Weight Watchers New PointsPlus (+) Program ~ My Story ~ Part 11

This week the scale gave me .4 pounds bringing my current total to 12.4 pounds and my running total to 26.2 pounds. I had a rough week and I know that I did not eat enough of the Power Foods that Weight Watchers recommends and that my body needs. So rather than having just plain English Muffins, which I love for breakfast, I bought the multi-grain kind that contain the same amount of PointsPlus values, but offer more filling whole grains. I also found awesome strawberries that were priced just right and will be eating them during the week. I also posted an article about burned Brussels sprouts that are filling and delicious and give us the benefit of having our recommended healthy oil for the day. See the recipe here and give it a try. It may just change your mind about these little cabbage heads.

Our meeting topic this week was "Plan-Friendly Fridge" which made us think about what is in our kitchen that just may sabotage our best intentions. From cleaning out our fridge of the items that will deter our plans to setting up individual bags of veggie and fruit snacks that we can grab when we need them, to having flavored seltzer or club soda on hand that have 0 PointsPlus values. In the freezer we should have light ice cream or fat-free sorbet. By keeping frozen fruit handy, we can add them to smoothies or bake into desserts or just thaw and add to cereal. Power food popcorn is wonderful to have if it is 94% fat-free rather than those chips and high fat snacks.

Our weekly magazine gave us three good topics: "6 Healthy Picks for Easy Meals," "Dish it Up!" and "No Time?"

For "6 Healthy Picks" the choices were given to keep on hand: cooked quinoa, cooked bulgur to make quick and easy side dishes. Fat-free Greek yogurt to whip up sweet and savory sauces; try this on a baked potato instead of sour cream! Washed and chopped salad greens, bell peppers and carrots are great for salads and snacks and great for dipping into sauces made with Greek yogurt.

"Dish it Up" gave us a recipe for Mexican-Style Brown Rice Casserole using layers of brown rice mixed with salsa and cumin followed by a layer of a mixture consisting of refried beans, corn kernels and mild green chili peppers and chili powder, then a layer of either frozen spinach or collard greens thawed and well drained followed by a top layer of the rice again with shredded low-fat cheddar cheese on top. The casserole has 8 PPV's per serving and sounds interesting, but I doubt anyone in my house would ever eat it.

"No Time" gives us help moving more with Jessica Wozinsky, Associate Editor of Weight Watchers magazine. She breaks down some ways to get more movement into our day if we only have as little as 5 minutes.

In 5 minutes you could; take the stairs and power walk up and down while pumping your arms.

In 10 minutes you could try interval training. Begin walking at a normal pace the first minute and
then pick it up till you are walking as fast as you can. Slow down the next minute, and then pick it up the next minute. If you have a watch, set it to beep every minute so you know when to go fast or slow.

For 20 minutes add toning moves to your walk like lunges and squats.

For 30 minutes do all of the above in a circuit until the half hour is up.

Our assignment for this week is to throw out/donate to a food bank/give away 10 of the trigger foods that clutter your home and cause a problem with overeating. So get to it and we will see less of each other next week!