Here are (some of) Juli's tried and true Weight Watchers tips:
- Keep pickles around (I like baby dills the best). They satisfy a hankering for salt and they have a 0 points value.
- Find a cereal that satisfies your sugar craving. You know those cereals your mom never let you eat for breakfast? Weeeelllllllll....eat them for dessert! Instead of baking up a batch of high-points cookies, brownies or other sugar coated sabotage, I like to whip out 3/4 cup - 1 cup of a sugary cereal. Enjoy dry for 2-3 points!
- Discover the bliss that is Teddy Grahams. 3 points for 24 of those little bears. I eat them piece by piece -- those poor Teddys don't have a chance. First the ears, then the arms, legs, head and last...the torso. It takes me almost 45 minutes to eat my 3 points worth and I enjoy every minute of it!
- Buy corn tortillas and salsa. Take 2 corn tortillas and dampen them with water. Use a pizza cutter to cut them into "chips." Place "chips" on a baking sheet. Sprinkle chips with salt (you dampened them so the salt would stick). Put into a 400 degree oven and remove when crispy. Enjoy with salsa for a 1 point snack!
- Don't beat yourself up. If you're a Bible reader you'll recognize "kindness leads to repentance." If you don't do as well one day as you'd like to, there's always the next. If something tempts you beyond your ability to control, be kind to yourself. Remind yourself of all the good you've done and that you can start making better choices right then.
- Give yourself permission to throw away food. This is one of the most powerful tools I've found. If the bag of chocolate chips in the cupboard is too tempting to me, I've been known to throw it out. The way I look at it, I've already paid for it and there's no getting my money back. Now my money can either go toward a) making me fat(ter) or b) increasing my self control. I'll choose option B, thank you very much.
- Identify problem foods and AVOID AVOID AVOID. This goes along with throwing out food. I have lots of foods that I have SERIOUS trouble controlling myself around. Cookies for example. If cookies come into my house I can inhale the entire plate of them before the aroma leaves the air. So I don't make cookies. If cookies are given to me (and for some reason I can't say "no thank you" I take them out of the packaging and throw them away....yes, I take them out of the packaging before they go in the trash so I won't be tempted to take the package out of the garbage. AVOIDing can mean taking serious action.
- Identify safe foods and take heart in the fact that you CAN control yourself around these foods. Brownies are a prime example for me. My husband loves brownies. About once a month I get out my double boiler and make him a batch of brownies from scratch. The pan sits on the counter for about a week and I may have one or two over the course of the week, but I don't overdo it. It's not that the brownies aren't delicious...they are downright divine. It's just that I can be reasonable about them. I don't know what makes them different than cookies, but they are. And it gives me great confidence to know that I have power over delicious homemade brownies...this confidence then fuels my ability to control myself around and/or AVOID my problem foods.
- Remind yourself of your motivation. Do you want to fit into a size 8? Lower your BMI to healthy range? Climb a mountain? Whatever it is, write it down -- post it on your bathroom mirror, on your steering wheel, over the kitchen sink, everywhere. It really helps. My motivation stares me in the face almost every minute of every day. My little Seth is my motivation. I know that as he grows he will consciously and unconsciously imitate me. And I want the eating patterns that he imitates to be healthy ones. I want to be a good example for my son and as his little sponge self follows me around everyday I am constantly reminded of my motivation.
Speak of the angel...my little one calls. That's all for now folks. Good luck.
