Monday, December 9, 2013
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Simple start app
Simple Start
What is Weight Watchers Simple Start?
It’s a 2-week starter plan for people who are new to Weight Watchers (or current members who want to re-spark their motivation!).
Simple Start is based on our Simply Filling technique, which nudges you toward nutritious, satisfying food. (At Weight Watchers, we call these Power Foods.) True to the name, we’ve made Simple Start easy to follow — just pick from the list, enjoy the food and start losing weight.
Our Simple Start app makes choosing meals a breeze. Don’t have a smartphone? Not to worry — you can also get the meals here.
How it works
You’ll enjoy 2 weeks of delicious, no-brainer meals built from good-for-you foods, plus snacks and indulgences. Every day you can visit the app and tell us how you’re doing — you’ll be rewarded with special badges and messages.
How do I get it?
For iPhone:
Go to the App Store by clicking on the icon from your device.
Search for the Weight Watchers Simple Start app.
Click the box that says FREE.
For Android:
Click on the Google Play icon on your device. Search for the Weight Watchers Simple Start app.
When you’ve got it, click the box that says Install. If you decide to continue, click Accept & download.
What is Weight Watchers Simple Start?
It’s a 2-week starter plan for people who are new to Weight Watchers (or current members who want to re-spark their motivation!).
Simple Start is based on our Simply Filling technique, which nudges you toward nutritious, satisfying food. (At Weight Watchers, we call these Power Foods.) True to the name, we’ve made Simple Start easy to follow — just pick from the list, enjoy the food and start losing weight.
Our Simple Start app makes choosing meals a breeze. Don’t have a smartphone? Not to worry — you can also get the meals here.
How it works
You’ll enjoy 2 weeks of delicious, no-brainer meals built from good-for-you foods, plus snacks and indulgences. Every day you can visit the app and tell us how you’re doing — you’ll be rewarded with special badges and messages.
How do I get it?
For iPhone:
Go to the App Store by clicking on the icon from your device.
Search for the Weight Watchers Simple Start app.
Click the box that says FREE.
For Android:
Click on the Google Play icon on your device. Search for the Weight Watchers Simple Start app.
When you’ve got it, click the box that says Install. If you decide to continue, click Accept & download.
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Skinny Whole Wheat Snickerdoodles
Whole wheat skickerdoodle cookies coated with cinnamon, spice and everything nice! If you have plans to do some baking this weekend, these cookies are a must!Skinny Whole Wheat Snickerdoodles
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 42 • Size: 1 cookie • Old Points: 1 pts • Points+: 1 pts (3 pts+ for 2)
Calories: 50.9 • Fat: 1.3 g • Carb: 9.5 g • Fiber: 0.7 g • Protein: 0.8 g • Sugar: 5.9 g
Sodium: 20.2 mgIngredients:
- 1 3/4 cups King Arthur white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 1 tbsp agave
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 large egg
- 3 tbsp sugar*
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon*
- cooking spray
Directions:Preheat oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with Silpat mats and spray with cooking spray.
Combine flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.
Combine 1 cup of sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add the agave, vanilla and egg; beat well. Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture, beating just until combined. Cover and chill for 10 minutes.
In a medium bowl, combine 3 tbsp sugar with cinnamon, stirring with a whisk to combine. With moist hands, shape dough into 42 (1-inch) balls. Roll balls in sugar/cinnamon mixture. Place balls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets (I slightly flattened them). Bake 375°F for 5-7 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft). Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks. Enjoy!
Adapted from Cooking Light.I discarded 2 tbsp of the sugar cinnamon mixture so I deducted 1 tbsp sugar from n.i. to play it safe.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Christmas Sugar Cookies Recipe – 1 Point Value
Weight Watchers Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients:- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 cups butter
- 1/4 cups Neufchatel cheese
- 1 cups sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cups fat-free skim milk
- 1 tsp all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cups sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and nutmeg; set aside.
Place butter and cheese in a large bowl; cream using an electric mixer. Add sugar and beat until batter is pale yellow; beat in vanilla extract and egg.
Add about 1/3 of flour mixture and 1/3 of milk to cheese mixture; mix batter on low speed until just combined. Repeat 2 more times with remaining flour mixture and milk, until thoroughly combined into cheese mixture.
Shape dough into a ball and loosely cover with plastic wrap. Using your palms, press down on plastic wrap to flatten dough into a hamburger shape; refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days.
