PEERtrainer

How To Get The Motivation To Sign Up For Weight Watchers In 3 Days! (True Story From A PEERtrainer Member)

This email was just sent to us by someone who is on Day 3 of our course to Help Stop Emotional Eating. We are sharing it to show how quickly one can get back on track, EVEN if you have fallen WAY off track and gained a BUNCH of weight back"

"Hi, Peertrainer is helping me immensely. It gave me the motivation to sign up for Weight Watchers Online. I am a lifetime member but gained back 45 lbs now I have lost nine and feel empowered thanks to Peertrainer. WW has always worked for me when I work the plan, and with Peertrainer also, I feel very positive about my ability to lose those 45 lbs.

Peertrainer calls, (I am on call three,) helped me to re-frame how I define myself. I learned the importance of how we think about ourselves, and now I say I am not an emotional eater, I eat at times to avoid an emotion that I don't want to deal with. YAY, that is progress!

The second call stressed this and it is working for me. I stop myself before I eat and examine what I am feeling. I substitute exercise, journaling, or go to my list of activities I keep on my refrigerator and pick one. And, wow! It works!

It hit me when I scrolled down to see all the people in the group, and one member really caught my eye....2fat2lose I think that that person is setting herself up for failure, because she believes she is to fat to lose the weight, and this caused me to really think hard on all areas of my life, as to what I am saying as opposed to what I really want.

Thanks very much, love Peertrainer! 

Do You Feel As If You Are Truly Capable Of Losing Weight?

This is something we emailed out Sunday, May 2nd: We are working on a "mission statement" at PEERtrainer, and in the process trying to hone in on "the thing we do best." It is a tough question to answer because we do a lot of things in response to the needs of different people.

From Habib's perspective the thing we do best is simply foster communication and conversation. Ideally we ask questions in a way that really gets you thinking.

Joshua Wayne is focused on the coaching aspect of PEERtrainer, and his response was very interesting. We had asked him "what is the single thing we do best with the coaching program and what have been the results?"

As an exercise this Sunday, read his response, and then think for a few moments about the question asked in the subject of this email:

"One of the key things we have set out to accomplish, from my perspective, is helping people feel like they are in control of their relationship to food so they can get where they want to go.

Feeling out of control is one of the worst feelings in life. Desperately wanting something, like to lose weight, and not feeling capable of getting there is a terrible feeling. Feeling like you'll always be overwhelmed by your lousy habits and that you'll never really be in control of them. Feeling like no matter how hard you try, and no matter how many times you try, that your negative emotions will ultimately derail you. These feelings build and build and build which leads to hopelessness.

So one of our main goals was to help people get back in control. One of the key ways we do that is to teach them to start being easy on themselves - not beating themselves up endlessly. People add insult to injury when they beat themselves up after they "screw up" on their diet. We see that many people have this "perfectionist"streak and we start to break that up by teaching them to be patient with themselves.

Simultaneously we're giving them REALLY good diet info. Not fad type stuff - in fact exactly the opposite. We help them lay the foundation for healthy, sustainable lifestyle change.

We also really embed this whole program smack dab in the middle of their lives too. This is crucial. We're not forcing them to create an alternate reality in their life where they can get healthy. They have to be able to do it in the middle of the crazy day with job, boss, kids, husband/wife because that's their reality and that's where they live.

If they have to attend to all that stuff, AND THEN have to go and carve out time for 3 elaborate meals per day (plus all the shopping and prep) so they can eat pistacio- crusted tilapia with carmelized onion asparagus consomme for dinner it's just not going to happen. Same with the exercise piece. It has to be centrally located in their life.

Not an alternate reality where they have to now squeeze 5 trips to the gym into their life.

Building on that, they have to be able to deal with: work dinners out, frenemies sabotaging them, the "crappy" food inertia of their family when they go home to visit. All that comes up and you have to have a "tool-kit" to deal with it. We give them that tool-kit.

