I have to say that over the course of the last month, for the first time in years, I feel — liberated — with my weight loss. I am honestly amazed at the transformation that is happening with me, and I have Weight Watchers to thank for that. I really do.
Many friends and family keep asking me — “WOW! What are you doing to lose weight? You look amazing!” Then, it’s my turn to be amazed because I step on the scale and I have honestly only dropped 7 pounds since starting WW. Really? 7 pounds makes that big of a difference? Not really, I tell myself. I think it has to do with the mindset that I have adopted since starting Weight Watchers.
- It’s really all about what you eat. One thing that has helped me is that I have almost completely cut out sugary and refined sugar products. I do allow myself a cheat day every week so that I can indulge, but for the most part, sweets are gone, white bread is gone — and it’s place I have added wheat bread and whole grains. I cannot tell you what a difference this has made in my life.
- Eating more veggies. It took me a while to realize that with Weight Watchers, veggies and fruits are ZERO points, so I can eat all of that stuff I want. Instead of choosing a big burger and fries, I go for a hearty salad, filled with delicious vegetables and then add in a grilled chicken breast for my carnivore side.
- Trying to exercise at least 3 to 4 times a week. I still have not mastered this yet, but I am getting there. I am amazed at how it makes me feel afterward.
- The scale lies. Never believe the scale. This I have learned a lot over the course of the last couple of months. While my body is changing, the scale is not moving that much. The scale causes severe frustration and will have you spiraling down if you let it. My theory? Don’t be a slave to the scale. Accept that you are getting leaner and your muscle always weighs more — so don’t believe the number. Believe your body and what people are saying about you.
I am super excited that I have now reached 155. I am 7 pounds lighter and I cannot wait to reach my goal weight of 130 pounds. That number is perfect for me — not too skinny and definitely not overweight.
Weight Watchers definitely is worth doing. It is making a difference and whether I can see it or not, others have noticed and that makes me a happy, happy girl!
I was provided a 3 month membership to Weight Watchers online in order to write this review. All opinions listed are my own.
Whether it’s green hats or green drinks, St. Patrick’s Day gets everyone thinking about all things green. Why not use this holiday-inspired green obsession to get your kids excited about eating some of the healthiest foods around? Create a special St. Patrick’s Day lunch or dinner featuring an array of green fruits and veggies – your kids just might discover a new favorite they’ll be willing to eat all year long! Here are 5 ways that you can create a Kid Friendly St. Patrick’s Day meal filled with delicious green fruits and veggies..
According to dietitian Gloria Tsang, founder of nutrition network HealthCastle.com, there’s no reason to limit your “green food” choices to the usual suspects of dark-green leafy vegetables. “Avocados, kiwis, and even green tea can all be thought of as green foods,” Tsang says. “Combined they offer potassium, fiber, antioxidants, magnesium, and loads of vitamins.”
Here are HealthCastle.com’s top ways to use healthy green foods in a kid-friendly St. Patrick’s Day meal:
Healthy green foods that you can use in a kid-friendly St. Patrick’s Day meal
- Bump up the taste appeal with sweet green fruits: Apples and pears with the skin on provide loads of fiber, while kiwi is loaded with Vitamin C and potassium and grapes have Vitamins C and K.
- Go for finger foods: Kids love to eat with their hands, so be sure to include celery and green pepper sticks and cucumber slices. Some light cream cheese or peanut butter for dipping makes these green foods truly fun.
- Put ‘em on a pizza: Green veggies like peppers and zucchini make great pizza toppings, and even shredded kale can work well and add texture.
- Make a creamy green soup: Mix pureed avocado and chicken broth as a base and add the flavors you like, or go for asparagus. The unique appearance of green soup gets kids curious.
- Wash it down with iced green tea: Kids love iced tea, but too often they drink sugar-loaded artificial tea. Try serving real brewed green tea cooled with just a hint of sugar for a great antioxidant boost.
A day when kids are obsessed with green is the perfect time to get them to eat healthy green foods – and add some green nutrition to the meals of the grown-ups in your life, too. More simple, small achievable actions to reclaim health are available on HealthCastle.com.
