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Weight Watchers Points Log
Keeping track of your points each day and writing them down is a core part of the Weight Watchers program. It is a process rooted in science, and is based on the concept of "self-monitoring" which is essentially a conversation that you have with yourself. Group support is another core element of the Weight Watchers system. The combination of self-monitoring with group support is what has helped make Weight Watchers successful and is a major reason why it works.
When you write down your food, exercise, points and even thoughts each day you engage in a powerful conversation with yourself. This helps you be accountable to yourself. Group and peer support is also very important. Weight loss is a difficult process and having someone there to cheer you along or even work with you in the process can make it fun.
PEERtrainer is an ideal place to keep track of your points, because it helps facilitate both group monitoring and peer support. On PEERtrainer you can do it each day, and for free. Click Here to join now. It can be a powerful extension of the Weight Watchers program. You go to a Weight Watchers meeting once a week, but you can log and check in with your PEERtrainer group members each day!
The Importance of Social Support and Self-Monitoring
Group and peer support is a highly proven method for losing weight and getting healthy. It is one thing to learn how to lose weight and eat more healthy, it is another thing to put this into practice on a consistent basis. Friends and family are of limited use because there is only so much burden they can bear. Getting the support of an anonymous group of people each day can make the critical difference. Self-monitoring is the other method, backed by volumes of research, that is highly correlated with weight loss success. You keep a log of your food, exercise, goals and thoughts. When you do this each day it keeps you accountable to yourself, and brings this aspect of your life to the top of your mental agenda. When you are writing each day, you are thinking about the things you write about. This begins to change how you think and facilitates better decision making. When you make better decisions, and have a broad support network, you are very likely to lose weight for the long term. When you do both these things, the odds of success increase dramatically.
A free, online resource that facilities both social support and self-monitoring in an easy to use (and anonymous format) is PEERtrainer. You sign up, start or join small groups and teams. You log your food each day, and the others in your group see your log and provide support, motivation and accountability each day. It is like a virtual support group available on the internet whenever you need it. It is highly effective and has been featured in The New York Times, Fitness Magazine, Women's World, Business Week, ABC News, CNET, Fast Company...
Diets That Work
You have heard over and over that diets don't work. The traditional American idea of dieting is "portion control" or reducing your caloric intake. These approaches fail because you are only reducing portions of unhealthy and fatty foods. There are new diet approaches out there that seek to fundamentally change what you eat. These diets slash the amounts of saturated fats and sugar that you eat and radically increase the amount of plant-based foods. The Fat Smash Diet (by Dr Ian Smith) is one such popular approach, and Eat to Live by Dr Joel Fuhrman is another. These approaches are not about lowering carbs, or getting more protein or counting Weight Watcher points. They about fundamentally restructuring your eating habits. When you reorder your diet to eliminate processed foods, slash dairy and meat consumption and increase your intake of fruit, vegetables, beans, rice- you will lose weight and reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and a host of other diseases. Improper nutrition is at the root of most diseases. Animal based foods contain cholesterol and boost the levels in your body. Plants do not contain any, and help reduce levels in your body. As blood cholesterol levels decrease, cancers of the liver, rectum, colon, male lung, female lung, breast, childhood leukemia, adult leukemia, childhood brain, stomach and esophagus levels will decrease. The more you reduce meat, dairy and processed foods in your diets, the healthier you will be.
Check out our review of the Weight Watchers Momentum Program which we believe is a much better overall offering than for maintaining healthy eating habits after your weight loss program.
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