The Weekend Challenge

Today we will look at the challenge of staying the WeightWatchers course over the weekend. This past weekend demonstrated fully the challenges of being consistently nutritionally healthy. Freezing cold temperatures kept us inside the house, NFL Football was on all day Saturday and Sunday, and to top it off, we had friends over on Friday night for a small party.

I think the Friday night party was the toughest segment of the weekend. My wife Linda and I enjoy having company over occasionally, and in the past we would put out a large spread of food. Chips, bean dip, melted cheese dip, BBQ of all kinds, chili dogs, you name it, especially on football days. And oh yeah, beer, lots of beer.

So this weekend we were faced with the challenge of enjoying ourselves sensibly, and I feel we did a pretty good job. Instead of going for the giant food spread, we ordered BBQ brisket sandwiches from a BBQ house. No fries, just the BBQ itself. I cut mine in half and saved the rest in the fridge. That was still satisfying and kept me inside my point range food-wise easily.

As far as the cold ones were concerned, 3 MGD's counted for 9 points, and the dancing burned off a few points for sure. Linda's recommendation is to drink one glass of water for each brewski to counter balance the water retention action of the alcohol. That is an excellent idea, and very effective.

The two following days, we both made sure we were under our points to "make up", and concentrated on the water intake to make sure we got enough.

That brings up another point, the habit of munching on food while glued to the TV. We both love NFL Football, the Denver Broncos in particular. On days when we are not at the stadium, we are sure to catch the game or games on TV. This weekend I was enjoying the games going on, but at the same time my hands felt like they needed to be doing something else, like stuffing nachos into the old pie-hole.

I suppose it's similar to quitting smoking, the cravings to eat that one gets are associated with certain activities, like smoking is associated with after dinner converstion. This situation is handled fairly easily however. The famous veggie tray, and light ranch dressing to the rescue. I love fresh veggies and it's hard to eat too much celery, carrots, and broccoli.

Also, the WeightWatchers program allows 35 "flex" points that you can use over the course of the week. Those points can be allocated like in this example, on one night (party) or over the course of the entire week. Or not used at all if you don't need them.

That is part of the beauty of the WeightWatchers program. Flexibility makes it easier to stick with the plan long-term. Plus the guilty "Oh my gosh, I've blown the entire week" feeling that often is associated with other "diets" is not a factor.

So bottom line is it's Ok to party once in a while if you keep your eyes on the prize (Good health) and don't over do it.

Dave and Linda