Friday Fitness: To Eat or Not to Eat?

Your FitPoints that is!

This week I discuss the decision whether or not to eat the FitPoints you earn while following Weight Watchers Beyond the Scale.

This is a very personal thing that only you can decide for yourself. At the end of the day, you have to see what works for you. Everybody is different. But I thought that this week I'll share a little bit about what works for me, and the different things that go through my head when deciding what to do.

First, I think of my goal - Am I trying to lose weight? Or trying to maintain? Having been on both sides of that coin, I'll speak a little bit about each.

When I'm trying to lose weight the answer is I try not to eat my FitPoints. Like Jillian Michaels says, "You can't outrun your fork!"  Losing weight is all about calories. You need to burn more and eat less. A daily calorie deficit is the only way to lose weight. Why would you then eat back those calories? Exercise is important, but when it comes to losing weight most will agree it's about 80% what you eat and only 20% how much you exercise. Weight Watchers lets you choose how and if you want to eat FitPoints so when I'm trying to lose weight I make sure my settings are switched to "Swap My Weekly SmartPoints First". This way I use all of my daily points, then dip into the weekly points. Then my FitPoints are there only if I truly need them.

I'm going to add a caveat to this - if you are at an advanced fitness level you may want to eat back your FitPoints if you see that the scale is stuck. When you're burning tons of calories, it is possible to create a very large calorie deficit - so large that your body doesn't have the fuel it needs to work out and rebuild/repair at high intensity. It will therefore cling to what it has and you'll see the scale slow down, stop, or even reverse. If this happens think about eating back your FitPoints. It seems counterintuitive but sometimes you need to eat more to lose more. If you work out a lot (5-6 days per week) at a very high intensity or for several hours.

Now, when I am maintaining weight - you bet your ass I eat my FitPoints! Let's be honest here - how did I end up at Weight Watchers? Well, duh! I like to eat! A lot! So when I am in maintenance mode I eat every point I can get! Daily, Weekly, and Fit! I want every point I have coming to me! Nom, nom, nom...

So when I am in maintenance mode I change my setting to "Swap my FitPoints First", this way I can save my weekly points for weekend spurges or late night snacks. Or real ice cream. Or Girl Scouts Cookies... But I digress...

And now I'm hungry...

So on that note I'm going to grab an apple. Have a great, activity filled weekend! And eat your FitPoints! Or don't! It's up to you! See you Monday!