Lastly, we provide consistent support. We're there for 12 weeks, at least a couple times a week. Sometimes with an email saying hi and a friendly reminder to look at the bright side, sometimes with a video or an article and of course the weekly calls.

Everyone needs consistency to make things happen, whether it's building a business, making a relationship work well or losing weight. We provide that consistent support which helps people internalize this optimism and get back to that place of self-control.

Fostering self-control is the key."

I thought that this was a very helpful observation for us, and a great question to ask everyone. This "Tip Of The Day" list that you are reading right now is designed to communicate with you and get you thinking.

And if you are one of those people looking to get in control, I would highly encourage you to try the first month of the Point Of No Return, and let Joshua work some of his magic. We often find ourselves "soft-selling" his work, but as we go through all the feedback from people who finish the program we see that he is very good at accomplishing his objective.

This isn't the kind of situation where we are promising this crazy quick weight loss. This is the complete opposite of all that. Joshua helps you take a step back, and helps you examine all of your assumptions.

At the core it is really about your relationship to yourself. So often at PEERtrainer we soft pedal what we do. But this is something we are doing well, and for many people it is the most important thing in their life that they can be working on.

When we help people to make better decisions for the rest of their life, the ripple effect that has is powerful. Frankly, if you are struggling with food and then do the work to gain control, there is almost nothing in life you cannot successfully tackle. The belief that you develop in yourself will be the new fuel that you can use in all parts of your life.

-Jackie 

P.S. One more thing I want to add here. Joshua wrote a book about emotional eating based entirely on what he saw in the PEERtrainer community, and we turned it into a downloadable digital guide. We sell it for $27, but we thought it made sense to offer it free to people who have opened this email and read the whole message for the next two days or so. If you are still reading this particular email, we have said something that has resonated with you.

Even if you decide to opt out of the program during the $1 month one trial period, Joshua's guide to emotional eating is yours to keep. The book is 175 pages, so there is a LOT in there to digest. Lots of ideas.

When you sign up via this link for the program, you will be sent the book in three days. There is a lot we throw at you, and we want to make sure you get acclimated.

http://www.peertrainer.com/coaching

"Why Am I Not Losing Weight??"

Hi There-

 

We have been sharing some older articles from Joshua Wayne recently where he shares some of his "mind secrets." Please keep the feedback coming- we know we are really connecting with this.

 

Today we pleased to tell you about a new article that we have from him that we just published on the site. We hope you enjoy it:

 

http://www.peertrainer.com/why_you_are_not_losing_weight.aspx

 

 

We also just uploaded a new video from the series I did with Dr. Joel Fuhrman. In this video he starts to answer the question: "is is better to eat raw or cooked vegetables?"

 

This is an increasingly common question, and as usual Dr. Fuhrman has a unique insight into this subject because of the deep amount of research and study he has done in the field of nutrition.

 

Just below the video is part of an article he wrote where he goes into much greater depth about the raw vs cooked debate. Very interesting:

 

http://blog.peertrainer.com/health/2010/03/is-it-better-to-eat-raw-vegetables-or-cooked-vegetables-dr-joel-fuhrman-gives-his-perspective.html

 

 

-Jackie

 

 PS- we continue to get a lot of feedback and insight from the articles we have been focusing on. This blog post contains an email we got from a reader with a very good tip on how to indentify and fight the foods that sabotage your efforts:

 

http://blog.peertrainer.com/tip_of_the_day/2010/03/interesting-strategy-to-combat-weight-loss-sabotaging-foods.html

 

 

 

Rethinking The New Years Weight Loss Resolution

(this is something I sent out to the Tip Of The Day members earlier) .....I thought it might make sense for all of us to take a step back for a second and think about something. It is "resolution season" and you are probably being surrounded by different messages and suggestions. Do this, buy that.

Maybe your friends and family are asking you what "your resolution" is, which is creating some pressure. Maybe that is a good thing for some of us.

But I also think that for many of us it might make sense to simply do nothing. Or at least wait before we act on something.

