Judy's Jottings May 2 - May 8

An Insider's Guide to Dining Out - Things to Know

SetPOINTS Values

SetPOINTS values make navigating restaurant meals more manageable. Instead of estimating POINTS® values, we simply eat a reasonable portion and track the SetPOINTS values. SetPOINTS values have been assigned to three categories of Filling Foods—lean proteins (5), grains and starchy vegetables (6), and fruits (2). SetPOINTS values are higher than the POINTS value for a standard portion but they don’t change based on portion size. So we may trade a higher “cost” for greater flexibility. SetPOINTS values encourage us to choose Filling Foods, which keep us satisfied.

Activity POINTS Values
Activity POINTS values measure the impact of physical exercise on weight loss. We can earn extra activity POINTS values to offset extra food POINTS values. Activity POINTS values can roll over from day to day but not week to week. (There’s no limit on how many can be swapped for food.)

Weekly POINTS Allowance
The Weekly POINTS allowance gives us the flexibility to go over our daily POINTS target without going off plan. Allocating our weekly POINTS Allowance for days when we know we’re going to dine out can help us stay in control.

Mental Rehearsing

When we imagine ourselves meeting the challenges of restaurant dining, we’re more likely to be successful when the time comes.

Something to Think About
Eating out in a healthy way is a habit that will serve us well throughout our lives. If we learn the skills now they will get us to goal and keep us there.

All of this information came from the Leaders' Guide that Weight Watchers sends to me. When we prepare our meals at home, we feel in control because we are in charge of what we are eating. Eating Out is a totally difference thing. We are at the mercy of the restaurant that prepares our food. Healthy choices are not necessarily POINTS friends. Portion sizes are outrageous and asking for special preparation may be embarrassing. It is scary but it is a life style thing that we have to learn.

Dining out does not have to be a navigational nightmare. You can do it. Plan, and monitor your portion sizes. Have fun and enjoy eating out. You will be doing it for a lifetime!

Additions to Recipes

I just added a great salad recipe. It is Vegetable Mix.

Judy's Jottings

April 24 - May 1

Building Helpful Habits

Here is a beautiful video, The Daffodil Principle, with glorious photos of fields of daffodils blooming and a message that applies to our attempt to build helpful habits one at a time.

(http://www.slideshare.net/azharabbas/the-daffodil-principle-1076680).

The story tells of five acres of daffodils and other spring bulbs which surround a modest home. On the porch of this home is a sign giving the answers to the following questions.

How many thousands of bulbs have been planted? Who planted them? How long did it take?

One lady planted them all, bulb by bulb, year by year. She began planting the bulbs in 1958. Each year she added more.

She did not put it off until another day, another week, another year: she just got on with planting bulbs, systematically, deliberately. On our journey to good health we need to be persistent and make changes step-by-step. The time to start changing in now. Don't put off until tomorrow what you can begin today.

The Daffodil Principle says that it's never too late to pursue your dreams, one step at a time!

Diet Disaster

A diet has a start and end.

The pounds return, not bucks you spend.

A lifestyle change is hard,it’s true;

but…Slow weight loss sticks to you like glue.

H aving

A

B ite

I nvolves

T hinking

Judy's Jottings

April 18 - 24

Success Even on the Weekends

What a great topic. I know that weekends are the hardest for me. I've had several members say that weekends are easy because they are more relaxed and can do more planning. For me, the weekends are a reward for being "good" all week. The problem is that I am gaining weight. While I am not above my goal weight, I am above what I would like to be. I'm just glad that you are my friends. I know that you understand my desire to overeat. I cannot tell you how important you are to me.

Reframing is a Tool for Living that can help. It can help us understand the good intention behind our behaviors. We have to stop and think. What are we getting by going off-plan? We may think that we will get relief from stress, boredom, or the feeling of control. However, reframing our thoughts about the weekend will help us view it as an opportunity to create a healthy lifestyle. By determining the positive intention behind the behavior, we can find nonfood ways to get the positive feeling we seek. Please let me know if you want one.

I know that many of you are thinking that it is easy for me to "be good." The exact opposite is true. I struggle. The last few weeks have been especially difficult for me, and the scales show it. Don't give up on me. I'll be in control this week because I have admitted that I need help, and I know that you will give it to me.

