WW (Weight Watchers) Chat #283: How To Find and Use Your Own Strengths

News and Reviews August 2022

It’s finally here! Tomorrow is National “Sneak Some Zucchini On Your Neighbor’s Porch Day!” Are you sneaking or hoping someone will leave some on your doorstep?
More good news for those of you who are diabetic or pre-diabetic! WW has partnered with Abbott Laboratories (the make of the Libre glucose monitoring systems). In a press release WW and Abbott announced “The two companies will work together to allow Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitoring systems and the WeightWatchers mobile app to share information so that people living with diabetes can see their glucose data alongside WeightWatchers’ diabetes-tailored program.” For more visit: https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/22/08/n28363609/abbott-and-weightwatchers-partner-to-support-people-living-with-diabetes-in-attaining-their-health
The Summer Challenge hosted by Julie KW over in the IYHAE Facebook Group has wound down for the season. This fun and friendly challenge yielded results like: “I lost 2.4 pounds!”; “I’m at my lowest weight ever!”; “I’m down a shirt size!”; “My skin looks great!”. The next challenge is a water challenge…head on over to IYHAE group on Facebook to join us!

The month’s theme is “Live Flexibly” and we will spend the entire month learning how to avoid life’s curveballs when they come your way!

Last week during Chat #282: How To Put the “F” Back in Fitness, I told you I started to name this week’s chat “F Words” but I know y’all would never believe me LOL.

So it feels like we talk about exercise, fitness, moving, or some similar topic every other month. Apparently getting our behinds up off the couch (or the work from home office chair) is pretty important right?

Sitting for extended periods of time can be accredited to higher risks of diabetes, heart disease and even death. Excuse me…death? From sitting too much? Yep. And with so many of us working remotely from home the risk is increased exponentially. So what can you do? Put the “F” back into fitness:

Fitness can be FAST:

According to an article from Web MD for National Wellness Month, employers should encourage employees to engage in physical activity during the workday.

Exercise has traditionally been something employers expected workers to do on their own time. Now, we realize that incorporating bursts of movement during the workday is essential. If possible, it’s even better for employees to step outside the office for the activity. Offer ways for employees to move more at work—including walking meetings, lunchtime strolls, steps challenges, rewards for not using the elevator, things like that. Remote workers should also be encouraged to take a break during the day for at least a 20-minute walk to refresh before jumping back into productivity mode.
A “burst” could be walking to the mailbox or carrying a load of laundry up one at a time
Notice it said “during the day” and not once a day

Fitness can be FLEXIBLE:

The definition of flexible is:
capable of being bent, usually without breaking; easily bent
susceptible of modification or adaptation; adaptable: (a flexible schedule)
willing or disposed to yield; pliable

You can be flexible in your fitness by adapting a schedule if something else changes (job change, you move, etc)
You can also be flexible in the movement itself by doing something like stretching! If you are now working from home, why don’t you incorporate stretching?
Web MD says we “all need to stretch to counteract the effects of the day, whether we’ve been sitting at a desk for hours, working on our feet, or simply trying to overcome all the stress we’ve taken in. It may feel silly at first but if you’re holding a long meeting, build in some group stretch breaks. Or, as part of a wellness update, suggest stretches and yoga poses employees can do on their own time. Better yet, offer a free yoga class virtually or in-person to reap the centuries-old benefits that yoga offers—calming the mind, lowering blood pressure, and slowing the heart rate”

Fitness Can Be FREE:

Do you already own shoes? Walk the dog
Do you already have two cans of soup? Do some arm exercises
Do you have 5 minutes? Do some stretching, let’s do some now!

Your homework for last week was #FlexYourFlexibility. I want you to pick one way you can be flexible in your fitness (getting up a little earlier, changing a route, finding a new friend) OR getting up from your desk/couch/out of the car and stretching every hour for just one day this week ….and then type it, snap it, share it however you like, and then tag me for your next cool badge!

Let’s see how you did!

