What works for ME

A fellow blogger buddy of mine asked if I had any great recipes to share (twenty, finally). And a few others have asked for weight loss tips.

While I will admit there is no secret recipe and no easy pill that will miraculously shed pounds off your body, with minimal effort....there are small changes that anyone/everyone can make to their every day life that will give you results.

I really do not have a bunch of weight watchers recipes, nor did I buy the weight watchers cook book. When I started weight watchers, it was basically a low fat diet. The emphasis was on finding lean meats and cutting a large amount of fat from your diet. Little changes like, fat free sour cream, fat free or reduced fat cream cheese, light cool whip, egg beaters, ect. "light" being the key word to look for when shopping.

I'm a bread and potato lover, so I loved the fact that I didn't have to cut out entire food groups to achieve my goal. Sara lee makes a whole line of light bread, that is just as good, if not better (in my opinion) than regular breads. The loaf of bread contains 45 calorie slices and there are also buns that are 100 calorie. The thin buns that are becoming easier to find are also a great substitute and great for sandwiches or burgers.

If you have a sweet tooth, I highly recommend the Skinny Cow ice cream bars, sandwiches and cakes. They are life savers and completely necessary for ALL dieters!

Lots of fruits and veggies is also a no brainer. We all know we should eat more of them, the trick is to actually DO IT. I had to mentally remove the meat and potato guideline from my meal planner and start pushing the veggies at dinner time. Now that it is getting closer to summer and fruits are more readily available, we are added fresh fruits (no sugars added) to our meals. Simple, quick, easy, healthy, and my kids WILL eat them! Even better.

The most important part of dieting (I think), is to reward yourself and be flexible. When you hit a goal, celebrate. Even if you celebrate with food, celebrate. Don't eliminate entire food groups. It will make you crazy! I WILL NOT be the person at an event, with nothing on my plate because I don't think there's anything that I can safely eat. All foods are safe, it's the amount we consume that gets us in trouble. If you're trying to cut back on carbs, remove the bun. If you're trying to cut back on fat, skip the meat or the dessert.
I tend to stick to my basic plan during the week, when I'm in a controlled environment, and I ease up on that plan on the weekends. I LET myself have pizza, chinese, nachos...whatever your weakness may be, and I don't feel deprived. I feel satisfied. That satisfaction keeps me committed.

I don't drink shakes, I don't DRINK my meals. I EAT my meals.

I do excercise, but still believe the most effective way to lose weight is by monitoring your food intake. Write everything down. It will make you want to eat less! Trust me, it does. If I have to write it down (or enter it in weight watchrs), I truly want it less. Tracking also shows you where you can improve. Where your changes need to occur. It is serving size? Is it the content of the food you eat? Is it both?! Are you going back for seconds at every meal? Do you NEED seconds? Do you WANT seconds? There IS a difference.

You don't have to give up everything. I drink pop. I try to drink diet pop and only buy diet pop for at home. But yes, I drink Coke at work. And I CAN drink coke. If there are certain things you can't bare to give up, then don't. But DO adjust for them.  I count mine in my points for the day. I work around it and exercise to burn it off.

It doesn't happen overnight. It takes time and patience. Healthy weight loss takes TIME.