PEERtrainer

Can I Do Weight Watchers On My Own?

Many people understand the power of the Weight Watchers Points System but don't want to go to meetings or subscribe to their online service. You can now get a variety of kits and tools to allow you to follow the program on your own such as points calculators with the latest updates to the points system, dvd guides to the program and a series of guide books and recipe books for the program. You can browse the list of items here:

  Weight Watchers Kits On Amazon

There are four fundamental areas you need to focus on to successfully do Weight Watchers on your own. Following these steps, combined with an accountability tool like PEERtrainer can give you a very broad toolset. This approach also allows you to practice "Diet Fusion"- imagine counting points while you follow Dr. Fuhrman's Eat For Health!

(1) The company sells a line of electronic trackers that you take with you to calculate points and keep you on track. This is really an excellent accountability tool. You can get them right on Amazon, and there are a couple different versions:

New 2009 Weight Watchers Electronic Tracker & Points Calculator
Weight Watchers 2009 Deluxe Starter Kit & Calculator

(2) You will need a scale, (and if you don't have one get one:) You really need to weigh in once per week, and it makes sense to "make friends with the scale." Getting on the scale helps you confront reality. If you count points and measure your progress, you will be surprised at how well you can do.

Weight Watchers WW43/WW43D Memory Glass Electronic Scale

(3) Part of the power of Weight Watchers are their tips and recipes that you get in meetings and online. This very practical advice helps you make changes in your real life. The company has some books and publications that can help you follow the program on your own. The Momentum Program recipes are particularly good from what we hear:

Best of Weight Watchers Magazine : Over 145 Tasty Favorites--All 9 POINTS or Less
Simple Goodness: More Than 100 Quick & Easy Recipes
Weight Watchers Magazine

(4) You also need to focus on the mental aspect of weight loss which for many people is the most difficult. And you will want to get some help. Most of you know about our coaching programs, and we do recommend following the Points system as part of our PEERtrainer coaching program:

The Point Of No Return Mindset Program

Of course, the best way of doing Weight Watchers on your own is doing the program online, at least for one month where you can learn everything you need and then go from there. It may be the best $50 you ever spend- click here to sign up. Once you get some personalized assistance from the company (it is very good) you can follow along with your calculator and books.

Is It Hard To Stay On The Weight Watchers Points System?

At PEERtrainer, we understand the specific challenges people face in their quest to lose weight. You might be doing great on Weight Watchers for three weeks and then you are "ambushed" by a social event. Maybe you find yourself eating at night and know that is the one thing that trips you up. Or your friends and family might not have the same commitment to overall fitness and health, and you find your self constantly tripped up. In situations like these, you know exactly what you need to do, but you find yourself continually back at the same place.

PEERtrainer has put together The Point Of No Return Program to deal with situations like these, and help you develop the skills you need to get you to the "point of no return", where you feel empowered to deal with daily challenges. If you feel like you are not ready to start Weight Watchers, this program will help you get there. And if you are having a hard time sticking to the program or going to your meetings, this program will help.

"I'm allowed 28 Weight Watchers Points". Any tips?"

MB asked me the following question:

I am trying the new lifestyle change now.  What are some tips? I am allowed 28 points."

Here are my tips:

1.  Log, log, log your food.  You might think you are eating 28 points but you're only eating 20 and wondering why you're feeling hungry.  Or conversly, you could be eating 40 points and wondering why you're not losing weight!  The only way you really know what you're eating is to write down your food and it only takes a couple minutes a day.   (You can get a PEERtrainer log here). 

2. Two excellent 3 point snacks (click here for more weight watchers snack ideas):
- a pear and a tablespoon of peanut butter
- a quarter of avocado with salsa and black beans. 

3. One of the easiest ways I've seen to split up 28 points through the day:

- 7 for breakfast,
- 7 for lunch,
- 3 for a snack
- save the remaining 11 for dinner.

If you're on a 20 point track:

- 5 for breakfast
- 5 for lunch
- 2 for snack
- the remaining 8 are for dinner. 