More about HealthCastle Network founder, Gloria Tsang
Gloria founded HealthCastle.com in 1997, when her father was diagnosed with cancer. Since then, HealthCastle.com has become the largest online nutrition network run by dietitians. Gloria has been featured on 15+ TV shows and 30+ radio programs, as well as in many print publications, revealing compelling “undieting” strategies from her book, Go UnDiet. The Huffington Post named Gloria one of its Top 20 Nutrition Experts on Twitter, and HealthCastle.com was named one of the Top 50 Best Food Websites by The Independent. Publisher’s Weekly called Go UnDiet “a straightforward plan … logical and uncomplicated.” For more information about Gloria’s media work, go to http://www.healthcastle.com/goundietbook/press.html.
I’m finally going to do it. Lose these last 30 pounds I mean 
. I have been struggling for about 5 months now to really lose these last few pounds and just have not been successful, so I reached out to Weight Watchers Online and they have agreed to help me over the course of the next three months to get my weight and my eating habits completely under control. So far — I am loving the new Weight Watchers 360.
I’ll be doing the online version only. I’m really excited about getting started. Getting my weight under control has been a dream of mine now for several years and while I have lost about 30 pounds on my own, it has taken me a very long time to do so, but with Weight Watchers they will definitely help me to make better choices to achieve the goals I am wanting to achieve.
This morning, I set the program up online and I was instantly impressed with how it immediately starts breaking things down into small goals that you can achieve without feeling like you are letting yourself down.
My first goal is to lose around 7.9 pounds and I will be weighing in on Sunday. For my first small step, here is how I will be reaching that goal:
- Track what I eat — every single thing. This is hard for me because I have always been someone who didn’t think I needed to track anything (this is the girl who sat and ate almost a whole box of chocolate truffles last night). BUT I am going to do it, because I do believe that this is the first step in changing what and how you eat.
- Get my kitchen in order. I have yet to go through my cabinets, but Weight Watchers offers me some tips on doing that like putting the tempting things out of my site and reach, marking my cabinet foods with my points on the boxes and bags so I can see them and not be so tempted to grab that item or to make a healthier choice when I would rather make a bad one.
- Making my living room exercise friendly. I have tons of workout dvds that are collecting dust on the shelf and a yoga mat that has never been opened, so I am going to work on getting that done.
With these few small first changes, I know that I will be on my way to meeting my first goal. Each Sunday, I will be checking in and sharing my journey with you, so I hope you will stick around and cheer me on! I can definitely use the support.
I was provided a 3 month membership to Weight Watchers online in order to write this review. All opinions listed are my own.
I am in love with Shape magazine. I have had a subscription now for about a year and have found so many helpful good tips inside the pages.
Right now, you can get Shape magazine for only $3.76 per year when you use the code WKLYSPEC. This price is good until January 20th, so hurry and grab your yearly subscription today!
The opportunity to take a passion for fitness, nutrition and wellness and turn it into a lucrative and enjoyable online career is an aspiration for many people. Upwards of 90 percent of people who are looking for health information and guidance will go online to find it, with many more than willing to pay for quality information and insight.
Online fitness and health businesses come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some individuals produce quality health articles as freelance writers or bloggers, some sell nutritional supplements and others provide guidance and coaching as personal trainers.
From fitness passion to promising career: tips and advice
The first step in pursuing any dream career is to identify what stimulates that passion for the subject – in this case, fitness and health. For some, the physical aspects of fitness, such as aerobics, gymnastics and strength-training, are the main source of appeal. These people may naturally gravitate toward personal training or creating their own fitness regimen or general online routines, which can be distributed via a website or through DVD. Others may find the scientific aspect more appealing and may wish to focus on the biology and physiology of fitness and nutrition. These people may find creating and maintaining an informational website or blog to be the best route. The important thing is to determine if the area of expertise is marketable to a wide audience and whether the investment in building a career in this area will be worth the effort, time and money.
Experts in any field are constantly seeking to expand their knowledge and skills in a particular specialty. Once an entrepreneurial course has been settled on, seeking the training and education necessary to be seen as a credible and a reliable expert in the fields of fitness, nutrition and wellness is a good idea.
For example, healthcare administration degrees can be very marketable. A wide range of colleges and universities offer degrees and certifications in a variety of fields involving fitness, nutrition and general wellness, and many technical schools and programs are also available.