The reason why I say this, is that at PEERtrainer we get a lot of feedback about why people do things. Or don't do things.

At a very basic level people are either ready or not ready to do things. It is really that simple. We are always looking for that "deep insight" into why people were successful with a certain program or on the site, and often their answer is that "they were just ready, ready for a change, etc."

And the people who drop out of a program or stop doing something often say "I just was not ready." Funny thing is, those people often come back to the site, rejoin this email program, sign back up for PONR after stopping it. Sometimes this process takes years.

For those who are "ready" there is usually a very good reason or reasons to do something. These can be either positive or negative.

A very good friend who has been putting off dealing with weight for years finally decided it was "time to be taken more seriously at work." For others it was a culmination of things.

For others they hit a certain age and think "I was supposed to be...... by this age." And that provides the mental trigger to reframe things in their mind in an instant.

It is also important to think about what kind of change you are ready for. There are people who are ready for massive and radical change. These are the people who dig deep into the books we recommend, log daily, join all the programs.

And there are others who just want to tip toe into things, and take things very slowly. They just want one idea every now and then.

It is like there are people who want to "learn how to fish." And others who just want to be given the fish!

So in this new year at PEERtrainer we will be working hard to address the needs of both groups. And frankly, we need you to tell us exactly what you need, and where you are in your journey. You might have just joined the site in the last few days, maybe you are 50 or more pounds overweight, and you just want to be given a couple good ideas to work with.

You might also be one of these people who is ready to get on an "elite track." I will be using that word a lot in this new year, because we see people embrace amazing transformation. (Ed and company in the Marathon crew come to mind, and the people in the Acceleration team!)

Those of you who do end up radically transforming your diets, activities and mindset are really part of a very elite group of people on this planet. These kinds of changes are very possible and doable- yet very few people make them!

As usual, I will end this email asking you to reply to this email and think about where you are honestly right now, and where you want to head this year. Is getting on an "elite track" something that you are ready for, are interested in?

Is it something much simpler? It will be reading all the responses and answering as many as I can. Please feel free to ask a question on my Facebook Wall. (And please join me there if you have not already www.facebook.com/jackiewicks)

Lets have a great year and continue our wonderful conversation, debate, discussion.... 

-Jackie

How To Feel Great Physically and How To Get The Energy To Work Out

(By Habib Wicks, PEERtrainer co-founder)

After a recent workout I was hungry and tired and wanted to find something that could really build upon the good work that I had done. I fired up the frying pan and grabbed 4 cloves of garlic from the fridge. I smashed them with my palm in about 10 seconds and threw them in the pan with some olive oil.

I then grabbed a bag of spinach from the freezer and threw it in the pan. Covered the pan and cooked for maybe 4 minutes? I might have added a few grinds of pepper. The spinach got cooked and steamed pretty good and then I just dumped the contents of the frying pan right into the Cuisinart. Pressed both the buttons getting the blade to go in both directions and pureed the spinach.

I then dumped it on a plate and opened up a bag of Kettle chips to curb my carb cravings. I then ate the entire plate of spinach (a full pound) dipping the chips into them. It tasted really good and it was EASY to make. Today I feel better than I have in a while. 

 

I used to workout when I was single and lived in NYC. I would hit the gym and lift. But I never really felt great because I ate poorly. Of course I did not understand that at the time because I was not overweight. Later on, a business colleague (and former chairman of a big healthcare company) gave me a copy of Eat To Live (and then introduced us to Dr. Fuhrman) and this book totally changed my outlook on eating. If PEERtrainer seems like the Dr. Fuhrman show at times, this is the reason. This is my personal agenda, and it has to do with his advice getting my own health in order.

 

I am not a vegetarian by any stretch, but I do go out of my way to get my greens in especially each day. I also understand the need to really chop up the greens to really get the nutrients out. Dr Fuhrman explains that our body cannot digest the cell wall of a plant, and you can only chew your food so much.

