WW (Weight Watchers) Chat #222: Habit Stacking

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WW News May 2021:

  • KNOXVILLE GIRLS!  Saturdays there are IN PERSON workshops with Sheryl M at 8am and 9:30am. On Monday there is one in person workshop with Gwen R at 12:15pm. On Thursday there is one in person workshop at 12:15pm with Sandi P
    • Wellness Check-Ins (no workshop, just check in)
      • Cedar Bluff Main Location (9208 Kingston Pike)
        • Thursdays 10am – 11:30am as of April 22
        • Saturdays 9am – 11am
      • Powell( Beaver Creek Cumberland Church)
        • Tuesdays 8:30am – 9:30am
      • Maryville (Maryville Church of Christ)
        • Saturdays 8am – 10am
    • There are NO ZOOM meetings or Wellness Check-Ins on Mother’s Day, May 9th…enjoy your day!  We will decide later in the week about the chat, is everyone busy or would you be there?
  • To find a wellness check in: Go to WW → Connect → and find the Kingston Pike – W Knoxville, TN group for more info. You can also join me on Sunday afternoons at 2:30pm eastern in this same virtual workshop with hostess Gwen, my fave WW’er and the inspiration for the name of our group If You Have an Egg! East TN Lifetime Members who were in good standing when COVID started have had their membership extended again until the end of June 2021. You will need to attend a Wellness Workshop during the month of June to continue those privileges.
  • The month’s theme is “Get Stronger” and focuses on finding ways to help keep our brains strong…even though your brain is not a muscle it’s so important to exercise it!
  • May’s way to support IYHAE!  I’ve decided each month I will list a new way you can help keep this FREE content coming. This month we are asking you to simply visit our RECOMMENDATIONS page and if you see something you like, want to try, or would like to send to a friend please click on it and check it out! Shopping via a  link to our Amazon recommendations provides a tiny affiliate sponsorship and all the littles can really add up!  http://www.ifyouhaveanegg.com/product-category/recommendations/?orderby=price

 

Last week during Chat #221 Habit Piggybacking we discovered that when you are already successful with one habit you can link or piggyback another one. If you’re already successful with the first one, tagging another one with it increases your chances of success!

Some tips for effective habit piggybacking:

  • Pick an (A) that you’re already consistently successful with
  • Pick an (A) and a (B) that have at least a little something in common.

Your homework for last week’s chat #PiggyBacking was to pick a behavior you are already in the habit of doing (A) and add another behavior or activity you would like to become a new habit (B)…then type it, snap it, however you wanted to share it and then tag me for your next cool badge!

Let’s see how you did!

  • Tina always puts her produce away when she gets home from the store (Habit A) but sometimes it ends up going bad before she gets to it. So this week she is going to wash, prep, cut up the produce before it goes in the fridge (Habit B) for a great piggy back!
  • Sherry over on YouTube loves to read so she started getting audiobooks (Habit A) from her local library. The audiobooks calm her so she started piggybacking the audiobooks with preparing fresh vegetables and fruit for the week ahead (Habit B)!
  • Carol Lou is double stack piggybacking! She’s been working on her habit of getting to bed earlier and is getting pretty good at it (Habit A). This week she’s piggying by finishing dinner early + shutting off the kitchen TV + relaxing in her recliner!

Bravo, you did it!

 

This Week’s Topic: Habit Stacking

Last week we talked about how to piggyback one habit with another. Stacking might sound like the same thing, but it’s really about taking the “big picture” habit and breaking down into smaller or micro steps that you can stack on top of each other. Think about it this way…

You want to get back to tracking but it seems overwhelming. The act of tracking is a “big picture” habit…what are the micro steps you need to take you there? An example list of micro steps might be:

  • Decide if I’ll track Blue, Green or Purple
  • Update my WW app
  • Check out the tools on my WW app since the last time I tracked something
  • Save a few things I eat often as a favorite food, meal or recipe

Once you have a few micro steps what are some micro actions you could take?

  • Scan packaged foods 
  • Plan a meal for the next day
  • Check the points values for common convenience foods

 

We are much more likely to create a habit and then stick with it if it’s broken down into smaller steps or those micro actions. Let’s break it down!

  1. Choose the habit you want to break down (example: Tracking)
  2. Make a quick list of micro actions (remember, the tiniest action!) you would need to do (Example: getting out my phone, opening my WW app, scanning a barcode, etc)
  3. Pick a micro action (Example: scanning a barcode)
  4. Find a cue that reminds you to do the micro action (Example: picking up my phone before I start eating)
  5. Practice makes perfect…practice doing that every time!
  6. Move on to step # next…once that micro action becomes a micro habit move on to the next one!

 

This Week’s Homework: #HabitStacking

Your homework for this week is #HabitStacking. Pick a habit you want to start (or re-start!) then tell us how you will find and practice one teeny tiny micro habit that helps you stack into a new habit…then type it, snap it, however you want to share it and then tag me for your next cool badge!

Don’t forget to do your homework #HabitStacking and tag me when you share on social media!