Fitness is considered to be a relatively broad discipline, so anyone seeking to pursue a degree or certificate in anything fitness related may specialize in any of a number of fields. Kinesiology, which is the scientific study of the movement and motion of the human body, may prove particularly useful for anyone marketing an exercise plan or serving as a personal trainer. Physical education, sports medicine and related studies may be very useful for people wishing to market their exercise expertise on a larger scale. Degrees and certifications in other health related services and professions, including nursing, physical therapy, nutrition and even healthcare administration training are also very desirable, adding credibility to the new enterprise.
Taking a few courses in business, marketing and accounting are also an excellent idea. Many online colleges and universities, as well as local learning annexes, offer courses for beginners, many of them directly geared toward people building an online business. These classes are also an excellent opportunity to network and make connections with other entrepreneurs that may prove mutually beneficial.
One New Year’s resolution that tops the list of life-changing pledges almost every year is that of losing weight. I am in that majority. I want to lose this weight, but in order to do that I have to watch what I eat and cut calories.
If you’re one of the many Americans wanting to create a new you for the new year, you may be tempted by products boasting fat-free claims. But check out the labels before you buy: Those fat-free products are not as helpful for weight loss as you may think.
According to dietitian Gloria Tsang, founder of nutrition network HealthCastle.com and author of Go UnDiet: 50 Small Actions for Lasting Weight Loss, fat-free products should be avoided, even by people trying to lose weight. “Fat-free products often contain extra salt, sugar, or food additives to replace the flavor and texture of fat,” Tsang says. “These modifications result in unhealthy food that is less satisfying to eat than the original, but may have only a few less calories. Worse, since the taste is not very exciting, people often eat more to feel satisfied, so you can actually end up consuming extra calories!”
Here are HealthCastle.com’s top recommendations for ways to cut calories from your New Year’s diet without resorting to fat-free products:
- Master healthy substitutions: Instead of artificial fat-free whipped topping, try whipping evaporated milk; try buttermilk instead of cream in recipes; or substitute unsweetened applesauce or pureed prunes for half the sugar in baking.
- Check portion size: Over-sized portions of even healthy foods sabotage weight loss. A 3 oz serving of meat is the size of a deck of playing cards, while a half-cup serving of pasta is the size of a tennis ball.
- Eat 5 serving of fruit and veg: Fruits and vegetables fill up your stomach fast so you feel full sooner, and they’re low in calories, which helps to keep your calorie count low.
- Watch your drinks: Sugary sodas pack a huge calorie load, but some studies have found even diet-soda drinkers face increased obesity risk for reasons yet unknown. Stick with water or tea instead.
- Don’t skip meals: Eating regularly keeps your blood sugar and calorie intake balanced, which stops you from getting so hungry you gorge on a huge meal.
Fat-free products may seem like an easy path to weight loss, but the truth is they save very few calories and can actually cause you to overeat. Making healthy food choices without resorting to modified processed food will create better chances of success for long-term, sustainable weight loss. More simple, small achievable actions to reclaim health are available on HealthCastle.com.
More about HealthCastle Network founder Gloria Tsang
Gloria founded HealthCastle.com in 1997 when her father was diagnosed with cancer. Since then, HealthCastle.com has become the largest online nutrition network run by dietitians. Gloria has been featured on 15+ TV shows and 30+ radio programs, as well as in many print publications, revealing compelling “undieting” strategies from her book, Go UnDiet. The Huffington Post named Gloria one of its Top 20 Nutrition Experts on Twitter, and HealthCastle.com was named one of the Top 50 Best Food Websites by The Independent. Publisher’s Weekly called Go UnDiet “a straightforward plan … logical and uncomplicated.” For more information about Gloria’s media work, go to http://www.healthcastle.com/goundietbook/press.html.
One of the main issues many people face when dieting to lose weight is actually sticking to the diet. With so much advertising thrown in our faces for fast food, casual dining restaurants and other unhealthy options, it’s easy to become distracted. Sticking to your diet requires a certain level of self-discipline, but there’s no reason you need to make it harder on yourself than it already is. Here are a few tips to help you stick to a healthy diet, this time around.