Deanna has really flexed her workouts. Normally they don’t workout in the summer but this year they have made screens for the three gym room windows, bought a portable arctic air fan & she has been wearing a wet cooling towel wrapped on her head. Now that’s being flexible!
Carol Lou set her fitness ring to remind her to get up and move every hour and she says it has really paid off!
Katy loves getting a good stretch in every week. She started it about 5 years ago after recovering from a torn ACL and has done it every week since!

Bravo, you did it!

This Week’s Topic: How To Find and Use Your Own Strengths

If you could turn right now to the person who knows you best and had them fill in this sentence what do you think they would say?

“_________(your name) is really __________ (any positive adjective)”

Now what if you had a co-worker or your boss fill in the same sentence?

It’s hard to look inside sometimes and think about your own strengths. It’s even harder to be honest with yourself about what you’re good at. The most difficult is figuring out how that plays into your weight loss and wellness journey. Let’s explore some ideas!

If you were described as Giving, Loving, Caring type strengths:

These types of strengths are often seen as weaknesses rather than being “strong”. Au Contraire Mon Cheri! Having traits that are kind and gentle towards others means you are the perfect person to be the most kind, giving, loving and caring for yourself or those in your peer group! Your best strength may be being a cheerleader for others in your meeting. Or maybe it’s giving recipe and meal prep ideas when another member is struggling with what to feed their family. And you’re the perfect person for the job to help someone forgive themselves when their journey isn’t perfect. As Gwen likes to say you can’t shine a light on someone else’s path without shining a little on your own!

If you were described as Organized, Methodical, Strategic, Neat type strengths:

Can you say tracking pro? Meal prep team leader? Being organized makes you the perfect person to pre-plan some meals and even get them tracked the night before. Are you neat? Try getting all your veggies and fruit washed, prepped, and put away in clear containers so you can reach for something low or zero points when life gets messy!

If you were described as Creative, Talkative, Adventurous type strengths:

Then you are right up my alley! I used to think these were not strengths, that they were distractions. But once you embrace the “squirrel” and use it to create new and exciting meals for your friends and family, coach or mentor, or other people, and color outside the tracker “box” you become the perfect person to keep this journey exciting for yourself and those around you!

This Week’s Homework: #FlexYourSelf

Your homework for this week is #FlexYourSelf. I am seriously trying to stump Casey on these badges hehehe. This week I want you to fill in that sentence “_____ (your name) is very _______ (positive adjective)” and then tell us how you will use that on your journey (or to help someone else!) ….and then type it, snap it, share it however you like, and then tag me for your next cool badge!

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

Tag @ifyouhaveanegg on Instagram
Tag @ifyouhaveanegg on our Facebook Page
Tag @Kelly Green Milligan in our Facebook Group
Tag @ifyouhaveanegg on WW Connect

Extra Credit: Summer of Savings – 3 Day Shop Your Pantry Challenge

For this week’s money saving idea we are going to shop our own pantries and not purchase any new food for THREE DAYS. Can you do that? Are you with me?

We live in a land of plenty. Almost too plentiful and it has made a lot of us (I’m pointing at myself too, ok?) lazy about eating what we already have on hand because it’s “not what I want right now” or it’s “boring” or or or…..

So for this challenge I am making a list of things I have in my pantry, fridge and freezer and ONLY making meals from what is already on hand. Not only will this save money it will help in my goal to eliminate food waste. I have already found things I forgot were there just from the last time I went through it!

Are you up to the challenge? Here’s my list so far!

Frozen ground chicken (thanks Julie for telling me the secret to making my own!)
Frozen blackberries
Frozen corn
Frozen peas
Canned green beans
Canned any kind you can think of beans
Pasta of all shapes and sizes
Pumpkin frozen in ½ cup servings in a Souper Cubes
Marinara frozen in ½ cup servings in a Souper Cubes
Unmarked soup in 1 cup servings in a Souper Cubes (what’s up with that??)
Fat free ricotta cheese
Shredded Velveeta cheese
Nearly dead end of season garden tomatoes
Nonfat plain Greek yogurt
Fat free cream cheese
Applesauce

To start off this challenge strong I’m going to make a batch of end of season tomatoes and pumpkin spice overnight oats using only ingredients that are currently available in my pantry.

Comment below if you will join the 3 Day Shop Your Pantry Challenge and let us know how it went!!