The Weight Watcher’s eating plan encourages you to eat lots of vegetables and fruit, so many, you don’t have to factor their calories against your daily food budget of “Smart Points.”
Bring on the fruit salad and grilled Brussel sprouts!
I’ve been actively losing weight during the past 7 months, so far, 21.5 lbs and I feel great.
At the end of the day, I’m not dying of hunger, and if I am, I eat an apple!
I sat down recently and chatted with Mark Steines and Cristina Ferrare of the Home & Family show on Hallmark channel to discuss my weight loss.
Watch my interview.
This isn’t the first time that I’ve tried to lose weight in the past few years, but it’s been the most effective because I’m approaching weight loss differently.
My motivation is also different my latest medical test revealed I was courting diabetes and I already battle high blood pressure.
Facing diabetes AND high blood pressure was just too much of a health risk for me.
I work long hours and spend at least 10 hours sitting behind a desk most days, so lack of physical activity had a lot to do with my weight gain.
Sugar addiction is another culprit.
I love my chocolate, oh, I love chocolate.
There’s more.
This was the first time I had 30 pounds to lose!
Fifteen pounds have always been my magic number to lose, but now it was double that.
I was not hung up on being overweight until I lost 10 pounds and noticed the difference!
TAKE YOUR TIME!
Usually, I’m in a hurry to lose weight so I can look good for a special event or a television appearance.
Well guess what?
I’m already on a television show and appear weekly, so looking thin for television was not my motivation for losing weight.
Foodie Gardener, Shirley Bovshow with (l-r) Kristin Smith, Lawrence Zarian, Laura Nativo, Shirley, Dr. Jeanette Levenstein on set of Home & Family Show.
My pattern has been to lose 10- 15 pounds in 3 months, meet my goal, and then start gaining the weight back within the same 3 month period.
Anyone else experience this same pattern?
I’m excited to report that by being patient this time around and allowing myself to lose weight slowly, I’ve been able to continue losing weight beyond my typical threshold period.
By losing weight slowly, I’ve concentrated on changing the negative eating habits that got me into this situation in the first place, namely, impulse eating.
Small plate of poke tuna and crab without added fat, cucumber salad and miso soup is one of my favorite meals.
I had to teach myself to fuel my body like I fuel my car so that it runs efficiently.
I never “top off” my gas tank, so I had to learn to not do that to myself with food.
FORMULATE A “BEST PRACTICE” PLAN FOR YOUR BODY
Another contributor to my overweight state was a lack of standards for my life when it came to food and exercise.
This is a big deal!
I wasn’t following a best practice approach to food and exercise to keep my body in top shape.
This means knowing how much food my body actually needs on a daily basis to stay at a good weight.
I was eating blindly and not keeping track of how many calories I was consuming everyday.
This had to change.
Healthful food selections include strawberries, sugar snap peas, papaya and yogurt.
So what does this best practice plan include for me?
Here’s a few strategies and tips I’ve employed to lose weight to compliment the fantastic Weight Watcher’s eating plan.
PRE-SCHEDULE MEAL TIMES
I’ve replaced all day grazing with scheduled meal times every 3 hours.
My meal and snack times are on the clock and I set my alarm to remind me to get up and eat and drink water.
Shirley can eat as much fruit as she likes on Weight Watcher’s plan.
When I eat small meals and nutritious snacks often, I don’t experience hunger.
I love my alarm clock, ha, ha!!
Put technology to work for you and while you’re at it, keep track of what you eat and drink.
PRE-MEASURE, PRE-COOK AND PRE-PACKAGE FOODS AND SNACKS
One of the reasons why I gained weight is because of impulse eating.
I ate whatever was handy and looked good in the refrigerator or in the pantry.
Pre-weighed and packaged peanuts and other foods are ready before hunger strikes!
On Sunday’s, I weigh my snacks- peanuts, almonds, and other nuts and put in small, snack size plastic bags that I can grab during the week for healthful snacking.
