Weight Watchers and My Pregnancy

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This blog post has been in the works for a while. I knew that I would need to write a post about this, but honestly I have not been able to organize my thoughts until now.

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post called, Pregnancy Highlights: 11 weeks. Helen left me a comment on that blog post that I have thinking about ever since. Helen's comment said, “Do you think you could do a post on how pregnancy and WW work together? I know you cannot officially follow the plan when pregnant, but maybe you could also explain the rules - like what if you are LT, then become pregnant, how does payment work after baby until you get back to goal?” Today, I want to focus on the first question in Helen's comment and come back to the other ones another time.

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Before I begin, I want to make it very clear that what I am going to write is my opinion. It is NOT the opinion of Weight Watchers or anyone else. I am writing from my own personal perspective and opinion. I am not a professional nutritionist, just a woman trying to lead the healthiest lifestyle possible while I am pregnant.

With that being said, I think I should share with you that OFFICIALLY you cannot follow the Weight Watchers program while you are pregnant. A portion of the Weight Watchers health notice states, "Weight Watchers prohibits participation in its weight loss plan for children under the age of 10, those individuals with an active medical diagnosis of bulimia nervosa, those whose weight is less than 5 pounds above the minimum weight of the Weight Watchers Weight Ranges, and during pregnancy." To read the entire Weight Watchers health notice, please click here.

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All of that being said, for the last 12 weeks of my pregnancy, I have still been following Weight Watchers. Over the last 3 years, I have faithfully followed the Weight Watchers program and it is a way of life for me. I've tracked my PointsPlus each day for years, even as a Lifetime member. I knew that one day I would get pregnant and I would continue to follow the Weight Watchers program.

I have still tracked my PointsPlus each day or my pregnancy. Right now, it is early in my pregnancy and I do not need to gain very much weight. So, I have continued to eat the same amount of PointsPlus values that I did when I was trying to maintain my weight as a lifetime member. I have gained weight during this time, because of different cravings that I have experienced.

I know that in my second and third trimester, I am supposed to gain more weight and eat about 300 extra calories a day. I want to gain this weight for my baby. My plan is to add 300 calories worth of PointsPlus to my daily budget so that I will be gaining weight at a healthy rate.

I know that this is not "official", but this is what I've decided to do during my pregnancy to give my baby the best and healthiest start possible. Also, I am going to remain a Weight Watchers leader throughout my pregnancy. I want to continue to be a good example to my members as they learn to lead a healthier lifestyle.

Personally, I wish that Weight Watchers had a program for pregnant woman, especially considering that they are not a "diet", but they do not offer anything like that at this time. So, I am going to apply the principles that I have learned about healthy eating throughout my pregnancy.

Many of the articles that I have read from What to Expect and Baby Center want me to eat the same foods that Weight Watchers has encouraged me to eat. I've already been leading a healthy lifestyle, I am just going to continue to do it while I am pregnant.

Choosing the Healthiest Snacks

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I receive regular email updates with different information about my pregnancy from What to Expect and Baby Center. The Baby Center emails are by far my favorite!

Last night, I received an email update from Baby Center with a subject line that read, 5 worst foods for pregnant women. In the body of the email there were two different links to choose from 10 foods that are perfect for pregnancy and 5 worst foods for pregnant women. I quickly clicked on the links to see if I have been eating the best foods possible.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that so far throughout my pregnancy, I have been eating many of the best foods that I possibly can!! Below I've attached the list from Baby Center of ten tasty foods to try – and five to avoid – all recommended by Heidi Reichenberger, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, and Elizabeth Somer, a registered dietitian and the author of Nutrition for a Healthy Pregnancy: The Complete Guide to Eating Before, During, and After Your Pregnancy.

Healthy "fast foods"

1. Fruit

2. Raisins

3. Yogurt

4. Make-it-yourself trail mix

5. Salad Bar

6. Baby Carrots

7. String Cheese

8. Orange juice fortified with calcium and vitamin D

9. Whole grain cereal or instant oatmeal

10. Fat-free or low-fat cottage cheese

Foods to avoid

1. Packaged ramen noodles

2. Soda

3. Shelf-stable commercial lunches

4. Too many frozen prepared meals

5. Iceberg lettuce

These lists above ARE healthy for pregnant woman, but they are also just healthy foods for everyone. Even if you are not pregnant at this time, this is a good list of the kinds of snack foods that you should be stocking up on while you are learning to lead a healthier lifestyle.

