The Weight Watchers Freestyle HACK That Helped Me Lose 30lbs
Have you joined the Weight Watchers Freestyle program? I know I did and I could not be happier with the results!
I was doing the Smart Points system most of last year and I liked it. I was losing weight slowly, but steadily, which is supposed to be the best way.
However, if I want to be honest here, I was hungry more than I thought I should have been.
Yes, I could always eat cabbage soup or broccoli but how many of us found that kind of “snack” really satisfying?
So, when I saw those words “200 zero-point foods” I jumped on that bandwagon!
What are These Zero Point Foods?
The zero-point foods are mostly fresh fruits, vegetables, and lean protein. I think Weight Watchers is trying to get clients to build a health foundation of foods that you turn to frequently. By providing healthy foods that you can eat as much as you want to, Weight Watchers has said that studies show people still don’t overeat.
Let’s face it; eating 6 Haagen Daz ice cream bars is easy. Eating 6 chicken breasts? Not so much.
What I Noticed
I couldn’t help but notice, however, that Weight Watchers leaves out all the healthy fats.
While they were smart by adding more points to those unhealthy foods, such as trans-fats, margarine, and vegetable oils, they also lumped what are natural, healthy fats into this same group!
What are Healthy Fats?
We've been fed the proverbial bill of goods when it comes to low-fat diets.
If you’ve heard that “eating fat makes you fat”, then you know what I’m talking about. Truth be told, there are no studies linking a high fat diet (by high fat, I’m talking about natural healthy fats) to heart disease or cardiovascular disease.
In fact, did you know that one study (1), which involved almost 50,000 women and was done over a 7 year period found that a low-fat diet didn’t help them lose weight and it didn’t prevent heart disease.
However, another study (2) found that those who followed what is known as the Mediterranean Diet, which involves eating lots of healthy fats, not only lost the weight they wanted to, but they lowered their cholesterol levels!
My Simple WW Hack
So, I added this one simple hack to the Weight Watchers Freestyle program. I dropped 30 pounds in 2 months. I kid you not!
#1 Hack
I added the following healthy fats to MY list of zero-point foods:
- Avocados
- Coconut oil
- REAL butter (and Ghee when I can find it)
- Organic, grass fed beef
Now, I didn’t eat all I wanted to of these foods, but I did add at least some to darn near every meal.
For example, I would have a nice 6 or 7-ounce steak with some asparagus and put a tablespoon of butter on those spears. Add a glass of sparkling water with a squeeze from a raspberry or two and I felt so satisfied and full, I almost didn’t remember I was, technically, dieting!
Zero WW Freestyle Points and very filling: Steak, asparagus, tomato
For Faster Weight Loss...
After adding the healthy fats and eating reasonable amounts of them each day, I tried really hard to not use my weekly points.
Now using the daily points was necessary because I didn't want to leave out entire food groups by eating zero-point foods all day, every day (although I did try eating zero point meals for an entire week). However, those roll over points that you can use each week?
Don’t use them.
This was simple to do, at least for me! There are so many foods on the free list, along with terrific recipes (like this list of WW zero-point desserts) I have not had to dip into my weekly points since I started.
I lost an amazing 30lbs and hope to be down 50 or even 60 pounds by Halloween!
