Archives for February 2011

Portion Control: It’s More Important Than You Might Think

My wife and I have been part of a Weight Watchers group in our area for about a month now, and we’re both losing weight right at about the rate that they said we would (1-2 lbs/week). I’ve lost about 10 1/2 pounds since we started, and my wife has lost over 8.

We’ve been learning a lot by going to the meetings, things like the importance of eating healthier foods, exercising when you can and most importantly for me, the power and importance of practicing portion control.

Portion Control

At one of our first meetings the discussion topic for the night was about the new PointsPlus system that you use on the program. We talked about how when you’re on the program you don’t necessarily have to avoid all foods that you normally enjoy. You just have to stay within your allotted number of points for the day and week. You can eat some unhealthy foods, but they encourage healthy foods by making those foods less points – or no points at all. In other words, you have to enjoy certain foods – in moderation.

In my opinion their points system is a one sense is a sneaky way of having people practice something they probably should be anyway, portion control.

I think portion control is one thing that I’ve always struggled with, and something that Weight Watchers has made me a lot more conscious of. Before I wouldn’t think twice about opening a bag of chips and eating almost the whole bag, but now I’m much more aware of my portion sizes because I’m thinking more about how healthy the foods are for me. I’m thinking, those chips are going to be 10 points, or that brownie is 6 points.

The funny thing is, you would think that I’d be starving all the time now that my portion sizes have dropped so dramatically. But I’m not. I’ve adjusted to the smaller portions much easier than I thought, and I’m actually content at the end of meals, instead of unhappily over-stuffed. I’m allowing my body to feel full, but not going overboard and feeling stuffed.

Tips For Portion Control

Here are a few tips I’ve learned that can help in controlling your portions:

Don’t feel like you have to be a member of the “clean plate club”: You should be ok with wasting a little bit of food if it means you’re eating a healthier portion. That may mean leaving some of that tasty pasta dish on your plate when you eat out on the weekend. Instead share a meal with a loved one or bring some of your food home for another meal.
Use smaller plates and bowls: Trick yourself into smaller portions by using smaller bowls and plates. It may seem silly, but your plate will look more full, and you won’t eat as much.
Eat healthy foods that are more filling: Instead of eating chips or donuts, try eating healthier foods that are more filling and that have few calories – while still having good nutrients.
Plan ahead for our meals: Make your meals at home if possible, and plan out a healthy menu plan that includes correct portion sizes.
Read nutrition information: Reading the nutrition information will help you to know just what you’re eating, and how much of that food is intended to be in a serving. Try just eating 1 serving, isntead of the whole bag.
Never eat out of the bag or box: Instead of eating out of a bag or box, transfer 1 serving of the food to a plate or bowl, and eat one serving at a time. Eat slowly to give your brain time to catch up with your body.

Those are just a few tips that I’ve learned over the past couple of weeks, and that have helped me to lose over 10 pounds over those weeks.

Do you struggle with portion control? What tips can you give to help curb the humongous portions?

photo credit: mikefats

Disclaimer: This site is an advertising partner with Weight Watchers. I will receive compensation if a new member signs up through one of the links above. Please know that this review does discuss my true feelings of the program.

My Journey To Weight Loss.. Again

By Peter Leave a Comment

I‘ve been writing here at this site for almost 3 years now, and during that time I’ve had quite the roller coaster of fitness and weight. I’ve been as high as 270 lbs, and as low as 210 lbs. I figured today I would fess up to the struggles I’ve had over the past couple of years, and talk about what I’m doing to fix things now.

I Was In Good Shape… What Happened?

About a year before I started this site I was in my best shape since high school – having lost over 50 pounds, and dropped from about 260 down to about 210 or so. I was only about 10-15 pounds away from my goal weight. I had done it through a combination of healthier eating, and exercise – lifting weights 3 days a week, and running or doing other cardio 3 other days. It was working pretty well. And then disaster struck.

