I have been thinking about Weight Watchers (WW) a lot over the last month. I am a Lifetime member and have lost many, many pounds over the years. I went for the first time after my first son was born. I had gained 50 lbs. to have my 7.3 lb. baby! I have lots of reasons why I gained so much weight but the biggest one was I didn’t know how to be pregnant. I took it as a reason to feed myself silly, unlike my normal attitude towards food, which was eat only when hungry and only until full. I craved double chocolate milkshakes daily for months… oh my! I don’t think I have had one since!

The reason I am mentioning WW is that I feel I have learned many important things at WW meetings. I am in the habit of using the “diet” skills I learned in WW to help me through my 17 Day Diet plan and think maybe some of the tips I learned will be useful to you if you are following along with me on my diet journey. My tips are in no particular order of importance – just fyi.

#1 – put your food on a plate, sit down and enjoy it, slowly.

This means do not eat in the kitchen, on the run, in your car or just your kids leftovers! Make time to eat and enjoy doing so. Time yourself and discover that most of us only take 5-10 minutes to eat meals. Way to fast!! Your stomach doesn’t know you are full until twenty minutes after your first bite! You can find the time in your day to do this, slow down, enjoy your meals and you may find you will eat less! See my link to Web MD about this.

#2 – make your food appealing to eat.

This means make your food as beautiful as you can. Having just a plain bowl of yogurt and fruit? I like to add a bit of raw honey to make it sparkle. I take the time to place my fruit artfully so it looks nice and every bite is filled with fruit, taking the bitterness out of the yogurt. Look at your meal and make it more appealing by adding some herbs, a sauce, a raw vegetable or a simple sprinkle of salt and pepper. Think about the idea that a variety of colors provides a better mixture of vitamins and minerals and spruce up your plate! Someone famous said, “Appetite begins with the eyes!” and I believe it. Give it a try!

#3 – throw out food that is bad for you.

This one can be a challenge. Say you make too many chocolate chip pancakes and have four left over after your kids leave for school. There they are, sitting on the counter! Throw them away! You can do it. Then, have a cup of tea, a piece of fruit or something else healthy. Do this with all leftovers or food that you cannot bear to leave alone. Whatever it is, be wasteful, freeze it immediately or give it away but get it out of your kitchen. I am blessed with three very hungry sons so I rarely have treats or food around that I shouldn’t eat. They quickly devour anything tasty in my house!

#4 – get physically active.

I don’t care what you do and you do not have to go to a fancy gym. After my first son, I was in such poor shape that I couldn’t do the 30 minute, ultimate beginner Weight Watcher workout DVD that came with my signup package. I had to sit down between sets of exercises and rest. This has happened to me so many times that I am immune to feeling like a huge slug. I pat myself on the back and keep on trying. It takes will power to tell yourself you are wonderful for trying and no one’s opinion matters but your own. Pick something you like to do and do it as many times a week as you can manage. Yeah, walk the stairs when you can too but try to have fun and be nice to yourself!

#5 – keep track of what you eat.

This one is so important I want to move it to number one!! I am writing my tips as I think of them and not in order of importance. I cannot stress enough how vital it is to keep a journal of what you eat. You will find that it is often more, lots more, than you think you are eating. I don’t care how you do it – weigh your food, take pictures of it, write down calories, whatever! The important thing is to remind yourself that you have had enough calories, you are not hungry, you will survive until tomorrow! I promise!

#6 – sometimes, it is okay to be a little hungry.

Well, maybe I have learned this one on my own. I know it sounds terrible but if you are honest, when was the last time you felt truly hungry. Maybe on a road trip, when you couldn’t find somewhere decent to eat or during a marathon shopping trip or when your kids are sick and you can’t stomach any food after cleaning up after them… rare occasions is what I am pointing out. I like to make sure I am actually hungry. I try not to care what time of day it is. If I am hungry at 10am and I already had a decent breakfast, then I need a snack. If I am not hungry at 12:30pm for lunch, then I make it and leave it in the refrigerator until I am hungry, sometimes that is not until 2pm. What I mean is to be aware of your hunger, is it real or emotional, are you eating because you think you should or because everyone else is eating or the time of day dictates it. I try to be conscious of how I am actually feeling and go with it – eating or not – but in tune with only myself!

#7 – want a treat or dessert, eat a piece of fruit first.

I use this one with my kids all the time. When one of them says they are hungry, which is constantly, I say, “eat a piece of fruit.” Most of the time, they are full after the fruit, which has natural sugars and cures their sweet tooth. They usually go back to whatever they were doing after the fruit and forget that they wanted a treat. If I have a piece of fruit and a cup of tea, I don’t need dessert. I have been swapping a glass of wine for dessert lately. This is mostly because I have had summer company and I want to sit on the porch and be a good host. It also seems like the thing to do on a warm summer night. Sometimes, I still end up having a treat, usually chocolate, but it is always a smaller portion than I would have had without eating the fruit first!

#8 – don’t give up!!

This tip is a hard one to follow. It is so easy to be derailed from your “Diet Reboot” by a vacation, holidays, special occasions, stress, lack of sleep, etc. Our lives are stressful and temptations surround us in the form of advertising, friends who want to go out to lunch or a drink, family that do not want to join us on our diet journey, etc. There can be so many obstacles that we quit before we truly get started and begin to see the benefits! Recently, my dad saw me making my kids lunch for camp. I sent them with fruit, bagged chips and a mixed salad. My dad said, “They are boys, they need meat! They don’t need to be on your diet. What the heck kind of lunch is that?”

Well, it is the lunch my boys like and it is good for them and they get plenty of protein so I am not worried but I didn’t like having to defend myself. I sometimes have to eat different food than my family but I try to make meals that everyone can enjoy. I fall off my plan but I always return because I have made a commitment to myself to stay healthy and to avoid the high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and obesity that runs in my family. I am going to help my kids avoid it too by providing an example of someone who exercises and tries to eat healthy, 90% of the time!

#9 – get support.

Maybe this journal is a support to you or maybe you have manage to get a friend or relative to join you in your “Dietary Reboot.” Whatever the case may be, I truly believe that hearing about other peoples struggles with help you overcome your own. That is what I miss about WW meetings. I liked hearing other people describe their successes and failures. It made me feel like I was not alone and it was normal and human to struggle with food choices. It is hard to lose weight and keep it off.

Most Americans struggle with it some time in their lives and luckily, we do not have to reinvent the wheel. There are actual proven methods to lose weight, be it WW or the 17 Day Diet or whatever. Just following the food pyramid would help most people lose weight! If you are feeling alone and are suffering, find someone to share this journey with and you will find yourself more successful and able to maintain your dietary changes for a more sustained period.

#10 – be kind to yourself!

You will fail! We all do! Pick yourself back up and try again! This is different than don’t give up. You have to be nice to yourself. Say nice things to yourself, in the mirror, in the car, while you are eating something good or bad. Find it in yourself to say, “you are worth it” and “you can do it.” This is sometimes very hard for me. Love yourself the way you deserve to be loved and you will find the will power to make positive changes in your life, not just with your diet, but in all areas.

I am out of advice but I feel better having written down all the ways in which I help myself along my diet journey. i have done this so many times in the last 14 years, since I had my first child. The most I have lost is 38 lbs. I would like to lose 10% of my body weight this time. I am on my way and I will do it. I have lost 5% so far and am very proud of myself. You can do it too! Believe in yourself and try a few of my WW tips. They work! I promise!