 

Recently I have started to do a lot more strength training, adding this back to my routine. I am not hitting the gym or doing bodybuilding, but just getting the muscles themselves a good workout. The last few years I have just run, played tennis or maybe rollerblade from time to time. Pure cardio. 

 

Running PEERtrainer, companies now often send stuff to us to test, evaluate and then write or blog about.  If we like it or it really captures our attention and we actually make it part of our day to day we do so.

 

For example, Total Gym recently sent us their top of the line model, the Total Gym XLS. And luckily I have Joshua with me who is a fitness nut. We are going through all 80 of their exercises and really pushing ourselves. At the end of the workout yesterday we had the incline at the highest level and I found myself doing inverted bicep curls, pulling my weight up the incline keeping my elbows locked into place. A heck of a workout.

 

But my point here is that for the first time I am combining a high nutrient way of eating with strength and resistance training. And I feel fantastic. I have been doing this for about a month, and yesterdays tweak to the routine prompted this post. Was so easy to do and prepare.

 

This all started last month we were testing and working with resistance band systems. And I started this process of working out the muscles with those bands. Resistance bands work really well to isolate all sorts of muscles quickly. Then I started Total Gym and basically worked out the entire body in a short amount of time.

 

I just wanted to communicate this combo- and suggest that you find a way to get some daily training in where you engage the muscles with some form of resistance. Resistance bands are a great thing to have in your home. Bodylastics is hands down the best product on the market and we have written a review about it here. And also recorded a bunch of videos on how to use it in different ways. But the basic idea is that for less than $100 you get something that essentially functions as full gym in your house. Both men and women can use it, and it really works. 

 

Total Gym is another great option if you have the space. You can watch a video of Joshua using it. It can be a little expensive though. The list price for the top of the line model is about $1500, and there are less expensive options and ways to buy used ones. We talk about it on the page. The Total Gym is also pretty durable and you might be able to find one on Craigslist. As long as the pulleys work nicely and you can get the incline going I highly recommend using one.

 

Or go to the gym. But just get in the habit of working the muscles and then getting your nutrients in, and really work this combo. Carrot juice is another excellent source of concentrated nutrients. One of the things Dr. Fuhrman has done with a new book of his, Eat For Health, is put a "Point System" on different fruits and vegetables. The idea is that you want to hit 100 points a day for optimal nutrition. He sent us a copy of this a year ago and it helped to really focus my eating habits each day. The stuff at the top of his points list are all the greens, and things like Romaine lettuce, red peppers, escarole, broccoli.

 

This book again changed my daily food decisions permanently. I grill red peppers whenever I find them on sale. If I am at an italian restaurant, I order a side of esacarole and beans and a side of broccoli rabe for my entree. The server usually looks at me like I am crazy, and is probably a little tweaked because this meal will cost less than $10 at the best restaurants!

 

But this strategy has given me a lot of energy especially in the last year. Adding the resistance training and bodyweight training to the mix has just stepped up how I feel, and I wanted to share that with you all. Work the muscles and work the high nutrient veggies. And when you do, add a comment to this blog post. Tell us what exercise you did and what you ate afterwards, please!!

 

I also got Joshua to do a piece for us which you can watch below. Just click the arrow to play the video, and he also shows you some simple exercises you can do with just your own body and nothing else:

 

In addition to Joshua being highly entertaining he is also a core part of our Point Of No Return Program, and in this role he essentially takes people on a tour of the thoughts behind the thoughts in their head. He has studied tons of stuff in the area of the mind, and delivers what is some of the best advice available. Stuff that works. 

He is living proof of the idea of "mind-body connection" and is doing a great job with Jackie in giving people an experience that is literally changing the lives of many people. When you make different decisions in your life, you will get different results. I think the real trick is getting to the point of successfully making that shift, and this program does that. 

 

One specific result we see that people experience in this program is a real sense of hope. We keep hearing this word "hope", "I have hope" over and over from participants. I am very excited about the early feedback on this new effort we have undertaken. Please check it out if you have a weight loss or fitness goal you have not met. This will help. 

