push a button and click down with every PointsPlus value that enters your mouth until you get down to zero.

You don’t have to have anything fancy to track, all you need is some sort of writing utensil and something to write on. Maybe your style is more to make tick marks on a post it note. Or maybe you go to the store and buy yourself your own fun journal to document your foods.

Regardless of your method, what you’ll find is those that track lose 3 times as much weight as those that do not!

Think of how confident you feel when you walk in to weigh and you have tracked faithfully all week. Now...think of how you feel when you haven’t tracked a lick. Which one feels better? To have confidence in yourself and in the program really makes you feel good and that you CAN reach your weight loss goals.

Even if you really fall off the bandwagon, completely binge, and go extremely over your pointsplus values, tracking what you have done can be a big learning experience.

Once you see how many PointsPlus you spent on that one meal, you might really get an eye opener to help your brain realize that the food wasn’t that good and definitely not worth the cost. This might make you leery when you are faced with that same situation again.

Is tracking every single day easy...NO, but it will help you lose weight.

Your best bet is to keep your tracker close to you, make sure it goes everywhere you go so that when you do pop that chocolate into your mouth your tracker will be readily available to help you record it.

Another technique may be to pre-track your foods for the day. Yes it involves planning but for some, it helps them stay in control. What they pre-tracked in the morning, is what they packed for the day, so they are less likely to go astray.

In the meeting room we discussed upside down tracking. For most of us dinner is the biggest meal of the day. Have you ever gotten home from work wanting a nice meal and then not had the PointsPlus values for it?

Your day, and your PointsPlus values do not have to start when you wake up. Your PointsPlus values could start at dinner and end with lunch the following day. (5pm-5pm) That way you can always count on having that nice, large, hit the spot dinner. Then you can just adjust your breakfast and lunch to match the PointsPlus values accordingly. Your 24 hour range to use your PointsPlus values can start whenever you want it to maybe its 7am -7am, 10:30am-10:30am, or 8pm-8pm. As long as your “day” is accounted for and you are keeping track of your PointsPlus values.

Tracking is a huge part of the program. If you are not tracking, and you are not following the Simply Filling Technique, then you are not following Weight Watchers. Tracking is data information without it you are just taking a guess at the program.

So, we’ve established that if you track you’ll feel better. You’ll be more confident and peaceful. You’ll make better choices. It only takes a few minutes each day. It’s worth it to be able to lose more weight. Weight Watchers is proven.

What will it take for you to track (and track accurately) this week? Think of these great sayings:

A Few Random Thoughts

Today, I have lots of different things on my mind, so I have decided to blog about all of them!!

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{My First Ticketed Traffic Violation}

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This morning, on my way to work I stopped to get our mail. In the mail was a "notice of traffic violation". I quickly opened the letter to see if it was me or Jon who had received a ticket. To my surprise it was me!! Until today, I had never received a ticket for anything. Do you know that you can even go online and see yourself commit the traffic violation? It's frustrating, but it was my own fault. I was in a hurry and not driving as carefully as I should have been. Don't worry though, I am determined to not let it ruin my morning.

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{Making Exercise a Priority During Pregnancy}

This is a picture I took while walking last week! I cannot pass up beautiful walking days like this!

Over the last 11 weeks and 3 days of my pregnancy, I have made exercise one of my top priorities. My exercise of choice is walking. I get an hour lunch break Monday through Friday at work. I have discovered that this is the perfect time for me to go walking. I try to walk anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes as many days during the work week as I can. Even on days when the weather is bad, I walk in my office building.

There have been several days when I do not feel like going for a walk. However, I understand how important it is to exercise throughout my pregnancy. I want to do what is best for me and my baby, which is why I go for a walk anyway!

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{Flashback Friday: Positive Pregnancy Tests}

I wrote a blog post about the day that Jon and I found out that I was pregnant. It is called, "Flashback Friday: Positive Pregnancy Tests" and it it posted over on my personal blog, Newsham Flight Log.

Recipe Review: Crescent Pepperoni Roll-Ups

For weeks I was on a quest to find the perfect snack to make for our Sunday school Super Bowl party. I spent way too much time searching Pinterest looking for a recipe that would really wow people.

I found this recipe for Crescent Pepperoni Roll-Ups at Plain Chicken. I adapted Steph's recipe to help make this Super Bowl snack a little bit more Weight Watchers friendly.

These snack were a hit! No one even noticed that they were Weight Watchers friendly! People enjoyed them so much that they were gone before half-time.

Ingredients

First, I opened each individual package of string cheese and then I cut them in half.

Next, unroll the crescent rolls into 8 triangles.

Then, place 5 slices of turkey pepperoni on each crescent roll.  Top pepperoni with string cheese half and roll up.

Then, place crescent roll-ups on baking sheet and sprinkle with garlic powder.

Bake for 12-15 minutes

or until golden brown.

Serve with a side of warm pizza sauce.

They were so good!! I look forward to making them again!!

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Crescent Pepperoni Roll-Ups
Adapted from: Plain Chicken

Ingredients
1 can refrigerated reduced fat crescent rolls
40 slices turkey pepperoni
4 pieces of Weight Watchers mozzarella string cheese, cut in half
garlic powder
pizza sauce

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375.

Unroll crescent rolls and separate into 8 triangles. Place 5 slices of turkey pepperoni on each crescent roll. Top pepperoni with string cheese half and roll up. Sprinkle crescent rolls with garlic powder. Place rolls on baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with a side of warm pizza sauce.