Five Dieting Tips for Successful Weight Loss
1. Cook Once or Twice a Week
Cooking larger portions of what you will need for the week, over the weekend, will help you stick to your diet. It can be very difficult to stick with it, when you have to spend a half hour or longer preparing every meal. Many people are on the go all day long and need to be able to just grab lunch and snacks quickly. By cooking your meals ahead of time, you can just pop them in the microwave and enjoy a healthy meal in a matter of minutes.
2. Portion Bulk Meats
Shopping for meat at the store can be difficult because it’s hard to find smaller portioned meat, especially chicken. Usually one chicken breast weights a half a pound or larger. It’s necessary to portion your meat properly or you will struggle to stick to the allotted calories in each meal. A kitchen scale can certainly help. Weigh out 4-ounce portions and use freezer bags to create portions for your weekly meals.
3. Simple Recipes
Many websites will help you create simple and healthy recipes. Usually the hardest part of any diet is the lunch recipe because you are either working or you have a limited amount of time. Using easy lunch recipes that only take 10-15 minutes to prepare will help you stick to your diet. When you use these recipes, always make two or three portions, so you will already have another lunch ready for the day you are running behind.
4. Accountability
Sticking to a diet does require self-discipline, but it can help to choose an accountability method. This could be as simple as someone else going on the diet with you or using a free online program to help track your daily food intake. Accountability is very powerful and it will make staying on your diet easier.
5. Understanding You’re Not Perfect
Many people go on diets and the first time they stumble, they give up. Before starting a diet, understand you are going to have bad days. You will have a day that you just don’t stick to it for whatever reason. Don’t give up over one bad day, but instead, wake up the next day and make it a better day. We all stumble and nobody is perfect.
If your goal is to lose weight the healthy way (with diet and exercise), the above five tips will help you stick to your diet. Adjusting your diet is 80% of the equation for losing weight and you can actually lose quite a bit of weight without exercising at all. Exercise does help, but sticking to a healthy diet will make the biggest difference as you transform into a new you.
The holidays are quickly approaching, and if you are like me, these are the times when I tend to overdo it and just eat with a “no holds bar” attitude. To stay in shape like USA Olympian Swimmer Ryan Lochte, there are a few things that you can do to make sure that you are eating healthy through the holidays.
Substitute out one type of food for another
Canned veggies can contain tons of salts and preservatives. Instead of using these for your holiday meal, why not opt for fresh or frozen? Use half-fat versions of things like sour cream, cheese, and mayonnaise, or low-calorie spray oils. For your stuffing, mix in vegetables like mushrooms, onions, carrots, and celery to help even out the balance between carbs and veggies.
don’t stop exercising because it’s the holidays
Instead of sitting around gorging on sweets and leftovers with your family members, gather everyone up and go walking for some added fun and exercise. This is a great way to walk off that holiday dinner!
Take a trip to your local skating rink (or ice rink if you have one), walk your neighborhood or the downtown area of town to admire the Christmas decorations, play a round of touch football with your family at the park, or visit a craft fair — anything to get moving and walk off those calories! You can also play games like the Wii as a family!
Allow Yourself a Small Indulgence Every Now and Then
Everyone who deprives themselves of eating something that they are craving usually winds up gorging themselves, so while we do our best to stay away from the things that will cause us major weight gain, we definitely should indulge every now and then.
So what ways will you try to eat healthy this holiday season?
Today is my last day reviewing the ShapelyGirl Fitness dvd, Walking Fit and Fabulous. I have been faithful to stay up on my exercises, I’ve ate better, I’ve walked with my daughter and ya know what?
I’ve lost 7 pounds!
I am now under the 160 mark which I have not seen in ages! Debra has taught me how to love myself as I am becoming a new person. It’s not about getting skinny anymore –It’s about getting fit. That is what Debra teaches.
Even though my review journey is over with Debra, I will continue to workout with her and the girls as I get to my number of 130 pounds that I really want to be at to feel fit and healthy
About ShapelyGirl Fitness:
Debra Mazda’s Shapely Girls focus is…
No Matter what size you are- even if you’ve never worked out before- start moving, breathing and feeling great. Debra is living proof you don’t need to be a size 2 to be Fit & Fabulous! At 315 pounds, Debra decided that diets were not the answer and discovered that exercise can transform your body and your life. Debra & her Shapely Girl Team will work out right along with you and teach you to embrace your curves while getting fit and healthy. She’s now a Healthy and Fit size 10.