 

-Habib

"Strength For My Mind And Spirit"

We just got a very profound email from one of the members of the PEERtrainer community, and I thought it would be helpful to share some of the comments. It is an excellent articulation of the value of our Point Of No Return concept, and helps to show that we are able to deliver on the central premise with both our Tip of The Day And Point Of No Return Program:

"The things I am learning from the 'tip of the day' and also the 'point of no return intensive' is what makes me think that this will be the time that matters....the time I can reach my goals. I realize that there will be no more "times" after this because over the past 2.5 months my whole life has started to change."

This is really the whole point. Most of us have been through things like Weight Watchers, NutriSystem, South Beach. We own copies of Dr. Oz's books. We have Oprah Magazine sitting in our bathrooms and living rooms. Yet we don't make the progress we desire and we don't become the person we want to become.

We built the PEERtrainer coaching program with this problem in mind, and engaged with a talented therapist who is familiar with both the mind- and the spirit. And the email contained a great recognition of that, that we help move people to a different way of thinking about themselves which can trigger immense personal change:

"I knew how to get an awesome workout....I knew how to eat to lose weight....what I needed all these years is the strength for my mind and my spirit....all the tips and exercises and thoughts that I am totally addicted to now! Health and weight loss is not just a physical journey and I am so happy that I finally realize this."

This was one of the best emails we have ever received at PEERtrainer, and are very grateful for it.

A Great, Focused Goal As A First Step Towards Weight Loss

In the PEERtrainer Tip of The Day email (sign up here, it's free), I often ask, what is the one thing that "trips you up"?  Meaning, what is one thing you could give up for the next seven days that you KNOW will help you towards weight loss and get you on the right track? 

Two responses I've received in the last week were great examples of "bite-sized" goals that are doable and a great step in the right direction;

1.  Jackie:

There is a vending machine at work with snacks for sale. I have to walk
past it to get a coffee, tea or glass of water. Most days I will stop
and look at what is available. More often that not I will buy something
and this can be twice daily.

 It is my intention to focus beyond this machine without stopping or
purchasing.

2.   Jackie,

One of the things that has been tripping me up is eating chocolate.....buying the
dark chocolate and thinking it is healthy and allowing myself to nibble on that way
too much.? I need to realize I'm kidding myself.? I shouldn't even go there because
I can't control it.? So I am going to concentrate on saying "No" to chocolate
because it really adds up.? No to buying and No to eating chocolate!

Thanks!

These are good focused goals that are achievable without being overwhelming.  We talk more about goals and how to finally believe weight loss is possible in our coaching program as well.

Other good examples include "skip the bread basket at lunch every time I eat out this week" or "no donuts at work!"  The very first thing I did was give up my bacon egg and cheese sandwiches in the morning.  Hard but worth it;  from there I went on to habit after habit until I got back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  Let me know what you commit to this week!

Jackie

Weight Watchers Weight Loss Readiness Assessment Tool

Weight Watchers offers a weight loss readiness assessment that asks you a simple question: "are you ready to commit to losing weight?" This has proven to be a very popular tool. Not sure how new this is, but the new Weight Watchers Momentum program does have a much greater focus on the mental aspect of weight loss.

As part of their overall tool set to get you ready to lose weight, they also offer a BMI calculator and a health assessment. The idea is that by highlighting the health risk to one's weight, that can help give you the motivation to sustain long term weight loss. 

What is interesting is that the mental aspect of weight loss can be helped along by changes in your diet. It is a chicken and egg sort of situation, but when you "scratch the CD" of your patterns, it becomes easier to make any change you want.

In essence you need to manufacture your readiness. Which in turn will provide fuel for motivation. It is simple physics if you think about it. Objects are hard to get in motion, but once they are, they are easy to keep in motion.

The key is that you need a good jumpstart to get the object in motion. PEERtrainer has put together three tools that could help you get "in motion" as part of a free weight loss program. You don't need to do all three. Just take a look at the three options, see which one is a fit for you, and give it a try.

The key to readiness is to create it yourself!!!

