Weight Loss Resources

I thought I would post these resources that I found online for all of my fellow competitors in the Biggest Loser Competition and anyone else interested in losing weight...

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The target points (Weight Watchers Plan) for your food consumption for the day are calculated based on age and other other factors. This site will help you calculate your target points for the day. From there you track all of your points for the day - everything you consume has a point value (except most vegetables are "0" points).

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The point value of each food/drink item is calculated by looking at the total # of calories, # of grams of fiber, and # of grams of total fat. The formula looks complicated at first but it's not so hard once you start using it often. This website gives the formula to calculate the point value of a food or drink. I have a slide rule (these are available on ebay) which does this part for me, so it's quite easy. I find this easier than calorie counting because I can scratch down the points for the day on a piece of paper vs logging in and tracking them electronically. I think if I had an app on my cell phone that I could log in that way, I would prefer that method. So, if calorie counting is working for you then stick with that.

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Basically if you stay under your target point value (essentially equal to the max calorie intake) for the day, then you will lose weight. There is a minumum point value for the day (mine is 18) but I've never had to worry about that. You are also supposed to drink 8-10 glasses of water, eat 5 fruits and vegetables and 2 servings of dairy, and exercise 30 minutes a day at least 3 days a week, which you also log in your food diary.

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Additional exercise will give you additional points for the day and that is calculated in a formula shown on this website. I would recommend though from a general health standpoint to exercise at least 5 times a week (3 times a week is not enough), including a well-rounded toning/muscle building/strengthening and cardio workout plan.

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One of the things that I don't like about Weight Watchers is that you can technically lose weight on their plan and still eat very "unhealthily". I started some posts awhile back (under Health Topics) on what I thought was truly a healthy way of eating and I hope to pick that up again. I just wanted to post these links as additional resources to help with the portion countrol and calorie counting aspect.

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Weight Watchers requires you to be a member to be able to calculate calories/points from a recipe, but I found this website (SparkRecipes) which will calculate the nutritional value in a recipe by inputting ingredients. The only downside I found is that the database of ingredients is somewhat limited. Like I said if calorie counting is working for you, then stick with that. I do think that the recipe link is helpful though, especially for those of us that use a lot of recipes for our meals. Let me know what you think, if these are helpful at all... I'm also posting the links that Jason sent via email previously, which I have found helpful, for anyone who hasn't seen them yet. I don't disagree with anything that he said, just wanted to throw out there another method for anyone who is having trouble with the calorie counting part...did I miss anything?

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My fitness pal

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My Daily Plate

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FitDay