ShapelyGirl Fitness is a Health/Wellness/Fitness company whose platform passionately believes that “FITNESS COMES IN MANY SIZES”. We want all women, no matter what size, shape or weight to move their bodies in order to be fit/healthy. Our goal is to give all women the chance to look good and feel even better about themselves. In the past, the fitness industry has catered to the average size woman who was under a size 10. Today, the average woman is a size 14.
Historically, plus size and overweight women have not worked-out for many reasons, including fear of what people might think about them, not being able to do the workout, fear that they might get hurt and not understanding what kind of workout to do. And historically fitness classes have not appealed to plus size women because most fitness instructors are small and do not cater to the larger woman.
ShapelyGirl Fitness is ready to change all of this. We want to train POSITIVE/MOTIVATED women who are ready to take on the challenge of helping women everywhere to have a healthier, happier, better life. Through good nutrition, knowledge of exercise and a positive attitude we can change the lives of women who are ready to come on board!
Learn More about Shapely Girl Fitness on their website.
Connect with Shapely Girl Fitness on Facebook | Connect on Twitter with Debra Mazda
I received a free copy of this book/Ebook/Product to review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations. I am part of The CWA Review Crew.
I have totally had to give up white sugar. It does a number on my body. It only took me years to figure that out. I honestly thought I was doomed to delicious drinks like Southern Sweet Iced Tea and Chocolate Cake — all because my health issues refuse to let me have those things.
There are a few little things that you can do to get rid of sugar if you are having issues like I was. Here are some changes that I recently made:
- Swtiched to whole wheat flour, pastas, and rice
- Removed all junk food and processed foods from my home
- Switched out my white sugar for Nevella to Go.
I recently discovered Nevella to Go and I must say that I love being able to slide it in my purse so that I can have a yummy, sweet drink anytime I want.
The taste is just as sweet as regular sugar — but get this girls — without all the extra added calories!
Portable Sweetening Just the Way You Want It’
New Nevella® Liquid Sweeteners To Go easy squirt bottles are just the right size to take with you in your purse or pocket so that you can sweeten at work, at a restaurant that doesn’t offer the sweetener you like, or wherever you are!
Just one squirt of liquid Monk Fruit, Stevia, or Sucralose and you get the same sweetness as a teaspoon of sugar but with ZERO calories or carbohydrates.
Another great thing about these liquid sweeteners is that they dissolve into a beverage and you don’t have to stir them like you would with a powdered sweetener.
Each of these items is exclusively available at your local Walmart Supercenter, try them all today!
The Nevella to Go comes in three tasty flavors
Which flavor would you like to taste? Out of the three I tasted, the Stevia is my favorite with the Monk Fruit as my second favorite.
I took the Sweetness To Go Challenge using Nevella To Go. These handy little bottles fit perfectly in your purse or pocket, come in stevia, monk fruit, and sucralose varieties, and best of all, they’re calorie, carbohydrate, and guilt free! Take the Sweetness To Go Challenge yourself and click here to get your $1 off coupon!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Nevella. The opinions and text are all mine.
Hi! I am Jen--a wife to the most amazing man ever and a homeschool mom to one teenager. I just graduated my oldest.
I have been blogging since 2007. I love to watch movies, spend time in the kitchen, crochet, dance, drink coffee, and lay on the beach. Between recipes, reviews, and hilarious life story moments you'll find many helpful posts on this blog. Welcome, pull up a chair and stay for a while!
Wrestling with God, but good things have come of it. Here is the story. http://t.co/i9JmIX37vw #writing #homeschool #blogging #tworship - jennifer_sikora- Words that speak to me today. #writing #peace #inmyelement http://t.co/dEbhug2w8Z - jennifer_sikora
- Another one of my youth babies flying the coop. Congrats to evanaussiejenkins on graduating tonight.… http://t.co/Q7PFntWTaL - jennifer_sikora
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