Feedback And Review Of The New Weight Watchers Momentum Plan: Great Recipes, Lots Of Choices Make For A Great Reason To Join Or Rejoin

 

Our new Tip Of The Day email coaching program has opened up a great feedback loop with our subscribers and members. I have been blogging about the big changes at Weight Watchers, and now am getting some great feedback. One bit of feedback surprisingly was from my own mom!

My mom has been a Weight Watchers member for most of her life. In fact, it was watching her measure her food and count her points growing up that helped me come up with the idea for PEERtrainer almost 5 years ago now. I knew that accounting for your food, writing it down, and getting support was one of those things you just had to do to lose weight.

So we were talking and I mentioned to her that we had been interested in the new Weight Watchers Momentum system and we were in the process of getting feedback from our users. She said to me "I will give you some feedback- because I re-joined one month ago!"

I tend to listen to her about stuff like this. She gave me strong encouragement to start PEERtrainer and has given me very honest and pointed feedback throughout the process. The first thing she said was that when she rejoined Weight Watchers she was "shocked at how good the recipes are."

She made a comment to the effect of "they must have actually hired good people and paid them well because the recipes used to be so bad." She said that now there are hundreds of recipes to choose from that look good and that she wants to make.

Recipes To Help You Lose Weight

I asked her what made her go back to the meetings. She mentioned that she went out of control for the last 6 months and needed the extra push to have to go in person to the meeting. She knew she needed to have to get on the scale and to have to sit through a "boring" lecture from the Weight Watchers leader because she knew it would just work for her. She was trying to assess the damage she had done using some tools on their website, and that triggered her decision to make the trek back to her local meeting in the DC area.

 

Feedback and Review Of The New Momentum Program

She also mentioned that she thought Momentum was really exciting - gave you lots of choices and ideas

for making healthy foods taste good. She said she was "excited" about the way Weight Watchers has "grown" and changed. 

What I found interesting from her comments and feedback was that it was consistent with what Weight Watchers was saying about their new program on their website.

Another Review Of Momentum Plan 

I also got an email from a Tip Of The Day subscriber and a long time PEERtrainer user and member. It is a big email and I am adding some headers to help people read it better. Here it is:

"It's almost like magic, it's like a commitment I have history with ww.  I've been successful.  for me, just the humiliation of having to walk back in and listen to someone who was good or bad or whatever she is, the leader, I'm stuck listening to her stuff. Something about it, RIGHT NOW, I'm reversing the pattern.  Something has changed.

The biggest thing I love about rejoining and going back is it's a big program.  Physicial program.  Learn the whole new pattern.  Everything about the new points, study the books.  I like the fact that I'm taking my life into control now.

Big Focus On Recipes To Start You Off

First of all,they give you a bunch of recipes in the starter book.  They give you two or three of their best - right now, you know, I could do this, this looks good.  The leader pointed out the best one so you can

make a good dinner right away.  

 

Healthy Recipes That Fill You Up

People Who Rejoin Weight Watchers Need To Sit In For An Extra 1/2 Hour Class

 

As a new returner, you have to sit in for an extra 1/2 hour class because there is a new system. There's always a new system, because they're always learning new things and refining their system.  

Keeping The Points System And Merging Flex and Core Into Momentum

This time they merged core and flex into the new system momentum. No one ever wants to give up points, because points are such a comfortable system because you can eat anything, you can have pizza, you can have liquor, any damn thing you want as long as you count points. 

Not only do you get a lot of points on weight watchers, you get 35 extra points for the week.  People love extra points because extra points means splurging, cookies, cake, an extra glass of wine, some butter on their vegetables or butter on their eggs, so you love your splurge points and you have 35 of them! 

Some Point Values Have Changed And Different Foods Are Now Emphasized 

You want to learn the new points of every food because you forget the points when you're going back and sometimes the points changes, and sometimes they just invent new things that you can have, like last time maybe they thought avocado was ridiculous, but this time they're kind of pushing avocado.

