Monday, October 6, 2008

Weight Watchers' Point List? What's That About?

By Jessica A. Andersen

Weight Watchers is one of the longest running weight loss programs in the country. The plan has even reinvented itself to give plan users variety and therefore another reason to stick with it. The Weight Watchers program is based on the POINTS? system and group support.

Your weight category when you start with Weight Watchers will be assigned a specific range of points these are the points you can eat in any given day on the plan. Now as long as you stay within that point range you will lose weight and the good news here is that there aren't any food restrictions you can get you're your calories from fried chicken and the other half from cookies just as long as you do not exceed your daily point limit.

Using the Weight Watchers diet you be keeping track of points using a Weight Watchers calculator or a weekly food journal. To determine the number of points you have left in any given week you can just subtract the points you have eaten from the total points in any given week. You will also be attending weekly meetings where you'll do a group weigh in and track your progress. Also at the meeting you'll share stories and commiserate celebrating successes and providing moral support for the occasional story of failure.

It is a fact that most people's weight fluctuates on a daily basis. In fact your weight may fluctuate from hour to hour. This is due to many causes: menstrual cycle, water weight, other health issues. Your weekly weigh-in will be a great way for you to keep track of progress. But sometimes these way and can be a little bit discouraging or disheartening. For example if you're sticking to the diet staying within your points and exercising but only losing a few pounds or even perhaps gaining a pound or two you may get frustrated.

The food that you will eat is assigned a point value that is determined based on serving size. The plan has an extensive list that contains many different foods but there is not a point value for every food that you could possibly eat. Those foods to be given a slide rule that will help you determine the individual point value based on fat, fiber and calories per serving.

The weekly meetings have a small associated cost. Before you weigh-in at the meetings you'll be charged. It's inexpensive and if you pay the charge you will have access to the meetings, the support, and the encouragement of fellow attendees. As a bonus you will have access to fantastic online tools as well. The meetings might even be conducted at your workplace is there are enough employees that are interested in participating.

Weight Watchers has expanded their diet to include chocolate candies, cereals, breads, yogurt, and frozen meals. Even other frozen entrees not sold by the company have the Weight Watchers point values on their boxes. Weight Watchers has several plans to fit the needs of the dieter.

Weight Watchers plan encourages exercise after the first few weeks. And even though the Weight Watchers plan allows you to eat whatever you want. If you eat what you want your results might not be as good as they would be if you follow the plan. Because the plan suggests that you eat specific foods and exercise in order to lose weight more quickly. In fact you should read as much as you can about the Weight Watchers diet adding exercise in order to lose more weight, more quickly and for less money.

Now if you get a used a Weight Watchers diet you need to know that the daily points are merely a guideline. The most important part about dieting is learning how to create a healthy lifestyle. That's your goal and that's why you're starting to die. One of the drawbacks and one of the greatest strengths of the Weight Watchers diet is that you are required to keep the written history of everything that you eat. In my opinion this is fantastic because you'll have written documentation that shows you exactly how to lose weight. You will be able to refer back to your documents and understand they did it before, see how you did it and be able to do it again in the event that you need to lose weight in the future. - 15437

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