If you're curious about how many points you personally get, take this personal assessment from Weight Watchers to see how it works.  

Jackie

Changes To The Weight Watchers Program: Some Feedback On Momentum and New Points System

Another great email from a subscriber to our Tip Of The Day coaching program. We have been writing about Weight Watchers Momentum, and encouraging people to get restarted on the program if WW has been a fit for them in the past. We have also been blogging about how people can get motivated to go to Weight Watchers if they have signed up but are having a hard time showing up to the meetings.

I have asked specifically for people to tell me their successes with the new plan. The idea here is that this can motivate others to join or to make similar changes on their own.

"Hi Jackie, 

I have done Weight Watchers in the past, more times than I care to admit. :-) Some of the reasons I am feeling like it is a better fit for me now, are actually changes in me, not their program. Specifically; I'm not looking for the 'perfect program', just a tool to help me find what works for me, I am eating a LOT more fruit and veg, which makes points go much further, and I view the program as my choice rather than something I 'have to do' which tends to makes me rebel.

More specific to the Momentum program: I like not having to choose between the Flex and the Core programs - I always felt like the grass must be greener on the other plan! Also, the new formula for points gives me a few more points per day, which seems to be just enough that I don't feel deprived."

This is great to hear, and very interesting. One thing we talk a lot about on this blog, in the Tip of The Day emails, in our coaching programs is "Diet Fusion"- the idea that there is no magic bullet and you need to incorporate the proven elements of different diets together and discover what works for you. And this subscriber has successfully adopted that idea.

It is also interesting to hear that the emphasis on fruits and vegetables "makes points go much further." This is something we emphasize and is at the core of our relationship with Dr. Fuhrman. He shows us why we need to increase fruits and vegetables, not just that we need to. It is a very important distinction. Weight Watchers has moved in this direction, and their new Set Points System helps to provide some structure around this.

Dr. Fuhrman talks a lot about the relationship between fruits and vegetables and hunger- that when your body is getting the nutrients it needs, that helps to curb the hunger cravings. The micronutrients in plant based food are key to getting your body what it needs. Weight Watchers has made fruits and vegetables a greater focus of their program and it appears to be working. If you are interested in learning more about the relationship between food and hunger, and how to learn what "true hunger" really is, please get a copy of Eat For Health. You can learn more about the book by clicking here, and we also have a link to a PEERtrainer discount.

Weight Watchers As A "Backup Diet" If You Are On Fat Smash, Eat To Live or South Beach

If you've picked Fat Smash or Eat To Live Or South Beach as your "diet", the thing that is SO important to having a "back up" diet like Weight Watchers or counting calories is because sometimes you just don't feel like eating vegetables or eating anything that resembles "healthy".  You know you should, but you just don't.  All the positive self -talk and all that you do to avoid eating pasta or pizza or a cheeseburger just isn't going to happen.  You just don't care.  Your mind goes on automatic pilot and you head straight for the nearest comfort food.  And unfortunately, sometimes you stay there for DAYS.  One choice after another becomes pizza, more white bread, dessert and so on. 

Until you get back to your Fat Smash Diet regimen, or Eat to Live or South Beach, or whatever you've chosen, you have to have a way to "portion control" the really bad trajectory of crazy comfort foods because the reality is, it happens to everyone.  If you have a "back up" diet and you're incorporating diet fusion for those days that no matter what anyone says, you're not going to pick the salad, you're just hungry for white bread and you're going to have it, you'll be able to monitor yourself and frame the "bad days" with a semblance of control. 

If you count Weight Watchers Points, you know that 2 slices of pizza is 12 points, and if you have a white bread sandwich at dinner, you'll count the points again.  If you have some method -whether it's points or calorie counting or whatever -to be able to hold yourself accountable, you will not eradicate all the effort you put into the Fat Smash or other plant based/vegetable diet you did.  And when you "come to", when you get back on the more nutrient dense road, you won't have an extra 10 pounds to fight.  This is why you have to have a "portion control" back up plan. 

What Is Your Backup Diet?