Hello! I’m posting on Wednesday and Friday again this week.  I spent the weekend with my sister in Champaign and rather than work on my blog, I decided to have fun and relax with her.  So sorry for the delay, but sometimes you just need to take a break!

Last week, I looked a little bit into the Paleo lifestyle.  Today I want to talk about the Weight Watchers program.  Weight Watchers has been around for about 50 years.  It started with a small group of women in Queens, New York who would get together to discuss the best way to lose weight.  From there it grew into one of the most popular and biggest weight loss programs in the country.  The concept behind Weight Watchers places an emphasis on community and group support while losing weight.  There are weekly meetings where you weigh-in and get measured to track your weight loss.  You also meet with other people who are losing weight as well as health professionals who offer support on your weight loss journey.  Weight Watchers uses a point system to help clients track their eating.  Food is given a point value and the client is allotted a certain amount of points per day based on their weight loss goals.  You can eat what you want, you just make sure that you count the points and don’t go over your daily allowance.  Weight Watchers also promotes daily exercise as a way to help with weight loss and offers help and support in that realm as well.  The Weight Watchers program is also fairly customizable and can offer benefits to a wide range of people and all their different needs.  They also offer an online program so no matter where you are you can access all the information and tools that they have.

There are a lot of things that I really like about the Weight Watchers program.  One of the biggest things that I like is the  amount of support that they offer to their clients as well as the sense of community that they build.  Losing weight is a really big decision and it takes a lot of motivation.  It can be really tough for some people to try to lose weight all on their own.  Being able to meet with other people who are going through the same things you are can really keep you on track.  You can share tips, recipes, motivation, triumphs as well as failures.  Having a support system behind you when you take a big step like getting healthier can make or break some people’s success.  I also like that clients have access to a wide range of health professionals.  Because losing weight and finding what works best for you can be such a confusing and sometimes frustrating process, it’s great to be able to have a lot of people to help guide you along the way.  The other thing I like about Weight Watchers is that you can eat real food and they don’t place an emphasis on what you can’t eat but what you can eat.  It is a lot harder to stick with a program when all you are told is you can’t eat this or you can’t do this.  People don’t like to feel deprived, so I like the idea that you can eat what you would like.

On the flip side to that, I think it can be a little bit of a slippery slope when you are allowed to eat anything.  While Weight Watchers does tout eating healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats, technically you could also eat chocolate cake and cookies as long as you don’t go over your points.  Obviously this will not help you lose weight, and that isn’t what Weight Watchers is about.  It can be tough for someone who is just starting out to be able to have all that freedom when it comes to food.  I am not promoting a deprivation diet or starving yourself just to lose weight, I just know that for me I can’t just have one cookie or a slice of cake.  Other people have great willpower right from the get go and have no problem saying no to those things.  It all depends on the person.  One other thing that I don’t like about Weight Watchers are their food products.  They don’t have required food that you have to buy from them or eat, but they do have a wide range of food products that they make and fit into their point system.  I am simply against this because of my belief that we need to step away from processed food and focus on real food.  I understand that it is hard to figure out what to eat when starting a new lifestyle, but you shouldn’t live on packaged food whether you are losing weight or not.  The chemicals and preservatives in processed food can cause more damage to your health than having a little excess weight on your body.  Luckily with Weight Watchers you can easily focus your eating on real foods, and they offer a ton of meal plans and guidance when it comes to eating better.

Overall, I really do like Weight Watchers, especially for those that are just starting out and need help and guidance.  They offer a ton of information and support that will help people be as successful as possible.  I personally don’t think it’s realistic to be on Weight Watchers for life, but they make sure that they give you the building blocks to being healthier.  Ideally, you can start to make healthier choices and live a healthy lifestyle beyond the Weight Watchers program and continue to find what works best for your body and your health!

I hope that you are all having a fabulous week and are enjoying the fall weather that is starting to make an appearance, I know I am!  I’ll see you guys on Friday with a new recipe to try out!