Another busy week her at work has me behind on my blogging.

Today's Tip: Walk the dog.

Once the most popular trick to do with your yo-yo int eh 80's, is now a great tip for loosing weight! If you are feeling nestalgic and want to grap your yo-yo and take it for a spin, by all means have at it! If you are trying to loose some of that extra weight around the midsection, making Fido happy is a great way top get going!

A lot of people struggle with trying to find ways to get exercise, or struggle with feeling lazy or lethargic when it comes to getting out and getting moving. Well there is someone in your house who is there to motivate you (whether he knows it or not!). Look into those eyes, say the word "outside" and grab that leash! Easiest way to get moving.

Oh, you don't have a dog?.. hmm, does your neighbor? a friend? I have a friend who has a dog and they are more than happy to have me come and take their dog for walks/jogs! If you ask, I'm sure you have someone close by who will love for you to take their canine out for a walk.

 

 

Today's Tip: What does the butcher in the market weigh?

Often times we guess how much food we are eating. It's good that you are tracking, but tracking inaccurately negates the act! You may think you know how much that food weighs or measures, but MAKE SURE! Get out that scale or measuring cups and find out for sure what you are eating. The general rule is that a 4oz piece of meat is the size of the palm of your hand or a deck of cards, while that is a good rule if you don't have a scale, being precise is better. Here are some meats that are more than worth the weight watchers points!

Beef, ground, 90% lean/10% fat, cooked - 3oz - 5PP
Pork, loin, center rib, lean and fat, cooked - 3oz - 5PP
Fish, tilapia, cooked - 3oz 3PP
Beef, New York steak, cooked - 3oz - 5PP
Chicken, breast, raw, without skin, without bone - 4oz - 3PP
Chicken thigh, dark meat, skinless, boneless, raw - 3oz 2PP
Turkey, breast, ground, raw 4ox - 3PP
Deli sliced turkey - 6oz - 3PP

That's a good start! Here are some other tips I've found:
12 Ways to estimate serving sizes

 

 

Today's Tip: Make it Fancy!

One of my all-time favorite meals is chicken with broccoli.  I can grill a mean piece of chicken and usually get one of those steam in bag broccoli florets from the store.  Put those with some rice! Delicious meal, from 8-12 points depending on how much rice and how much chicken you eat.  Sometime, I've splurged at lunch and just don't have the points to eat that meal. My favorite part of my favorite meal is the broccoli, which thankfully is point free! Often times, eating just veggies may not leave you feeling full, or in my case, not do enough to trick my brain into thinking my stomach is full.

Here's a good way to make a low-points or points-free meal make you feel full. Make it fancy! I go to the farmers market and buy one of those full heads of broccoli, the big ones, I steam one of those on the stove. I then place it neatly on a nice plate, get out a steak knife and fork, sit down very proper at my dinning room table and eat my broccoli head as if it were a prime steak! Yum. Add a candle to the table if you'd like. Doing this is enough to trick my brain into thinking it is full afterward! and my stomach is actually full, those broccoli heads are large!

So grab the good china and a cloth napkin, make that plate look good and have your veggies and save your points!

 

 

Today's Tip: You'll look great, if you don't eat late!

One of the big "secrets" of my weight loss was having the will power to avoid eating late at night.  I, much like a lot of Americans, enjoy the late night snacking. Popcorn is my favorite nighttime snack, but just about anything late is awesome, especially fries.  Mmmmm, fries and popcorn... I've digressed. Eating late (at least for me) always leads to weight gain, you eat those calories without any time to burn them off and overnight they get stored into fat. Yuck. Being able to stay away from eating late can really help your waistline, and it will also make you more hungry for the most important meal of the day, breakfast. Roughly 10% of Americans skip breakfast, a statistic that to me is staggering, mostly because I made it up for this post. We at Weight Watchers know just how important breakfast is!

But Ben, How do we avoid eating late? What if your hungry??

Good question.  One thing I did to avoid eating late is adjusting my meal schedule. Currently, I eat breakfast around 10 am. I get to work at nine, (check facebook), get everything open, (check twitter), get settled in, (read ESPN.com) get coffee, (check facebook again) figure out what I am going to be working on for the day, have breakfast (while watching youtube videos), then start my workday! I will make sure to incorporate some fruit with my breakfast, and tend to include a good amount of fiber with breakfast.  Most of my coworkers eat lunch at 11, way to early for me, I hold off and eat lunch around 1 maybe 2.  Most of the time I will wait as late as I can, wait until I am actually hungry for lunch.  around 4, I will have a snack, usually try to make it around 3 points.  If I need to, in between meals I will also chew gum. Another thing that helps pass the time for you bored eaters, is being busy! That's right, being a good employee is good for your diet! I will get to work and stay focused (unless I get tagged on facebook) and the hours will fly by without me eating anything.  I typically eat dinner around 6pm, and immediately follow it with dessert. Get dessert out of the way! Once you've had your sweet treat, your brain will have a better time realizing you are done for the day.

Now comes the hard part of the evening, getting from 7pm to bedtime without eating. For me, its very hard to watch tv/movies without snacking on something. Chewing gum in the evening while you are being entertained is also an option here. If you absolutely have to be snacking on something, try grapes (and pretend its wine and popcorn). If you have something around the house you can do to keep busy, do that to pass the time, maybe get some extra credit by getting more work done from home. Play with your kids, help them with their homework (even if they don't want it) and do everything you can to stay out of the kitchen.  The earlier you start the getting ready for bed process the better, go ahead and brush those teeth and put on those PJ's. The mint flavor in the toothpaste will help quell your cravings for food late. If you can, go ahead and crawl into bed, watch TV there, also gets you one step closer to sleep, and keeps you out of the fridge.

Hope you were able to find these tips helpful! As always I welcome feedback in the comments below.

Happy Tracking!

 

 

Todays Tip: When you assume...

We all know the phrase, and when it comes to assuming you know the points of something, therefore you don't track it, it is only yourself for whom will become the donkeys rear end! If you are eating something that doesn't have the points listed on the product, nor have you previously looked up the points for that product, then do not assume that you know what the points will be based a cursory look at the nutrition facts, or much less based solely off the calories!  Don't be lazy, get that calculator out and figure out how many points that thing is. You may even be pleasantly surprised! You will save yourself a lot of heartache at the end of the day by doing so!

Happy Tracking!