I am so thankful that I joined Weight Watchers and have had time to change my eating habits! I could not imagine what I would have been eating if I had gotten pregnant 3 or 4 years ago. Many of the foods on this list, I always have on hand at home. I am glad that I do not need to run out to the store and buy new snacks for myself, because I have already have them!

Pregnant or not, make sure that you spend time evaluating the snacks that you have in your home. If they are not the healthiest choices slowly get rid of them and replace them with something better for you and your family!

I hope you have a great weekend!!

Also, I posted my 12 week pregnancy highlights on Newsham Flight Log, so be sure to check them out!!

Recipe Review: Baked Ranch Tilapia

So far, throughout my pregnancy there are a few foods that I cannot stand to eat and at the top of that list is chicken. It's so frustrating that chicken is something that makes me sick to my stomach, because it is a staple in our home. We eat a lot of chicken.

As a result, when I made our menu for the month of February, I tried to find other proteins to use for dinner. One of the proteins that I decided to try was fish, specifically Tilapia. Jon and I do not like fish very much. However, I decided that we needed to step outside of our comfort zone and try something new! As it turned out, Jon actually liked this recipe and said that I could make it again. Enjoy!

The Ingredients

Rinse fish and pat dry.

I used Peppercorn Ranch Dressing in this recipe, because I did not have any reduced-fat ranch at home.

Dip fish in ranch dressing; shake off excess.

Arrange fish in single layer on baking sheet.

Sprinkle crushed onions on top of fish.

Bake 10-15 minutes or until fish flakes easily.

I served this Baked Ranch Tilapia with rice. Yes, white rice, because I cannot stand the taste of brown rice now that I am pregnant.

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Baked Ranch Tilapia
Source: JUST-RHONDA

Ingredients
4 4-oz. Tilapia Filets
1/2 c. Reduced-Fat Ranch Salad Dressing
1/2 c. Canned French Fried Onions, crushed

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350.
Rinse fish and pat dry.
Dip fish in ranch dressing; shake off excess.
Spray baking sheet with Pam.
Arrange fish in single layer on baking sheet.
Sprinkle crushed onions on top of fish.
Bake 10-15 minutes or until fish flakes easily.

Servings: 4, 5 PointsPlus+

Wordless Wednesday: I'm Possible

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My Favorite Valentine's Day Ideas

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I hope that you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!! Even if you are not married or in a relationship there are people in your life that you can show your love to, so make sure you do that today and all throughout the year!!

Today, I thought it would be fun to share with you my top 5 favorite Valentine's Day ideas from Pinterest.

{#5: Heart Kabobs}

Heart Kabobs from Parents.com

These heart kabobs are easy, cute, and healthy! What could be better!? You can make them from your family and do it just for yourself.

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{#4: Valentine's Chex Mix}

Valentine's Chex Mix from Betty Crocker

I really like Chex mix!! I do not eat it very often, because it is higher in PointsPlus values. However, when I saw this Valentine's Chex Mix recipe, I knew that I needed to at least try it! I can't want to make this!

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{#3: John 3:16}

John 3:16 from Pinterest

This is important, so do not skip over this! Valentine's day is about love, but you need to remember the one who first loved us...God. God is love and He should not be forgotten today or any other day of the year.

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{#2: Strawberry Valentine Oreo Cookies}

Strawberry Valentine Oreo Cookies' from Six Sisters' Stuff

Again, these do not look like the healthiest cookies around, but they look good! my friend, Elise made homemade Oreos and they were so good! I am really looking forward to trying the strawberry kind, which is perfect for Valentine's Day! Thanks Six Sister's Stuff for the great idea!

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{#1: Our Valentine's Day Date}

Our Valentine's Day Date from Newsham Flight Log

This last idea comes from me! Honestly, it was so much fun planning and going on my date with Jon! I love spending time with him. I love the date idea that I found from The Dating Divas and I hope that you will use it too!

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.