My Weight Loss Tips and Tricks

These are my best weight loss tips and tricks that helped me get to goal and are keeping me at goal.

Biggest tip: Make sure you get in at least 64 oz of water a day. This helped me so much! Not only does it keep you full but also helps flush out everything.

Every Sunday, I make a few “staples” to get me through the week. 

• I make my Delicious Blue Cheese Dressing-I use it on salads, burgers, even dip pretzels in it, and have been known to put it on pears, and roasted vegetables.  Of course not everyone likes blue cheese but it’s a great way to add a little pizazz for only 1 smart point!
• I make myJalapeño Cream-same reason as above, adds a little bit of heaven to everything. It’s wonderful on my turkey burgers. If you use 2 t. then it’s 0 points.
• I make my Spicy Roasted Vegetables – this fills me up quickly when I need a snack. I also add it to salads to fill me up, especially if I went overboard at lunch and need a low point dinner.

Once a month or as needed (depending on who eats my food)

• I make a batch of my Crustless Chipotle Egg Cups, sometimes if I have time or I know I’m having company, I’ll make a few batches. My guests love them and they eat more than 1 for breakfast.
• I make a batch of my Scrumptious Turkey Sliders– I freeze some ungrilled, and grill up a batch and place in freezer sealed bags. When I need one, I have them.
• I make a batch of my Spicy Chicken Sausage– makes for easy dinners, and also a quick appetizer in the Lasagna cups.
• I make a batch of Lentil and Black Bean Chili to have on hand. I portion them into 1 c. portions and freeze. I always have a 1 point meal/snack when I need it.

While on vacation

• We have a time share with Disney, so if we are going to be staying there with our full kitchen, we head to Costco/grocery store after we land and stock up on necessities. The first day I usually make up the Crustless Chipotle Egg Cups for my breakfast, the Delicious Blue Cheese Dip for Buffalo Chicken Wraps, and the Hoisin Sauce for the Thai Chicken Wraps. These foods work very well when we go to Hawaii in February. I eat the egg cup and fresh fruit for breakfast, have a Thai Chicken Wrap or Buffalo Wrap on the beach for lunch, then we eat out for dinner.  I stay on plan but still get to enjoy delicious restaurant meals. Plus it’s a lot cheaper than eating every meal out.
• Another idea that I’ve been doing lately instead of cooking at our timeshare when we get there, I just bring it frozen with me! I bought a Yeti Hopper. It’s fabulous! It keeps food cold for days.  I load it up with frozen egg cups, my 2 point bagels, frozen grilled chicken etc, Hoisin Sauce, Blue Cheese Dip and put the entire bag in a big suitcase and check it. When I get to my destination, it’s still frozen! Then I don’t have to really “cook,” when I get there. I just put it in the fridge and I’m ready to go!
• For those of you who don’t know, you can bring food on the plane with you as well. The ice packs must be frozen (not mushy) when you go through security, otherwise they don’t care. I often bring snacks, wraps, (no drinks) with me in an insulated lunch bag on the plane.

While cooking dinner or waiting for family to get home

I used to have a horrible time “nibbling” before everyone came home for dinner. My husband often gets home 6:30 or 7:00. I used to be “hangry” when he walked in the door. I also over ate for dinner because I was starved. Probably another reason why I weighed so much. These tricks help:

• If I’m cooking something that I really love, I wait and taste it at the end, not a million little tastes. Really do I need to taste the dish 15 times?
• To prevent myself from tasting and eating everything in sight, I open a package of baby carrots and snack on those.

During the week

Many times we will have leftovers but not enough for the entire family. I will freeze those in individual portions and put the point amounts on them. If I need something quick later, I can pull them out of the freezer for me for lunch or dinner.

When going out for lunch

Plan, plan, plan! First if possible, I scan the menu of where we’re going and decide what sounds good.  I also make the decision-Am I eating healthy today, am I splurging today? Then I plan my day.

• I eat a low point breakfast that day (Egg cup- 1 point)
• I do my best guess of how many points I will eat at the restaurant. I often over-estimate if I don’t know the exact points.
• Depending on what that number is, I plan my dinner accordingly.
• When I eat out, I try to stick to what I had planned.  If I over eat, then I try to eat a lower point dinner and lots of veggies. If I totally blow it and use all my points, then I follow Fatdag’s rule-get back on plan the next meal, eat 1/3 of your points for the day for dinner. Tomorrow is a new day.
• Drink extra water to compensate for all of the extra salt intake from restaurants.

When going out for dinner

• I eat a low point breakfast that day (Egg cup- 1 point)
• I do my best guess of how many points I will eat at the restaurant. I often over-estimate if I don’t know the exact points. I put that number in my tracker.
• I always try and eat a low point lunch and maybe roasted veggies for a snack so I’m not starving the moment we reach the restaurant.
• I have a great dinner and am proud of myself for making all of this work!
• Drink extra water to compensate for all of the extra salt intake from restaurants.

My other non food tips and tricks

• I listen to Fatdag’s podcast every day-this keeps me motivated, especially since I’m an online only Weight Watcher member.
• I do some sort of activity every day- I love to walk, try to get minimum of 10,000 steps in, but strive for 15,000
• I get on Connect, not only for myself, but to also motivate new comers to the Weight Watcher community. Helping others, writing positive comments also keeps me motivated to stay on track.