You can't wait to learn all the new points because you're designing your three meals a day.  You're designing your day. You're designing how filling your day can be.  LIke I do 5, 5 and 10.  5, break, 5 lunch, 10 for dinner.  Right away, you get your points, your book and you're designing your filling breakfast.  

New Program Helps You Eat A Lot Of Food And Not Feel Hungry

So right away you can see you're going to be able to eat a lot of food, so you're very happy, up and optimistic. Because basically, you want to eat a lot of food and now you know you can. Oh, I can do, this, this is wonderful.  You always forget how great weight watchers is, because you forget how much food you get.  Because as time goes on, you want to stay thin, and you eat less and less to maintain

and you start to. 

Very surprised to see this time how little I need to change my diet, because basically, I am always doing the weight watchers diet but when it comes down to it, I was eating all the extras. What happens is, just because you've made the commitment, you're suddenly not going to have all the extras, because you're thinking 5, 5, 10.

Helping Her Stay On Track Because She Doesn't Feel The Need To Snack On The Extras Anymore

Now, you're on the program, you're in the right direction, and you don't seem to need the extras anymore.  It's kind of strange, I don't even know why.  And let me tell you, I ate like an idiot last night, but it's ok, because I'm on weight watchers, and I know I'm on it.  It's psychological. Once you're on it, you know your weight is going down.

Looked at the points, and realized, wow, what I've been eating, oatmeal and blueberries is only 3 points, so I was kind of starving myself and didn't know it.  I can have a whole cup of blueberries and still stay under 3 points.  And now, I get two more points at lunch.

Getting Comfortable With Points Helps To Feel Comfortable With Choices

But what's interesting, when I have egg and avocado for breakfast, that turns out to be exactly 5 points, which is what I've always done, and now I find out that it is 5 points.  Because I actually know the points value, I feel comfortable with my choices.

The difference is, when you're on WW, because you have to count the points, you just stop eating the extras.

They Give You This Great Little Slider At The Meetings To Count Points

One of the things I love is the fact that you have that little weight watchers slider, you can take anything you eat and put the fiber,fat and calories and figure out right away how to figure out your day.  For

instance, I found out a luna bar, on the spot was 3 points so I could have a huge apple and that you can eat so much hummus!  

Really Great New Approach To Dieting

When you're counting points, you can eat so much more than when you're not counting and on the program.  You tend to starve yourself when you're not on the program because you're not really counting.  You always think you're overeating.  What it does is starves your body and your body hangs

on to the weight.  When you're eating the right amount, it boosts your metabolism and you start losing the weight."

Conclusion And Ways To Get Started On The New Weight Watchers Momentum Program

I will keep posting feedback like this. One thing that really seems to have changed is the focus on recipes and tailoring them to your tastes. This makes for a better product and is also smart from a business standpoint. It is no longer just about counting some points which you can really do on your own. You really now need to pay your $40 or whatever it is to get started and learn their new stuff.

People ask the best way to get started and I always come back to the readiness part of it. They have some tools on their site which help you with that. Here are some ways to get started:

1.  If you are thinking about joining Weight Watchers, do what my mom did and start with their online tools. You can measure your BMI, find out how much health damage you have done with your weight and also take an interesting quiz to gauge your psychological readiness to lose weight.

2.  If you want to find out pricing or just want to see if there is a meeting near you and the schedule you can look it up on their website by entering in your zip. There are a TON of meetings out there. And if you have feedback or experience on any diet, please let me know!

3.  If you are a guy maybe you have some questions about Weight Watchers overall- we are covering in another post titled Weight Watchers Momentum For Men- How This Compares To Atkins or South Beach.

Next: Recipe To Help You Lose Weight: Warm Applewood Bacon Soup



 

Assess If You Are Really Ready To Lose Weight

Those of you who get the Tip Of The Day email know you have the option to "unsubscribe." And we learn a lot and make a lot of changes when you do leave us a comment on the way out. (And you can always sign up again and start over).

