Weight Watchers Works: How I Lost 150 Pounds on the Program

If you're like I am and have trouble losing weight, then a program that I would recommend is Weight Watchers. I weighed 290 pounds. I had, like most other people, tried every diet on the planet. I usually just ended up stopping the diet, eating more than before from starving myself on the diet, and gaining about 20 more pounds. I finally turned to Weight Watchers online program. I did not want to go to what I considered embarrassing, boring meetings, so I felt that weightwatchers.com was the solution for me.

I was right. I loved the calorie counting function, the support function, and all of the wonderful articles. With the calorie counting function, the site calculates your calories and points based on the name of the foods you type in. The page even lists specific brands for you to pick from. You can also manually input product information if the product is not listed on the function. The site tells you exactly what information to type in from the nutrition label on the back of your product to figure the calories. Once you have entered what you ate that day,the site tallies how many points you have used for the day and subtracts it from the available total. This total is figured from your first day using the Weight Watchers site. You enter your age, weight, height, sex, and activity level. From that information the site calculates how many calories/points you should be taking in each day to allow for weight loss.

The support function of the website is comprised of comment pages and chat rooms. Their are categories for every weight loss problem and success story from A-Z where members of the site to comment. Members can chat with each other about problems or successes or post a question on the comment page to be answered or share tips.

The site is also filled with encouraging articles containing tips for cardio workouts, how to make great tasting foods, and even success stories written by members of the site.

You can get all of this for less than $40 a month. I must caution you though that you will have better results with the eating plan if you follow the advice of the Weight Watchers site that tells you to do a cardio workout for at least 30 minutes a day. This is exactly what I did. I did thirty minutes of cardio a day plus stayed within my calorie limits and in less than a year, I had reached my weight loss goal of 150 pounds. But most importantly, I have kept the weight off for 7 years now. Of course to maintian a weight loss you must realize that you will probably have to up your cardio time and add some strength training. I now do one hour on the elliptical 4 days a week and one hour of strength training two days a week. This keeps you burning at least 3500 calories a week even when you go a little bit off of your diet plan. And as you probably know 3500 calories equals 1 pound.

I now have my masters in kinesiology, so I want to leave you with some tips. Never loose more than two pounds a week. This is so very unhealthy for your body. Also never starve yourself or tell yourself that you can never have a certain type of food again. Do you know how depressed I would be if I was never allowed to have sweets? Also remember that slipping up on your diet or exercise plan is not failure. It is what it is a bad day, or if you're anything like me, a bad week or month. Just say to yourself, "Oh well I slipped up, now I have to get back to my healthy living." That is exactly what you do, you move on. You don't make yourself workout extra at the gym or only eat a banana for lunch, you simply get back into your same healthy routine the next day.

One more thing that I have to mention is that you won't need the Weight Watchers site forever. I would say three to four months max. In that time, I had the routine and the points system down. Then, I just continued following the routine on my own. Basically what Weight Watchers is teaching us is portion control. The healthier the food you eat, the more of it you get to it. However, you can still eat the foods you love you just have to eat more sensibly by taking in a smaller amount (usually one portion size as listed on the nutrition label.) Weight Watchers is also teaching us that the more active you are the more calories you burn, therefore the more calories you can take in. It is all about balance. The calories you take in have to be less than the calories you are using each day. This is what results in a weight loss.

I hope you feel encouraged and excited about starting any kind of health lifestyle today, because that is what it takes to loose weight: a committment to changing your life. I still eat healthy foods, fewer junk foods, and workout; and I am seven years past reaching my goal. Always set many small realistic goals that lead up to your final goal, and reward yourself when you reach each of those goals with something that isn't food! Best of luck!