Sprinkle a teaspoon of flour on a flat work surface. Pull off about 1/3 of dough and, using a rolling pin, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch circular cookie cutter, cut cookies out of dough and place on ungreased baking sheets. Make these Weight Watchers Christmas sugar cookies any shape you want! Roll up dough scraps and add back to dough ball. Pull off another 1/3 of dough and repeat process until all dough is used — recipe will make approximately 45 cookies.
Sprinkle your Christmas Sugar cookies with colored sugar and bake until edges just start to turn golden, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove cookies to wire racks and cool completely. Total recipe makes 45 cookies.
Serving Size = 1 Cookie
Each Serving = 1 Weight Watchers Point
Simple Start Meals
Scratching your head about what to eat? With Simple Start, you can enjoy smart, delicious meals all day long.
Article By: Weight Watchers
Delicious Starter Meals
Learning what to eat is an important first step in losing weight. That's why we created Weight Watchers Simple Start – so you'll know the right foods to eat to be satisfied. You can follow Simple Start by downloading the app to your smartphone, picking up a booklet in your meeting room or following it online.
The meals below – breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks – are the foundation of Simple Start and are built from our Weight Watchers Power Foods. These nutritional powerhouses are satisfying and a PointsPlus® bargain. To start losing weight, all you have to do is eat!
These meals and snacks each have a PointsPlus value, but if you're following the Simple Start plan, you don't have to worry about numbers right now. Once you're finished with the starter plan, you can do one of two things:
If you’re following the Tracking technique, just add these meals to your Tracker and you’re good to go.
If you love Simple Start and want to continue to eat from a food list without tracking, then switch your technique to Simply Filling. As with Simple Start, on the Simply Filling plan you can eat Power Foods until you feel satisfied, no tracking required.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Simple start App for iphone
Download the app today for the iPhone. Android will be available Friday... if not sooner!
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Monday, December 2, 2013
How to Handle Late-Night Cravings
Sometimes you can eat right all day, but when evening hits the snacks beckon. Try these tips for outsmarting after-dark temptations.
Article By: Karen Ansel, R.D., for Weight Watchers Magazine
The TV Trap
When researchers at Georgia State University in Atlanta tracked the habits of nearly 100 men and women, they found that the more TV they watched, the more often they ate (regardless of hunger). Can’t miss Scandal? Instead of hitting the kitchen during commercial breaks, try:
1. Shooting an e-mail to a friend
2. Grabbing a jump rope
3. Doing 25 sit-ups
4. Watch shows on DVR and fast-forward through commercials (no time for snack breaks)!
Late Night Eater
You start the day with good intentions: oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, a perfectly-seasoned grilled chicken salad for lunch and plenty of fresh veggie sticks for snacks. You even eat a healthy dinner. Then darkness falls, and all good intentions fade. One trip to the freezer for a scoop of ice cream becomes two, followed by a few handfuls of chips and then some sugary cereal straight from the box.
What’s going on here? While sticking to any healthy eating plan takes work, many people report that they most often get tripped up in the evening hours, when they finish work or other daytime duties and loosen their belt.
The good news is that eating at night doesn’t necessarily lead to weight gain: Despite the die-hard myth that calories consumed at night are metabolized more slowly than those consumed by day, the truth is that it’s how many calories you consume — not when you consume them — that matters. The real danger of nighttime eating is that it often results from unhealthy meal patterns, not hunger. Here we take a look at some of the reasons why you may head for the kitchen after the sun goes down — and offer simple solutions to keep you on track until morning.
The rationale: I had a really stressful day at work and I deserve some junk food.”
In the middle of a crazy day at the office, you’re too busy to think about how stressed you are. Then at night the stress catches up with you. “At night many women unwind by indulging in the foods they crave,” says Kelly C. Allison, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The best plan of attack? Develop a food-free strategy for de-stressing.
Find alternative tension tamers. Post on your refrigerator a list of 10 non-food stress relievers (like curling up with a good book and taking a hot bath). Before you give in to an urge to splurge, check the list and choose one thing to do.
Connect with someone. Try calling a friend or relative instead of hitting the fridge. You may find out that you were really hungry not for food but for a chance to rehash your day. Or scroll through the WeightWatchers.com Community until you find a post or blog entry that inspires you, and type a response. You may even find a regular blog buddy you can chat with when p.m. cravings strike.