I mark the bags with the Weight Watcher Points so I can track the points in my food diary.
At the market, I ask the deli attendant to place a plastic sheet between every 2 ounces of meat slices so I can make the right portion-sized sandwich quickly.
I also cook a huge pot of protein-rich beans or peas for the week’s lunches and dinners and label my portion size and Points value for each serving.
A slice of whole grain toast, hard-boiled egg, and fresh tomatoes and peppers makes a low “point” protein-rich breakfast.
I cut up vegetables for the family to snack on and roast a big pan of sugar snap peas with kosher salt and pepper flakes for a “0-Point” snack I can reach for anytime!
The point is to pre-measure, pre-weigh, pre-cook, and pre-package your food for the week so you can have healthful “impulse” food and meals at hand.
The time taken to prepare your food will pay off great dividends as you begin to lose weight.
USE SMALLER PLATES
Portion sizes at restaurants and in my home were standard fare BIG!
One of my challenges when cutting back food is that I didn’t want to deprive myself of the amounts of food that made me overweight.
It made me feel impatient and deprived when my big plate was dotted with a smaller portion of food.
I work hard, I earned that food, I reasoned.
Use a small plate so your smaller food portions look BIG!
So, I changed the large dinner plates to small snack plates to trick my eyes and mind.
Also important was to create a pretty table setting so that the food was as festive as I had become accustomed to.
I’m so impressionable!
It worked!
USE MUSIC TO HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT
Every movie that manipulates our emotions has a soundtrack or theme song.
Remember, “Eye of the Tiger” from the Rocky movies?
That theme song energized many athletes back in the day.
Although in real life, we don’t have songs playing in the background to sway our emotions, we can supply our own!
I play music while gardening, I really dig that!!
Get your smart phone, iPod, radio, or favorite music player and play your “theme song” every 2 hours and get up and dance for a few minutes.
This activity break will not only get your blood pumping, the adrenaline rush will energize you and remind you of your big picture goal.
Music is one of the most influential tools in swaying our emotions.
Select a song or songs that make you feel like moving.
Music will help you “up the mountain” so you have the energy to exercise and motivation to move forward, just like in the movies!
STAY ACTIVE
Don’t put pressure on yourself to run a marathon your first week.
Start slow and do SOMETHING!
Walk 5 minutes, go to the gym, ride your bike, dig in your garden!
Once you do “entry-level” activity, add more time the following week.
Remember, we are not desperate to lose weight in a short time.
Exercise to your favorite music.
My gym song is “Don’t Stop the Music” from Rhianna.
No matter how tired I am, when I hear that song, I want to dance!
The fact that you became active today will motivate you to be active tomorrow!
As you succeed with small goals everyday, your mind will record it.
With repeat performances you will have created new, good habits that help you lose weight slowly.
REMEMBER, NOTHING STAYS THE SAME: DO SOMETHING!
Foodie Gardener Shirley Bovshow tends to the vegetable garden at Home & Family show.
Like a plant in a garden, our bodies need to be tended to.
When there is no gardener to tend a plot, weeds grow, pests suck the life out of the flowers, and plants falter without proper water and nutrients.
Humans are like plants.
You wouldn’t plant something and then just abandon it with no watering, feeding and pruning regimen.
When we reach our goal, we have to stand firm and continue to cultivate good eating and exercise habits.
Our bodies are in a constant state of motion, growing, renewing themselves, or degrading.
Without our constant attention, weight loss achievements are transient.
Join me on my adventure to lose another 10 pounds and keep the weight off.
I’m on the Weight Watcher’s plan and heartily recommend it.
Please leave questions for me on my Foodie Gardener Facebook page.
I receive too many spam comments on the blog and had to close comments.
I wish you success!
Shirley
Curious how I went from being a stay at home mom to a nationally known garden television designer?
I hope my story inspires you to dream big and reach for the stars!
Visit my other blog, EdenMakers and read “ABOUT SHIRLEY BOVSHOW”
Comments are closed.