 

Extra Credit: Smart Swaps – Salad Edition

In my continued efforts to get back to the absolute basics of my quarter of a century WW journey I’m digging out old material, looking at my old chats (yes, I watch them too hahaha), finding old signs/sticky notes/note cards, etc.  

In case you are new and don’t know, I reached my goal weight in 2014 and stayed there until sometime in 2019 when my dad became critically ill, followed within 12 months by my mother, then stupid Covid, then John’s mom and dad. This has kicked…my…butt…

But in the wise words of British rock band Chumbawamba “I get knocked down, but I get up again”

 

So then John went to the doctor this week so we can get ourselves back on track. Our physician was my mom’s favorite doc…she LOVED him. He was the same one who sent John’s dad straight to the hospital during a routine visit that indicated an active heart attack. John explained how busy we’ve been with parents, being caretakers, administering meds, driving to doc appointments, sitting by hospital beds, etc. Dr B reminded us both “just like in an airplane when the altitude drops…you have to put on your own oxygen mask FIRST before you help anyone else or you are no help to anyone. Including yourself.” Ugh. Point taken.

One of the skills I excelled at during the “at goal years” was to find and make some Smart Swaps so that I could have what I “love” by reducing or removing what I just “liked” (please note, my overuse of air quotes during this chat does not indicate any real medical issues hahaha)

An example of a Smart Swap would be choosing grilled nuggets and a fruit cup so I can enjoy a small order of super hot french fries. Another one would be eating zero point foods all day so I could have a piece of good cake at a wedding or birthday party.

Notice I said “super hot french fries” and “good cake”. Not limp, hour old french fries or big box cake with that gross whipped topping icing. My goal weight success was about making SMART SWAPS not mediocre deals with myself because I was tired, sad, mad, or quarantined out of a hospital or nursing facility.

 

Smart Swaps: Salad Edition (all point values listed below are for the Purple plan)

A really good salad is one of the things I was enjoying as a treat while at goal, not using it as a punishment for a meal gone bad. But salads are one of the “diet go-tos” that get a lot of people in trouble. So what does your ideal salad look like and then how can you make some Smart Swaps? I asked the people closest to me to help out and here’s what we found!

Casey’s perfect salad:

  • Spinach (0 SP) *
  • Bacon Bits (3 Tbsp = 2 SP) *
  • Shredded Cheese (¼ cup = 4 SP)
  • Sunflower Kernels (1 Tbsp = 2 SP) *
  • Jalapeno Ranch Dressing (2 Tbsp = 4 SP)
  • Total = 12 SP

John’s perfect salad:

  • Lettuce (0 SP)
  • Hard Boiled Egg (0 SP) *
  • Cubed Ham (2 oz = 2 SP) *
  • Cucumbers (0 SP)
  • Bacon Bits (3 Tbsp = 2 SP)
  • Croutons (7 items = 4 SP)
  • Tomatoes (0 SP)
  • Chopped up peanuts (⅛ cup = 3 SP)
  • Macaroni Salad (¼ cup = 4 SP)
  • Thousand Island Dressing (2 Tbsp = 5 SP) *
  • Total = 20  SP

Kelly’s perfect salad:

  • Butter lettuce (0 SP)
  • Spinach (0 SP)
  • Cucumbers (0 SP)
  • Mushrooms (0 SP)
  • Tomatoes (0 SP)
  • Hard Boiled Egg (0 SP) *
  • Bacon (1 slice cooked = 1 SP)
  • Shredded Cheese (¼ cup = 4 SP)
  • Croutons (7 items = 4 SP)
  • Fried Chicken Tender = (1 tender = 4 SP) *
  • Ranch Dressing (2 Tbsp = 5 SP) *
  • Total = 19 SP

For a Smart Swap to work you have to identify what you LOVE so you can swap out something you just LIKE. The items with an * are the ones that all three of us identified as deal breakers if we were going to have our ideal salad. We all had one zero point food in our top 3, good start.  So what can we swap?

  1. Bacon Bits for 2 SP with 1 piece of bacon cooked crisp (I prefer using my air fryer!) = 1 SP saved
  2. ¼ cup shredded cheese with light cheese or fat free feta = up to 4 SP saved
  3. Instead of 1 Tbsp use 1 tsp Sunflower kernels to keep the crunch  = 1 SP saved
  4. Cubed Ham or Fried Chicken Tender replaced with That Man’s Turkey Tenderloin = up to 4 SP saved
  5. Swap out croutons with my Ciabatta Crouton recipe (and send the flavor through the roof!) = 3 SP saved
  6. Ranch or Jalapeno Ranch Dressing swapped out with Pound Dropper’s Zero Point Creamy Jalapeno Cilantro Lime Dressing = up to 5 SP

With just these simple swaps Casey could keep her sunflower seeds and even add some crispy tortilla strips. John could have real thousand island dressing and never miss a beat. And I could get my salad down to a delicious 2 SP for the entire thing! Sound like a smart plan?

 

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