The rationale: “I have to have something sweet before bed.”
If you’ve had a sweet treat every night before bed since you were a kid, the habit is hard to break. A good first step, though, is to brush your teeth right after dinner — it’s your mouth (and your brain’s) cue that you’re done eating for the day. Then, replace your evening sweet ritual with one of these:
Take a walk. Go for a stroll around the neighborhood with your spouse, or make a regular walking date with a pal. Not only will you burn calories instead of consuming them, but you’ll also get farther away from the fridge.
Have some hands-on fun. Bust out the Scrabble board and challenge your kids to a game. Or find a project that inspires you: Knit a sweater or start a photo album. Making sure your hands are occupied will make you less likely to pick up that fork or spoon, says Tara Gidus, M.S., R.D., a dietitian in private practice in Orlando, Florida.
Think ahead to a healthy tomorrow. Instead of hitting the kitchen for a late-night snack, hit the kitchen to prep tomorrow’s healthy breakfast and lunch.
The rationale: “I’m so careful about what I eat all day that by nighttime I’m starving!”
Maybe you’re too good during the daylight hours. If you don’t take in enough calories during the day, your body will remind you at night that it’s still hungry. Incorporate these daily habits, and you’ll be able to resist the after-dinner munchies:
Make breakfast a Routine. Even if you’re not hungry, ditching breakfast will backfire. “Skipping daytime meals is directly linked to overeating at night,” says Gidus. Not a morning person? Start small. On day 1, have just a piece of fruit; then gradually add lean protein (like fat-free yogurt or cheese) and whole grains (granola bars, cereal, or oatmeal) until you’re eating a balanced meal every morning.
Schedule snacks. Eating at regular intervals ensures that you won’t be famished by nightfall. Aim to have a snack between each meal so you’re never starving when you sit down to eat. Just make sure your snacks pack protein, healthful fats, and carbs for extra staying power (think apples with peanut butter or nuts with yogurt). Limit each snack to 2 or 3 PointsPlus® values.
Treat yourself. Work a small splurge into your day, and you’ll be less likely to overdo it at night. Try 1 ounce of dark chocolate or 1⁄2 cup of frozen yogurt in the afternoon.
The rationale: “I pour myself a glass of wine before bed to relax.”
Sure, that Chardonnay might help you unwind, but the problems with this strategy are twofold: “Alcohol has a significant amount of calories and no nutritional value — plus, it may inhibit your ability to regulate your food intake,” says Marisa Moore, R.D., an Atlanta-based spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. In other words, wine packs empty calories and may make the pint of cookie dough in the freezer seem more appealing. Try to imbibe wisely:
Switch glasses. Today’s wine glasses are supersize, meaning you might be pouring yourself more calories than you realize. Although a serving is considered 5 ounces, glasses can hold anywhere from 8 to 14 ounces. Use a champagne glass instead; it holds only 6 to 7 ounces. Plus, since it’s taller, it tricks you into thinking you’re drinking more than you are.
Stop at one glass. The easiest way to do this is to switch from white to red. A full-bodied Shiraz is much harder to drink quickly than a light Pinot Grigio.
Sometimes you can eat right all day, but when evening hits the snacks beckon. Try these tips for outsmarting after-dark temptations.
Article By: Karen Ansel, R.D., for Weight Watchers Magazine
The TV Trap
When researchers at Georgia State University in Atlanta tracked the habits of nearly 100 men and women, they found that the more TV they watched, the more often they ate (regardless of hunger). Can’t miss Scandal? Instead of hitting the kitchen during commercial breaks, try:
1. Shooting an e-mail to a friend
2. Grabbing a jump rope
3. Doing 25 sit-ups
4. Watch shows on DVR and fast-forward through commercials (no time for snack breaks)!
Late Night Eater
You start the day with good intentions: oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, a perfectly-seasoned grilled chicken salad for lunch and plenty of fresh veggie sticks for snacks. You even eat a healthy dinner. Then darkness falls, and all good intentions fade. One trip to the freezer for a scoop of ice cream becomes two, followed by a few handfuls of chips and then some sugary cereal straight from the box.
What’s going on here? While sticking to any healthy eating plan takes work, many people report that they most often get tripped up in the evening hours, when they finish work or other daytime duties and loosen their belt.
