Friday Focus: Zero Points Foods

Ah, the zero points foods. The list that has many people split between team #freestyle and team #backto30

This weeks meeting topic is how to make the most of those zero points foods, so I'll address some information from the article on the website (here: https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/m/cms/article/weekly-topic-zero-points-foods ) and from the meeting weekly magazine (here: https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/sites/default/files/061018_lo.pdf )

And then I'll throw in a few tips and tricks that have helped me along the way.

First, let me go back. Way, way back. Back to the days of the original points program. Back when the only things that were zero points were "most vegetables". Peas had points, corn had points, and in one iteration of the program, even carrots and cooked onions had points (I guess because of the sugar?). All fruit had points - bananas were 2! Then, PointsPlus was launched and all fruit (yes, even bananas!) became zero points! Yipee! The rationale there was, a banana was 2 points, and a 100 calorie pack of oreos was 2 points. WW wanted people to pick the fruit, not the cookies. And people lost their minds. They started eating bunches of bananas, whole watermelons, it was nuts!! And people were no longer losing weight! Gee, I wonder why 😬 But, eventually, things settled down and people found their groove, and went back to losing weight with zero points fruit included.

So now, we have freestyle and all these new zero points foods. Let's first think about why these foods were added to the list of zero. They are all high in protein, and, according to weight watchers, they are all foods that you're less likely to over eat. High protein foods are more filling, and that feeling of fullness will last longer. So, it makes sense. If you want more information about each category of zero points foods, the weight watchers website has "cheat sheets" that give some more details (here: https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/m/cms/article/zero-points-cheat-sheets ).

The article talks about balance - which I touched upon before. Zero points doesn't mean "free". These foods still have calories, and you still need to be mindful about how much you're eating. The Weekly in the meeting room also stresses that zero points does not equal "all you can eat". My rule of thumb here is to not eat more than one serving of any single food in a day. So I'll eat one banana, one chicken breast, one cup of greek yogurt... But later when I'm hungry I'll eat something else. My purpose is two-fold. First, it stops me from overeating some zero points foods (no eating a whole bunch of bananas in one day). Second, it helps me to make sure I'm getting a variety of foods for nutrition. Ideally we should get our vitamins and minerals from the foods we eat, and supplements should be used to, well, supplement. By making sure I'm eating a variety of different things, I know I'm getting different vitamins and minerals for my health. Win - win.

Finally, the article talks about building your meals with zero points foods as a base. This is an idea I can get behind. Breakfast - greek yogurt with berries and kashi (2 sp). I still have 21 points left for the day. Lunch - turkey breast, lettuce, tomato, red onion and my new favorite sauce (greek yogurt mixed with dijon mustard), and the bread (3 sp). I still have 18 point for the day. Gotta get my afternoon starbucks fix - grande skinny vanilla latte (4sp). I've still got 14 points left for dinner. See how that works? Snacks include baby carrots, apple, pear, clementine and a cheese stick (1 sp). 13 points to go... And with 13 points for dinner I don't feel restricted to zoodles - I can have pasta if I want. I don't have to have chicken breast for dinner, I can afford the points for a hamburger. See how it goes?

The Weekly magazine from the meeting room makes a couple of other good points that I want to touch on here. First, you don't "need" to weigh and measure your zero points foods, but that doesn't mean you can't. If weighing and measuring helps you to remain in control of what you're eating, I say do it. I still weigh my greek yogurt. I know one cup is enough but I have hard time eyeballing that one. Chicken, on the other hand, I'll just put on my plate and eat until I've had enough to satisfy. (Although with chicken I've been buying the thin sliced breasts - whole chicken breasts are HUGE! and way too much food for me to eat. I'm always stuffed). Second, using the scale for feedback. This is also important. It may take you some time to balance how the zero points foods fit into your plan. It also sometimes takes 2-3 weeks for a change to show up on the scale. Yeah, that's frustrating because we like to see that number go down each week. But I'm here as a lifetime member to tell you - some weeks you do everything right and the scale goes up anyway. There's no rhyme or reason for that number.

So give it time. I've done a TON of different WW plans over the years and none of them have failed me yet. And hey, if you are on team #backto30, no worries. We all need to do what works for us. There's no one right way to work the plan. But for me, I'm team #freestyle all the way. And if you're wondering about that - I started the year above my goal weight at 138. As of this morning I'm 129.8 - the first time in over a year that I've been under 130 (even if only barely). So yeah, freestyle works for me.