Tag: dieting
*Giveaway is now closed. Congrats to Lynn C., winner of this giveaway!*
Alright, we’re three months into 2015, how well are we all sticking to our goals? If you recall, I was planning on testing out the new 24/7 Expert Chat service offered by Weight Watchers. I think that it’s so key to have someone supportive you can call on at any time so I was keen to get chatting. And it’s come at a good time for me because since the new year, I’ve been quite overwhelmed and burnt out so my eating habits haven’t been so stellar (opting for more packaged foods than cooking, for example). My calendar’s been jam-packed, too, with events involving cocktails and lunches and dinners.
I checked in with the 24/7 Expert Chat, and the friendly coach (Donna) recommended familiarizing myself with the restaurant’s menu along with the points values ahead of going to the dinner so that I wouldn’t be in for a shocker after the fact (seems many of us underestimate points values). So knowledge is power, check.
I also found it helpful to check in with an expert the nights I was up late working or just watching TV. This is when I often snack. I chatted with Rosie, and it’s just nice to have support you can reach out to when you need it. She asked what I tend to do when I’m snacking late at night and noticed it’s when I’m in front of a screen (which, to be honest, is almost always, since I’ve always got my smartphone on me). In any case, she had some suggestions for snacks with zero or low points, such as sliced tomatoes with basil and sprinkled with parmesan. Or the snack size bags of Sun Chips (she confessed that having a large bag just doesn’t work out well for her, me neither!). After we chatted, I went to the eTools to find some more snack ideas. Thanks, Rosie!
Giveaway alert! We’re giving away a Weight Watchers membership!
Have you tried the 24/7 Expert Chat yet? Well, if you want to try it out and aren’t a member of Weight Watchers, you should definitely enter to win a three-month membership to Weight Watchers! That’s right, you can kickstart your way into a new healthy routine by winning a three-month membership to Weight Watchers from HealthAndSwellness.com.
You can enter in four different ways (each way counts as one entry, so go ahead and enter in all four methods!):
1. Email: Email me at healthandswellness@gmail.com with your name and mailing address. Please put “Weight Watchers membership giveaway” in the subject line.
2. Twitter: Follow me on Twitter (@healthswellness) and tweet: I want to get healthy with help from @WW_Canada and #win this membership from @healthswellness. http://bit.ly/1BlSlQo
3. Comment: Comment on this blog post about what your goals are if you win the membership.
4. Facebook: Like the Health and Swellness page on Facebook and then leave a comment on the wall post about this Weight Watchers three-month membership giveaway about how you feel Weight Watchers will help you most (whether it’s going to meetings, having the 24/7 Expert Chat, you name it).
The prize of a three-month membership is valued at $103.84 and the giveaway will close at 11:59 p.m. EST on Monday, March 30, 2015. Please note that this giveaway is open to Canadian residents only. The winner will be chosen at random. If I cannot reach the winner within five days, another winner will be selected.
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March 23, 2015
The start of a new year always sends droves of us into the gym and starting diets. One in three Canadians make a health and fitness-related resolution, in fact. But without goals backed up with a plan that is one you can realistically maintain, well, we all know what happens to most of our resolutions. In fact, are you already struggling with yours?
Which is why I’ve always been a cheerleader for leading a balanced lifestyle. I try to eat real foods most of the time, and if I’m home I try to cook and rarely get take-out. And I feel like my approach is similar to the Weight Watchers philosophy. I’ve always been a fan of their concept as it focuses on eating real food, so it’s a program you can sustain in real life. And it’s not about drastically eliminating bad foods from your diet; you can have that chocolate cake, as well you should!
But there’s always those moments, when it’s hard to make the healthy decision and that’s where we can all use some help getting through the hard parts. This is why Weight Watchers is trying to help with the hard part by implementing the new 24/7 Expert Chat service. We all have those moments. With help from Weight Watchers, navigating a healthier lifestyle can be made easier with an abundance of tools, including meal planning, restaurant finders, and online fitness demos. And even though I don’t usually struggle with my weight (I mostly credit the metabolism I inherited and my running regimen), I do face challenges in day to day life that I’ve had to learn to navigate.
For example, as a freelance writer covering health, fitness, beauty, food and travel, I’m at media events several times a week. Temptation is all around: cute containers of poutine (a favourite of mine), flutes of bubbly (oh, there’s another favourite!), croissants, sliders, cupcakes, doughnuts, you name it. It sounds heavenly, but an appetizer here, a cocktail there, and I realized this would all catch up with me. And a few years ago at an event, I also became aware that I was often on autopilot, simply taking whatever was being passed around even if I wasn’t hungry, and eating it even if I wasn’t enjoying it. So I made a new rule for myself. I stop and ask myself if I truly want what’s being served before reaching for one of the canapes. And if I’m eating something and it’s not very good or I’ve realized I simply don’t want it, I put it down–I used to feel rude to, but I realized that no one even notices. But, of course, there are times I fail and just scarf down what’s in front of me. Those times, well, I don’t beat myself up over it; I just get back on track.
There are dinners, of course, too. Lots of them – both for work and for fun. More often than not, I eat only half of my main and bring home the rest. And I walk home from these dinners (in fact, I walk most of the time, although I’ll likely walk less now on days it’s very cold); every bit of physical activity helps, right?
Even tougher than these events, though, is when I travel, and I travel a fair bit. Both on press trips (where the meals are often plentiful) and on vacation, and being into food, I find it hard to not order and eat everything that catches my fancy. After all, who knows when I’ll be back in that city again? And, I actually haven’t found a way to get around this, other than returning home and eating a steady diet of salads the week I return.
Another biggie? Late-night snacking. I’m a night owl so I’ll often be working or just watching TV late into the night, and out comes the chips or cheese and crackers. And the only thing that works for me is to not have those foods in the house. So I allow myself to pick some up every two weeks (when I’d probably eat chips every night if I could). Note to self: Talk to Weight Watchers about what they recommend when it comes to late-night cravings. I think the next time I find myself in the kitchen at 1 a.m. searching for a snack, I’ll have to get some real-time advice from Weight Watchers’ 24/7 Expert Chat. More on that in a future post.
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January 19, 2015
I’ll admit it. The title of the new book, Six Weeks to OMG: Get Skinnier than All Your Friends, kinda made me giggle.
But the diet itself sounds pretty suspect. Key strategies:
- Don’t eat breakfast.
- Take cold baths.
- Drinks lots of black coffee.
For the reasons why he says you should be a black coffee-guzzling, breakfast-skipping, cold bath-taking dieter, you can check this article from the Telegraph.
Don’t eat breakfast and exercise on an empty stomache (well, other than coffee)? Last time I did that (back in CEGEP), when I’d slept in and went to the gym in a hurry with a friend, I fainted after a few minutes on the treadmill and the big he-man trainer at the gym had to catch me. And then I was too embarrassed to ever go back to that gym.
Nope, this diet will not be something I’ll be following.
July 4, 2012
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