The good news is that eating at night doesn’t necessarily lead to weight gain: Despite the die-hard myth that calories consumed at night are metabolized more slowly than those consumed by day, the truth is that it’s how many calories you consume — not when you consume them — that matters. The real danger of nighttime eating is that it often results from unhealthy meal patterns, not hunger. Here we take a look at some of the reasons why you may head for the kitchen after the sun goes down — and offer simple solutions to keep you on track until morning.
The rationale: I had a really stressful day at work and I deserve some junk food.”
In the middle of a crazy day at the office, you’re too busy to think about how stressed you are. Then at night the stress catches up with you. “At night many women unwind by indulging in the foods they crave,” says Kelly C. Allison, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The best plan of attack? Develop a food-free strategy for de-stressing.
Find alternative tension tamers. Post on your refrigerator a list of 10 non-food stress relievers (like curling up with a good book and taking a hot bath). Before you give in to an urge to splurge, check the list and choose one thing to do.
Connect with someone. Try calling a friend or relative instead of hitting the fridge. You may find out that you were really hungry not for food but for a chance to rehash your day. Or scroll through the WeightWatchers.com Community until you find a post or blog entry that inspires you, and type a response. You may even find a regular blog buddy you can chat with when p.m. cravings strike.
The rationale: “I have to have something sweet before bed.”
If you’ve had a sweet treat every night before bed since you were a kid, the habit is hard to break. A good first step, though, is to brush your teeth right after dinner — it’s your mouth (and your brain’s) cue that you’re done eating for the day. Then, replace your evening sweet ritual with one of these:
Take a walk. Go for a stroll around the neighborhood with your spouse, or make a regular walking date with a pal. Not only will you burn calories instead of consuming them, but you’ll also get farther away from the fridge.
Have some hands-on fun. Bust out the Scrabble board and challenge your kids to a game. Or find a project that inspires you: Knit a sweater or start a photo album. Making sure your hands are occupied will make you less likely to pick up that fork or spoon, says Tara Gidus, M.S., R.D., a dietitian in private practice in Orlando, Florida.
Think ahead to a healthy tomorrow. Instead of hitting the kitchen for a late-night snack, hit the kitchen to prep tomorrow’s healthy breakfast and lunch.
The rationale: “I’m so careful about what I eat all day that by nighttime I’m starving!”
Maybe you’re too good during the daylight hours. If you don’t take in enough calories during the day, your body will remind you at night that it’s still hungry. Incorporate these daily habits, and you’ll be able to resist the after-dinner munchies:
Make breakfast a Routine. Even if you’re not hungry, ditching breakfast will backfire. “Skipping daytime meals is directly linked to overeating at night,” says Gidus. Not a morning person? Start small. On day 1, have just a piece of fruit; then gradually add lean protein (like fat-free yogurt or cheese) and whole grains (granola bars, cereal, or oatmeal) until you’re eating a balanced meal every morning.
Schedule snacks. Eating at regular intervals ensures that you won’t be famished by nightfall. Aim to have a snack between each meal so you’re never starving when you sit down to eat. Just make sure your snacks pack protein, healthful fats, and carbs for extra staying power (think apples with peanut butter or nuts with yogurt). Limit each snack to 2 or 3 PointsPlus® values.
Treat yourself. Work a small splurge into your day, and you’ll be less likely to overdo it at night. Try 1 ounce of dark chocolate or 1⁄2 cup of frozen yogurt in the afternoon.
The rationale: “I pour myself a glass of wine before bed to relax.”
Sure, that Chardonnay might help you unwind, but the problems with this strategy are twofold: “Alcohol has a significant amount of calories and no nutritional value — plus, it may inhibit your ability to regulate your food intake,” says Marisa Moore, R.D., an Atlanta-based spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. In other words, wine packs empty calories and may make the pint of cookie dough in the freezer seem more appealing. Try to imbibe wisely:
Switch glasses. Today’s wine glasses are supersize, meaning you might be pouring yourself more calories than you realize. Although a serving is considered 5 ounces, glasses can hold anywhere from 8 to 14 ounces. Use a champagne glass instead; it holds only 6 to 7 ounces. Plus, since it’s taller, it tricks you into thinking you’re drinking more than you are.
Stop at one glass. The easiest way to do this is to switch from white to red. A full-bodied Shiraz is much harder to drink quickly than a light Pinot Grigio.
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