Using activity in place of poor eating choices is an effective way to reframe. Using extra weekend time to plan and/or cook for the week ahead is also a positive way to reframe.

Here is a great poem created by one of our leaders.

My Weekend Weakness

Monday through Friday

My life is routine

My body’s fueled

By fruit, salads and lean cuisine

Weekdays aren’t the problem

Each day the drills the same

I lose control on weekends

Old habits are to blame

I can’t let weekend weakness

Push back success I seek

I’ll plan a healthy lifestyle

Seven days a week

Learning how to live a healthy lifestyle seven days a week is crucial to long-term success. Understanding how to manage less-structured weekends will make it easier to reach goal and stay there.

If you don’t want to slip, don’t go where it’s slippery!

Next Week's Topic: Build helpful habits that support lifelong success.

Week 15 - Monitoring Yourself: A Journey of Self-Discovery

See Who You are Becoming

Weight loss is a journey. A trip with ups and downs.
If you monitor your habits, you’ll lose those excess pounds.

First you have to track-it. Write down everything you eat.

Get outside and Walk-It. Set a goal then move your feet.

Monitor your feelings. Keep bites and licks in check.

Hunger’s in your tummy. Cravings start above your neck.

None of us is perfect. Stay strong when you plateau.

See who you are becoming. Your confidence will grow.

Take charge of all your habits. Don’t let setbacks rule your day.

Celebrate successes. Those pounds will melt away.

-Pam, Weight Watchers Leader

Judy's Jottings

April 11 - 17

Monitoring Yourself: A Journey of Self-Discovery

Experience from another leader: "After a recent hospital stay, my MIL was monitoring her Blood Pressure as requested by her Doctor. After repeated high readings we were all quite alarmed so the Dr insisted she come to the office. When I drove to pick her up I ask her to bring her BP device along with us so we could compare it to the Doctors.

What a relief! The device was VERY inaccurate . Even though her BP was slightly elevated it was probably because she was so stressed over what she THOUGHT it was!

This made me think about how we monitor or track on the food plan. I couldn't help but wonder about how well our "monitoring device" is working? We all know for a fact that Tracking is a key skill for success.

How do you MONITOR your food intake? What do you use for a Monitoring device? Clicker? Calculator? On line? 3 month journal? What else do you make note of? How could failing to monitor interfere with your success? How does tracking help?"

Thought for this week: Quitting won’t help you lose weight!

Next Week: Success Even on Weekends! I know I need this lesson. How about you?

Judy's Jottings April 3 - April 9

FREE REGISTRATION STARTS NOW

April 4 - May 29

Bring a BUDDY to join with no Registration Fee!!!!

(Thank you to Leader Tammy for the following inspirational article.)

Who makes an AWESOME BUDDY?

Anyone you feel comfortable making the Journey with! It could be a spouse, a child, a neighbor, a member in your meeting, a co-worker, a best friend or a complete stranger from http://www.weightwatchers.com/.

Many members found their buddies right in the meeting room-It is so much more than just a weekly meeting, so many beautiful friendships got started just because two people made their weekly meeting a priority!

It's our buddies that can pick us up when we fall, cheer for us when we have reached a goal, and are there for us no matter what the reason.
If you are still taking this journey alone I hope this weeks meeting showed the importance of a having a buddy!

If you missed the meeting or you are still unsure what it takes to be a buddy, and the benefits of having a buddy here is a brief list of what went on in the meetings this week:

BENEFITS OF HAVING A BUDDY
Someone for support & motivation
Someone to support & motivate
Someone to cheer you on & vice versa
Accountability to each other
Someone to inspire & be inspired by
Satisfaction of knowing you are helping each other succeed
A dose of healthy competition
Someone to enjoy the journey with

CRITERIA IN A BUDDY

Someone with similar goals
Someone with a workable schedule
Someone with a similar level of commitment
Someone that has the ability to reinforce POSITIVE behavior and not be jealous of your success
It is hard to stay committed and motivated if your buddy is known to not stick with it!

As they say a chain is only as strong as its weakest link; make sure the links to your weight loss team are strong!

Find people you can share your goals with-come up with a goal each week to aim for, share that goal with your buddy or buddies-this will keep you motivated because you have all made yourself accountable!

Reward Yourself! Part of the joy of working as a TEAM is sharing success!

Research has shown that those that have a buddy not only have more fun on the journey but they lose more weight and keep it off!