One interesting thing is people are generally pretty honest. And many tell us that they are simply "not ready to lose weight." For many this is a very important assessment. They were able to at least express that they understood they were not ready. I try and simply give them an encouraging comment of, "you are always welcome here" and that they can always come back.

Even on the PEERtrainer site itself we have a very long term user base. It is not uncommon to see people to come back after one or even two years. We work to develop a supportive environment, roll out new products. But mostly work to try and have a very welcoming place to come back to.

And when people come back to us, they are ready, they have developed that readiness. We work hard to develop readiness but we are far from alone in this process. If you feel like you are not ready to lose weight, you might want to find out exactly where you are. Weight Watchers has developed an 11 question weight loss readiness assessment on their website as part of their new Momentum Program.

I will look for some other tools as well and post them. I am also going to ask Joshua (therapist) and Laurie (MD) some questions on readiness. Those of you in the Tip of The Day program are familiar with their work, and I want you all to know we are working hard on identifying and also developing resources to help in this area.

We also have started a thread on this in the PEERtrainer Community:

Tips On Getting Ready To Lose Weight

"I Am Starving"..... "I Am Always Hungry"

One of the most commonly asked questions that we get asked from Tip Of The Day subscribers is about hunger.

It doesn't matter whether you've been restricting yourself on a diet, or not even watching what you eat at all, there are times that you suddenly feel so hungry you don't even know how it hit you. 

Often you find yourself in a situation where you didn't eat a proper breakfast, or you went too late until lunch came around and the hunger hits you like a ton of bricks.  You feel like you could eat a house and if someone put a large pizza in front of you at that exact moment, you could probably scarf down 3/4 of it, maybe almost the whole thing. 

What's interesting is that Dr. Fuhrman, in his book Eat for Health, says that actual hunger is felt in your throat.  Symptoms include salivating and light interest. Actual "hunger" is when your body is ready for more nutrients.

Often that "starving" feeling are withdrawal symptoms from the caffeine, sugar or other "nutrient-poor" foods you consume. These feeling that we confuse for "real hunger" are usually felt in the stomach as growling, light headedness, little dizzy, the general sensations we feel when we say we are hungry. 

But at the time when you're "starving", the logic behind what's really going on doesn't matter. You just want food and you want it now.

When you get to this point, how do you satiate yourself without destroying all of your efforts towards your weight loss for the week?

Here are a few tips:

1.  Keep one of your favorite snacks in your purse or in your desk at all
times. 

That doesn't mean healthy if you don't like the taste.  If you throw an apple in your purse but you don't particularly love apples, when that overwhelm comes on, you will not eat that apple.  You will think you are
starving and way too "hungry" for that apple to even begin to have an effect.  You'll head to your nearest "favorite food" place that will satisfy the hunger.

Pick a snack that you really love the taste of:  maybe it's a fruit/nut power bar - maybe a banana or maybe something else.  Pick a snack that works for you, that you really like, and next time the starving feeling
comes on you'll have something right there, and once you've eaten it, the binge feeling has come and gone.

2.  Check if that hunger feeling really means you're thirsty

Most of the time when you feel hungry, you are dehydrated.  Get a large glass of water full of ice with Fresh squeezed lemon and see how you feel afterwards.

3.  If you didn't put your favorite snack in your purse?

Instead of using the starving excuse as a chance to stop at Starbucks for a large muffin, croissant and moccachino, go find your favorite snack immediately!!  Think of what you would have put in your desk or purse and simply go purchase that to eat now.

4. What if you give in anyway?

Lastly, if you are starving and you do head to the nearest pizza place and scarf down 4 times as much as you usually do, don't make it the end of the world.  Don't use that incident as the reason for saying, well, I messed up, might as well have pasta and that hot fudge sundae I've been craving as well. 

Don't stack it with all the other things you were disappointed with in yourself that day.  You were "starving", you ate a lot, and that's all it is. Commit to making just the next meal, just one meal one that follows your regimen and makes you have energy and feel great and don't look back.