{"id":59055,"date":"2011-11-16T14:22:34","date_gmt":"2011-11-16T19:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=59055"},"modified":"2011-11-16T14:23:58","modified_gmt":"2011-11-16T19:23:58","slug":"5-tips-for-sticking-to-weight-watchers-during-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/11\/5-tips-for-sticking-to-weight-watchers-during-the-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Tips for Sticking to Weight Watchers During the Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kalisa Hyman from I’ll Be the One in Heels<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Kalisa on her anniversary in May<\/p><\/div>\n

When I went to Toronto in May for my anniversary, the scenery in my photographs was lovely. I was less happy about the way I looked in them.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when I finally decided to do something about my weight. Inspired by a friend who had lost over 40 pounds on Weight Watchers<\/a><\/strong>, I went online and checked out their PointsPlus program<\/a><\/strong>. It looked like something that might work for me, because I\u2019m such a picky eater. I don\u2019t like salads. I don\u2019t like grilled chicken. I like my veggies with lots of butter and bacon and breadcrumbs. At least on the WW program, I could select what food I wanted to eat. That offered the only hope of something I would stick to.<\/p>\n

The program was great \u2013 the online version provided me all the tools I needed to assess the Points value of everything I ate. It even gave me Points values for exercise. And there was a mobile version so I was never at a loss for information. I found it very easy to stick with healthy eating and to keep my meals within the allotted daily Points.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Kalisa 12 pounds lighter thanks to Weight Watchers<\/p><\/div>\n

Last weekend, I went back to Toronto with my husband for my birthday, twelve pounds lighter. (Twelve pounds may not sound like a lot to you, but it\u2019s a lot of extra weight to carry off when you\u2019re only 5-foot-2!)<\/p>\n

So, yay! Success story. But sticking to an eating plan is a lot easier in the summertime when skin is showing than it is in the winter, when I\u2019m faced with HOLIDAY FOOD. So now I\u2019m looking at Chapter Two: How do I get from Thanksgiving<\/a><\/strong> to Christmas without putting it all back on?<\/p>\n

Luckily, there are some basic principles that I\u2019ve learned following the Weight Watchers program that can be applied to holiday eating.<\/p>\n

#1. Keep track of those Points.<\/strong> By now I know the Points value of pretty much everything I eat. I know the range that I have to stay within if I don\u2019t want to put weight back on. It\u2019s about balancing the Points throughout the day. Give and take. Keep it between the lines. If I\u2019m going to a party where I will have less healthy options, I should eat fruit for breakfast, a lean turkey sandwich for lunch. I can balance it out.<\/p>\n

#2. Make a splurge worth it.<\/strong> Following a strict eating plan when I was actively trying to lose taught me that I can say no to that doughnut. If I\u2019m tempted by Christmas cookies in the break room, I ask myself, \u201cAre these good enough to blow this many Points on?\u201d I don\u2019t have to go without, but I can make educated decisions to make sure using all those Points will be worth it to me.<\/p>\n

#3. Drinking away Points.<\/strong> One of the first things I realized about myself when I started WW was that I drink away a lot of my Points! And I don\u2019t mean alcohol \u2013 I mean juice and milk and sweet tea\u2026Three Points. Three Points. Three Points. For three Points, I can have a high-fiber fruit and granola bar that will actually curb my hunger! So I had to give up (or cut back, in the case of milk) those other drinks. I\u2019m not familiar with the Points levels of alcohol but I do know that your body metabolizes it the same way it does sugar. And beer? Come on! That\u2019s just liquid bread! If you\u2019re going to drink over the holidays, chose something with lower Points, like wine; limit yourself to one or two and make sure you figure that into your overall Points value.<\/p>\n

#4. I\u2019m not alone.<\/strong> Like everything else in life, this will be a lot easier if I make use of the resources at my disposal. With websites like Diets in Review, personal blogs and online magazines \u2013 there is an endless list of places to turn for support these days.<\/p>\n

#5. Stick to it!<\/strong> This may be the most important point of all. Deciding to \u201cgo off\u201d WW until January will undoubtedly be the death knell for me. I could easily put 12 pounds (or more!) back on and then be too disheartened come January to start over again. It\u2019s like quitting smoking, right? Much easier to stay quit than to give it up again. So if I stick to my plan, allowing myself splurges but making allowances elsewhere in my meals, I can cruise through the holidays on a relatively even keel and face January still fitting in my new size 6 jeans.<\/p>\n

___________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Guest Blog Series:<\/strong> Look for the following badge on your favorite health sites to see if they have been a featured guest blogger on DietsInReview.com<\/em><\/a><\/strong>. See other posts in the <\/em>Guest Blog series<\/em><\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Diets<\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

If you would like to apply to be featured as a guest blogger, please <\/em>contact us<\/em><\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kalisa Hyman from I’ll Be the One in Heels When I went to Toronto in May for my anniversary, the scenery in my photographs was lovely. I was less happy about the way I looked in them. That\u2019s when … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3695],"tags":[23,3864,9084,74,17],"class_list":["post-59055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diet-and-nutrition","tag-guest-blog","tag-healthy-holidays","tag-kalisa-hyman","tag-weight-loss","tag-weight-watchers"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59055"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59060,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59055\/revisions\/59060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}