Servings: 1 roll-up; 4 PointsPlus+

Wordless Wednesday: It's a Lifestyle

Snacking Smart

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This morning, I want to give you the meeting summary from my Weight Watchers meeting on Saturday, February 4, 2012.

Learning tips on how to survive the Super Bowl can really help us year round as we make snack choices everyday!

Pregame prep
Before entering your buddies' house, give yourself a mental pep talk and then "stick with your plan.” Ask yourself why you are at the game. Is it to eat or is it to watch the game?

New game plan
You can still enjoy some football fare: a chicken wing or two, some chips and dip, a slice of pizza and a cold one. Just don't overindulge — eat and drink reasonably, keep track of what you chow down on, and save your weekly PointsPlus™ Allowance for game day.

"If you're working at getting rid of your beer belly, remember that, 'If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got,'" Fleming says. "So if you pig out at that tailgate party or during the game, you'll get that beer belly just like in the past."

Know your opponent
Forget the game for a sec. At the party, your foe is all that grub on the counter. It most likely isn’t low calorie or fat free, either. Keep in mind, a plain hot dog on a roll can pack 9 PointsPlus values. Two medium slices of thin crust pepperoni pizza have about 11 PointsPlus values. A serving of nacho chips and mystery cheese can be laden with around 9 PointsPlus values and more fat grams than points both teams will score. If you're still jonesing for football food, try minimizing the damage. Eating the dog minus the bun will save about 5 PointsPlus values. Have only 1 slice of pizza and you’ll cut 6 PointsPlus values.

Good substitutions
"Make better food choices," says Neil Anderson, a master personal trainer. To make that easier, prepare and bring healthier items such as:

• grilled chicken sandwiches
• fruit cups
• a veggie tray
• shrimp with cocktail sauce,
• baked chips
• light beer
• fat-free pretzels
• turkey brats
• bags of low-fat microwavable popcorn.
*Not all to be eaten at the same time, of course.

Walk it off
Consider parking a few blocks from the party or heading outside for a walk instead of watching for the next wardrobe malfunction at halftime (that’s what DVRs are for anyway).

Improve your bench
Try fitting in a few exercises – push-ups or Pilates – whenever possible, Anderson suggests. Drop and do 20 push-ups or a few Pilates hundreds during commercial breaks. Or put a couple of bucks in a pot for the winner of a game-long challenge with your friends. You can also make friendly competitive wagers using crunches instead of money. Every time your team scores, fans on the opposite side have to hit the deck for 20 and vice versa.

Stay in motion
During breaks in the action, get off your seat – but not to visit the food table. "Try to do anything that can make you active. The activity counts just as much as eating right," Anderson says. "If you get active during a football game, you'll eat less."

Try staying on your feet for an entire series, and switch between doing push-ups, stretches, crunches or squats during breaks. Do "secret squats" by pushing yourself out of a low-rider chair over and over. Here's a good stretch for your back and legs: sit up straight against a couch, extend your legs and hold as long as you can.

You could even practice different TD celebration dances. This, of course, is best done alone – unless you have no shame or don't embarrass easily.

If you follow these tips, your new fleet-footed celebration moves might be used to commemorate a losing season on the scale.

Baby Blogging

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Thank you all so much for your sweet comments, emails, and notes that you have been sending to me, since I made my BIG announcement!!

I have been looking forward to blogging about my baby for weeks!! I've been keeping my pregnancy a secret since before Christmas. It's been so hard to blog over the last few weeks, because a lot of the things on my mind have to do with my pregnancy and the baby. However, while it was a secret I could not blog about how I was really feeling.

I am so thankful that we waited to tell people until after I went to the doctor. However, now that we have received the go ahead from the doctor I am so excited to start blogging about my pregnancy!

I know that we have family and friends who do not live close to us, that want to know how my pregnancy is going. My plan, in the coming months is to give you weekly pregnancy highlights, which is an idea that I stole from my friend Kristen. You will be able to find these pregnancy highlights on my personal blog, Newsham Flight Log. I will not be posting pregnancy highlights here on my weight loss blog, Living a Changed Life.

I plan to continue to blog about healthy living, Weight Watchers, recipes, and more!! I just might have a lot more to say about babies and pregnancy, but I hope that you will continue to stick with me during this time of transition!!

Our BIG Announcement

On Saturday, December 17th, 2011, the morning of our five year anniversary, I woke up extra early so that I could take a pregnancy test before I left for my Weight Watchers meeting. The tests results came back POSITIVE! I could not believe that I was really pregnant.

I hurried into our room and got together a special gift for Jon, because I wanted to announce our first pregnancy to him in a creative way. I finished my preparations and decided to go ahead and wake Jon up at 5:30am. At first, he was not happy about being woken up so early on a Saturday morning. However, his frustration soon changed to pure joy and excitement as he opened his present and saw the positive pregnancy tests!!

We told our immediate family about our baby on Christmas Eve. However, we decided not to tell anyone else about our little until after I went to the doctor.

On Monday, January 23rd, 2011, I had my first doctor's appointment. Jon was able to get off work to come with me. We had an ultrasound and heard our baby's heartbeat!! It was amazing!!

Since my doctor's appointment we decided to tell everyone about our baby. We have told our extended family, friends, work, church, and even Facebook. The only people left to tell are my bloggy friends and followers!

Next Tuesday, I will be 11 weeks pregnant, which means that my due date is August 28, 2012!! We are so excited about this little blessing that God has given us!!