One of my goals this year for the blog is to bring you more happy and healthy recipes (with a few treats in between). I also want to create articles that will enhance everyone’s health with a special little spotlight on my fellow Vegetarians and Vegans. I know that many say you can’t follow a good Weight Loss or Weight Maintenance Plan being a Vegetarian and may I say they are totally wrong! So I hope this little post about The Basics of the New Weight Watchers Program will help everyone that has thought about pursuing the Weight Watchers Plan and show Vegetarians it can be done easily! I choose to put a focus on this particular diet because I felt as though it has the most options for everyone…hey and Oprah loves it! Before we start…I am so excited to share with you our 12 page Free Printable Weight Loss Planner…I know you are going to LOVE IT!!!
The New Year has arrived and you are ready to make a change in your lifestyle! But finding a weight loss program to follow as a vegetarian can be a challenge. Since most diets and diet programs follow a high protein and low carb style, often this leaves vegetarians feeling hungry and unsatisfied with the programs due to limited choices. Alternatively, if you are able to feel full and satisfied, you can often get bored of eating the same few options again and again. Thankfully, with Weight Watchers you can succeed! Because of the way that the program is set up, you can eat anything you want – within moderation, of course. There are no specific foods that you are supposed to eat or not supposed to eat. You can easily continue with your vegetarian lifestyle while following Weight Watchers.
With Weight Watchers’ new Freestyle program, there is even a list of 200+ foods that are zero points – this means you don’t have to track them. Counting calories can get exhausting, so Weight Watchers makes it easy by counting points instead. Points are easily calculated by scanning each food into the free app.
Since Weight Watchers is a lifestyle and not a diet, the options are much more open and easily fit in with with your lifestyle – no matter how busy you are. Thanks to the Freestyle program, there are a ton of vegetarian options on the Zero Points Food list. Since you are given a set amount of points per day, you are able to eat your normal vegetarian options and add in extra protein options from the zero point food list to fill you up at each meal.
While it is great news that you are able to follow your vegetarian lifestyle while doing Weight Watchers, you do still have to be careful of what you eat. You want to make sure that you are planning nutritious meals and snacks throughout your day and being careful not to eat a lot of low point junk food. Being “allowed” to eat junk food is one of the biggest traps with Weight Watchers. Just because you have the points doesn’t mean you need to eat them all – nor does it mean you should eat (or drink!) empty calories.
Plan for Success
To make things easier, start off each week with meal planning. Making plans ahead of time for what you will have for your meals and snacks is a great way to map out how you will use your points for each day. Using your meal planning list to shop for your groceries will also help you skip over buying those impulse purchases that do not fit with your weight loss goals. This can save you time and money.
Zero Point Foods
While Zero Point foods aren’t required to be tracked, you also don’t want to pig out on them. Ideally, you’ll use these Zero Point foods to keep yourself satisfied and full, but not stuffed. If you find your weight loss stalling, you have two options: start tracking your Zero Point foods, or stop eating so many of them. Some of the Zero Point Foods Include: Basically almost ALL Vegetables and almost ALL Fruits…proteins are free such as Tofu…Beans…Eggs. Even Fat Free Plain Green Yogurt is on the Free list! A Vegetarian can have a literal FIELD DAY with the Zero Point Foods…a Salad from Heaven! Remember one word when using Zero Point Foods…Moderation and you will be on the right road.
Hydration
I bet you already know the importance of staying hydrated! While you may see that 8 glasses a day is the old-school recommendation, many nutritionists now suggest drinking half your weight in ounces of water. So, if you weigh 200 pounds, you would try to get in 100 ounces of water each day. This can be extremely difficult, especially if you don’t want to be up peeing all night. However, there are many ways to make sure you get your water intake in. Seltzer with a slice of Lemon…Lime…Oranges…even Berries will make a delightful drink and make things a little bit easier!
Protein
Ah, the dreaded protein. Any time you mention you’re a vegetarian or a vegan, you’re going to be asked how you get your protein. Fortunately, the Zero Point foods list is FULL of protein choices like tofu, beans, and eggs. If you’re eating a well-rounded diet, your protein intake will be plentiful. Don’t stress too much about it, even though everyone else will. 😉
Stay Satisfied!
Weight Watchers is all about staying satisfied while making healthy food choices. This means it’s not a diet! You can still have amazingly delicious foods like taco soup, pancakes and even bagels!
What’s your favorite thing about Weight Watchers? Let me know in the comments! I will spread the word! Also let me know if you would like to see Weight Watcher Recipe from Breakfast to Snacks to Dinner! I really want to know what you would enjoy! Remember to snatch up that 12 Page Weight Loss Planner. Also remember to click Recipes in our Menu Bar…tons and tons of Vegetarian Recipes await you! Bon Appetit!
Want to stay in the know? I’d really love that! (((HUGS))) |
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