The 2009 New Year, New Resolve Challenge: Week 2

This week borrows some wisdom from the new Weight Watchers Momentum™ plan, bumps your activity up, and encourages you to think about how you’re really doing.

Week 2

Befriend a Filling Food
Not all POINTS® values were created equal. Anyone who has spent their daily POINTS allowance on bagels and candy will tell you that. Weight Watchers’ new Momentum plan introduced the concept of Filling Foods; those foods that can help keep hunger at bay, and really stretch your POINTS values to help you keep on track.

What are Filling Foods?
People tend to eat the same volume of food each day 1— by filling their stomachs with food, they avoid feelings of hunger. Some foods — Filling Foods — help keep you full longer, and fill you up on fewer calories. By incorporating Filling Foods into your meals, you’ll learn to stretch your POINTS values and make better choices.

Filling foods include; Whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, potatoes and grains. Vegetables and fruits. Whole-grain cereals – without added sugar, nuts or dried fruit. Lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs. Fat-free milk and milk products. Soups, made with Filling Foods.

Now look at the difference for 3 different meals. The left side will be just grabbing something while the right side is going for filling foods. Both use the same amount of points but when using filling foods you can eat a lot more food.







Your challenge this week, then, is to make sure you add at least two Filling Foods™ every day. This is easily done by simply increasing your intake of fruits and veggies, lean meat and whole grains. But look beyond additions, and think carefully about substitutions. Instead of sugary cereal, try shredded wheat cereal with cut-up strawberries or banana supplying the sweetness the sugar had provided. Instead of a popsicle, eat a handful of frozen grapes. And who needs to eat chicken breast day in, day out, when you can try duck breast or pheasant instead? Be bold!

By tracking faithfully — including charting your hunger patterns throughout the day — you will be able to see how much value these Filling Foods represent in terms of keeping you more satisfied, longer.

Go for the (extra) burn
How much activity did you get last week? Make a point this week of increasing that number by 5 minutes each day. If you already have a robust exercise routine, do something different this week — treadmill junkies, try a dance class. Gentle yoga stretchers, take a hot Bikram class. Maybe even give the forlorn, lonely rowing machine a little attention — it’s a great workout for your upper body as well as your legs, and you won't have to stand in line even as the January newbies crowd the gym floor.

The 8 Good Health Guidelines prescribe at least 30 minutes of activity a day on most days of the week (starting with 10 minutes if you’re sedentary now). Getting in more activity during the space of a week is not an unreachable target, and the health benefits are plentiful.

Ask for help, or just check in
If you’re struggling in any aspect of following the new years (get healthy) plan, it’s important that you sit back and really think about what it is that’s tripping you up. Keeping your anxieties general will often lead to an overly generalized reaction: Giving up.

But it’s not always possible to figure out where you’re going wrong by yourself. Sometimes it takes a third party to hear the evidence and realize what it is that’s going on. Let me be your resource for helping solve these problems, but have you also considered bringing in a confidante closer to home? After all, many of the roadblocks we meet are caused, even if unknowingly, by our friends and family.

We are sometimes reluctant to share our weight-loss journey with others; we might not want them to see just how hard we have to work at staying on Plan. But those people closest to you will often jump at the chance of helping a loved one succeed at something so important to them. Whatever is bothering or confusing you, reach out to someone who can give you, if not a solution, then at least a different perspective.

Ok, I'm off my soap box now. The good news is today is weigh in day & I LOST! Nothing major but more then just 2 oz like last week. I lost 1.6 pounds this week bringing the total to 1.8 pounds for the year. I'm 205.2 this morning & getting closer to ONDERLAND as I type. =D It feels good to be in control of my body once again. Have a great weekend ... don't over eat, grab a healthy filling food. See ya on Monday to weigh in again.