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Weight Watchers
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Unlike other programs that outlaw whole food groups, Weight Watchers lays the groundwork to help you make wise choices, integrate physical activity into your life and stay at your goal weight.
A recent study shows that people who attend Weight Watchers meetings are three times more likely to lose weight than those who attempt to lose weight on their own.
Traditionally, Weight Watchers weekly meetings are held at centers throughout the world. Members participate in a private weigh-in prior to the group sessions begin.
A trained Meeting leader speaks about different nutrition- and fitness-related topics to give guidance, motivation and support. The interaction with other dieters provides members with a network of people who are in the same boat, facing the same problems.
For those who prefer not to leave the house, there is Weight Watchers online. By joining the internet-based version of the popular program, members can follow their progress, participate in virtual meetings and choose from hundreds of different recipes.
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WW emphasizes eating at least 5 servings of fruits/veggies a day, choose whole grain foods whenever possible, include 2 servings of milk/dairy each day, drink at least 6-8 gla*ses of water, have some healthy oil and make sure you get enough protein, limit added sugar and alcohol, and take a multi-vitamin of your choice.
It teaches you healthier habits and consequences of bad choices and good choices to help you develop better habits for life. In regards to the artificial sweetners, yes WW ALLOWS you to use them but it DOES NOT OBLIGATE YOU TO DO SO. You are free to choose how you want 2spend your points and to customize recipes to your liking. The only thing that matters is that you stay within your point range. How you do that is up to you. It's ultimately another form of controlling the amount of calories that you consume in any one given day and throughout the week.
Most veggies are 0 points and most fruits are 1pt per serving. They show you to look at Calories, fat and fiber when trying to determine points if you come across a food that is not on their list and to read labels. If you want to eat more then consume more low point foods which are the heathiest foods such as fruits, veggies, whole grain, low fat options, lean cuts of meat and fish, etc. It teaches you portion control and to make wiser food choices, balanced meals and everything in moderation. Good food choices allow you to eat more. You need to determine what do you prefer to invest your points in.
Roughly every 50 calories is 1 point but that can change based on the amount of fat and fiber. If it has 3grams or more of fiber it normally drops a point. So you can eat 2 slices of Wonder Light Whole Wheat bread for 1pt b/c of the high fiber content vs. 1 slice for 2pts of most of your regular white breads. Which do you prefer? 2 slices of bread for 1pt or 2 slices of bread for 4pts?
In addition to your daily points you are also given 35 flex points for the week that you can either divide equally btwn the 7 days of the week or save for the weekend or an evening out or special occa*sion or not use them at all. You cannot carry over the weekly flex points or the daily points. they expire at the end of each week or day respectively. The flex points gives you some wiggle room but still puts a parameter on how much you can eat.
It does not ban you from any food group b/c fact of the matter is that the more something is prohibited the more we crave it. It teaches you to have more balanced meals and healthier ways to snack and eat. So maybe you want a piece of chocolate cake, but you learn to eat a smaller piece instead of the whole cake. Sometimes just getting a small taste of something is enough to get it out of our system and kill the craving so that at least we know that we had some and get it out of your system instead of having it on a bad list.
If counting points is not for you then go w/ the Core Plan. You can also switch btwn core and flex or combine them, so if you are going out to dinner or in a situation where it is hard to determine the points you can always switch to core and stick with the guidelines that core gives you about choosing among the healthier options
How many points you get are determined by whether you are male, female or a nursing mom, your age, weight, height and your level of activity. You add these points together to get your total daily points.
Gender
Females get 2points
Males get 8points
Nursing Moms get 12pts.
Age
17-26 gets 4pts
27-37 gets 3pts
38-47 gets 2pts
48-58 gets 1pt
over 58 gets 0 pts
Weight - enter the first 2 digits of your weight in pounds. If you weigh 175 enter 17. If you weigh less than 100lbs enter the first digit of your weight (ie for 98lbs enter 9)
Height
Under 5'1" gets 0pts
5'1" - 5'10" gets 1pt
over 5'10" gets 2 pts
Level of Activity
-If you spend the bulk of your day sitting down (e.g. as a receptionist, bus or cab driver) you get 0pts
-Occa*sionally sitting but mainly standing such as a teacher, sales person, housewife, cook gets 2pts
-Walking most of the time such as waiter or mailman gets 4pts
-Doing physically hard work most of the time such as a nurse, gardener, construction worker gets 6pts.
So example, if you are a male (8pts) who is 28 (3pts) and weighs 240 (24pts) 5'9" tall (1pt) and is a bus driver(0pts) you would add those numbers up and get 36pts for each day.
If you are a female (2pts) who is 25 (4pts), weighs 190lbs (19pts) is 5'1" (0pts) and is a teacher (2pts), then you would get 27pts for each day.
The points would gradually drop as you lose weight. You can get more points by getting activity points that you obtain by excercising. The number of activity points is determined by the level of intensity and duration of the excercise for your weight. THey give you little sliding calculators to figure these things out and your leader can help you with all of this. So its very customized for each individual.
Once you get to your goal then WW gives you a maintenance plan.
If you cannot go to meetings you can do it online and take advantage of the message boards. If you cannot pay the monthly fees there are other ways of getting the info you need to do it on your own.