In April of 2008 my wife had a catastrophic blood clot in her leg. The clot could have killed her, and for many people something like that does – but thankfully by the grace of God she made it through. She was in the hospital for about a month, during which time I never left her side. It was touch and go for quite a while.

While I knew I had to be by my wife’s side, during that time I stopped working out completely. I was eating fast food 3 times a day at the hospital McDonald’s restaurant 0r cafeteria, and during that month alone I gained at least 15 pounds.

My Eating Habits Never Got Healthy Again

While my wife ended up getting better and going home, we were both extremely stressed out during that time, and the last thing we wanted to do was cook healthy or exercise. So we started eating out more often. We ate out a lot, as in a majority of our meals. Neither one of us exercised.

I knew it wasn’t healthy, and I knew I was slowly gaining weight, but I honestly just didn’t think about it too much. I was just so stressed out with all that was going on in our lives.

The Motivation We Needed

At the end of 2009, my wife got pregnant, and we had a little one on the way. We were both excited, but as the pregancy progressed, we both continued gaining weight. In June of last year little Carter John was born, and we became parents.

Having a little one in the house meant that we both realized that we needed to change. Neither one of us wanted to be this unhealthy anymore, and we wanted to be there for our little one, and be able to run and play with him, without being out of breath. That wasn’t going to happen with where we were.

At the end of last month, we joined Weight Watchers. I joined mainly as a support to Maria, but found that it was actually a good program for men as well. I think it gets a bad rap as a “women’s only program” when in fact if you join the meetings or online program, it works really well for men as well.

So far we’re both losing weight. Only 4 weeks in I’ve lost almost 10 pounds, which is a bit more than what Weight Watchers says is typical (1-2 lbs a week). I’m down to about 260, from a starting weight of 270.

Read my review of the Weight Watchers program

Stick With Us As We Get To The Dirty Business Of Weight Loss

So here we are. We’re back on track, working out regularly, eating healthier, and we’re starting to lose weight. Stay with us as we progress through the weeks, working towards our goal of losing a lot of weight. I’m looking to lose 70 lbs, down to a mean trim fighting weight of 200 lbs. Hopefully I’ll get there within 7-8 months. Wish us luck!

Have you had a weight roller coaster like we have? Are you losing weight again now, or have you already lost all the weight? Tell us about it in the comments.

Review Of Weight Watchers Weight Loss Program

By Peter

A few weeks back my wife and I started talking about how we both thought that it was time that we lose some weight. We’ve allowed things to go on for far too long, and we’re both pretty far from our ideal weight. Funny how life can just start flying by you, and before you know it you’ve gained 50 lbs!

We both also wanted to set a good example for our 7 month old son, and be able to run and play with him once he gets to that point in a few months. We’re both so out of shape now that there would be no way that would be possible without some changes.

When we were talking about methods of losing weight, Maria suggested that we both join Weight Watchers weight loss program, and that we attend meetings through a local Weight Watchers location. At first I was hesitant to do that. In fact, I was dead set against it. I think I’ve got an ingrained bias against Weight Watchers, that it’s a program only for women, and that more than anything it’s a group therapy session for folks who need some help in losing weight. I like to think of myself as a self-sufficient kind of guy, and even thinking of going to group meetings made me not want to join. I’ve lost significant weight in the past ( Over 50 lbs back in 2007), and I was sure I could do it again. But then again, I wanted something that could make the weight loss stick – a life change.

After some discussion lengthy discussion I decided to join Weight Watchers and attend meetings with my wife. I did it mainly because she didn’t want to join on her own, and I wanted to encourage her on her weight loss journey. I also realized that I just might learn some things for myself that would help me to lose weight and maintain the weight loss. So two weeks ago yesterday we got a babysitter and went to our first Weight Watchers meeting.

Joining The Weight Watchers Program

We walked into our first Weight Watchers meeting on a Thursday night, and signing up was pretty easy. One of the counselors just gave us the rundown of how the program worked, gave us some materials, and and signed us up. There were a couple of options for signing up. Normally there is a joining fee, but they’re currently running a promotion for the new year where you don’t have to pay that registration fee. To see current options and pricing for signing up, head on over to the Weight Watchers Site.

It should be noted that prices may vary depending upon the location you join.

Before the meeting each week everyone comes in to the front desk, signs in and does a weigh-in. Then the counselor who weighs you in will record your current weight -which they’ll do each successive week as well to mark your progress.

After everyone arrived the meeting starts. There is one group leader that heads the meeting, and there is a topic for discussion every week. For this past week for example they talked about getting active and exercising, and talked about ways that you could do that.

The meetings I’m discovering are a great motivational tool to help keep you focused. They keep you on task, they remind you of what’s important when you’re trying to lose weight, and they give you plenty of ideas when it comes to healthy eating, fitness and weight loss. They are also a good place to get some positive feedback. When you reach your smaller weight loss goals, the group will recognize you, and everyone gives words of encouragement. I can see why some people really enjoy these meetings.

Weight Watchers E-Tools

Part of Weight Watchers strong points that I’ve seen so far is how it changes your views of eating. Already in 2 weeks my eyes have been opened to just how bad my eating habits were, and just how huge my portion sizes were.

I used to think that people who were on the program must drive themselves crazy all the time trying to figure out their Weight Watchers points. They had to figure out how many points individual foods have, how much more they can eat in a day, how many fruits they’ve eaten, etc. I just sounded very frustrating.

What I’ve found so far is that the reality is much different. It really isn’t as hard or as frustrating as you might think to follow the healthy eating plan that they set out for you. When you weigh in at your first meeting they’ll give you a PointsPlus target for the number of PointsPlus values that you can eat every day. They’ll also give you some extra “splurge” PointsPlus values for the week. I’ve found that assigning PointsPlus values to the foods I eat is actually super simple using the eTools. After a while it becomes second nature, and actually doing it will open your eyes to just how much you need to change.

NOTE: Weight Watchers recently changed to their new PointsPlus program from the Momentum program. If you were in the program in the past, the old points values have changed to the PointsPlus values. This is important, especially if you’ve bought Weight Watchers products with the old points values still on them. New PointsPlus values are different, and should be re-calculated using Nutrition information in the calculator.

They have a variety of tools that help you to track your food intake, your weight loss progress, your exercise and more. Here’s a short list of the helpful features within the eTools:

PointsPlus Tracker: Tracking is the heart of the Weight Watchers program. The tool allows you to track your daily food intake by assigning PointsPlus values to all the foods you eat. It has been extremely helpful to me in realizing how much my portion sizes were out of control.
PointsPlus Calculator: This tool will help you to calculate the points your foods have if you can’t find it in the system. Just enter fat, protein, carbs and fiber for your food, and it will give you a points plus value.
Weight Tracker: You’ll weigh in each week at your meeting. You can enter it online to track your progress on your weight loss goals. My first goal was 5% of my starting weight. I’m over half way there already!
Activity Tracker: This helps you to track the exercise you’re doing during the week. You’ll get extra PointsPlus values for working out, which will allow you to eat a little more -nice if you have a splurge day like Super Bowl Sunday.
Recipe Builder: If you’re trying to figure out the PointsPlus value of a particular recipe, this tool will help you break it down into it’s parts to figure out the total value.
Restaurant Finder: Tool to help you find the points value of certain foods at certain restaurants.
Food Cheat Sheets (beer cheat sheet): They have helpful cheat sheets that will help you to eat healthier and figure out PointsPlus values at popular destinations. They’ve got cheat sheets for beer, for eating at a Chinese buffet, salads, and more.

A good number of the eTools above will be found in your Weight Watchers Plan Manager, shown in the screenshot below. I keep my plan manager open in my browser at work all day to track everything I eat. Very helpful and easy to use!
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