WW (Weight Watchers) Chat #284: Journey To More Go To Foods!

News and Reviews August 2022

This seems like the most important news for the month of August so far so I will focus on this…the WW Wellness Wins Program is coming to an end!
- If you are asking what that is then perhaps you won’t miss it LOL
- If you are an active WW member you should have received an e-mail that says:

“We’re writing to let you know that our WellnessWins® program will officially close on November 1, 2022. We’ve made the decision to close WellnessWins and explore fun, new ways to keep you motivated and reward your journey—all in the WW app.”

What I DO know:
- Earning new wins ended Aug 10, 2022
- Redeeming wins ends Oct 31, 2022
What I THINK I know:
- There will likely be an app update on or before Nov 1st to remove the Wellness Wins information and icon
What I DON’T know but will find out as soon as I can!
- What program will replace Wellness Wins
- When it starts
- What it means
- If that affects anything else like Blue Dots, Challenges, or Tracking Streaks

As soon as I know you will know!
The month’s theme is “The Journey” and we will spend the entire month learning how to find our way while we are on our way!

Last week during Chat #283: How To Find and Use Your Own Strengths, I asked you to pretend to 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)”

And then 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!

Your homework for last week was #FlexYourSelf

Your homework for this week is #FlexYourSelf. I was 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!

Let’s see how you did!

Sylvia flexed herself by participating in the #ShopYourPantryChallenge and I’m going to say she is ADVENTUROUS! She used brown rice, a buffalo tuna package, black beans, and cherry tomatoes from her garden for a winning combo!
Mary Ann is ORGANIZED and does her tracking the night before. She also washes and preps her fruit and veggies as soon as she gets home from the store!
Carol Lou is CREATIVE and shopped at a local farmer’s market and then took the yummy finds home and made some homemade salsa!

Bravo, you did it!

This Week’s Topic: The Journey To More Go To Foods

My fearless leader Gwen is right….we are all more in tune when someone mentions food. Right? Show of hands?

So now that I have your (and my!) attention… let’s talk about more go-to foods! With the new WW Personal Points program gone are the one size fits all meals. I never have to eat cottage cheese and you don’t have to try tofu if you don’t want to. For every person I hear complaining about this new-ish plan, I hear 3 or 4 more saying “I’ve never had this kind of freedom. This is really working for me. I actually reached my goal because I wasn’t limited in what I could eat!”

So how do you decide what your “go to” foods should be?

“If you keep putting yourself in food jail, you will spend all your time decided what to eat when you break out”:

Go-To Foods should be things you can imagine yourself eating for the rest of your life. Some may even be things you can imagine yourself eating every week or every day. But you will also have some “not point friendly” go to’s to keep yourself from going to food jail. As an example if you need to be able to enjoy pizza on Friday night with your family you will want to find some go to foods that are zero or low points to eat before or maybe even with the pizza

“I would rather spend the points on ____ than try to figure out how to eat ___”:

If a food is going to be a “go to” you have to want to eat it. Take me for example, I use nonfat plain greek yogurt in tons of recipes, as a sour cream substitute, and to make cream cheese. BUT, I have decided if I’m just going to eat greek yogurt I would rather spend the 2 points and have it already flavored.

One of the girls in our in person workshop has been trying to make herself eat eggs. Why? No one said we have to eat eggs…I mean I hope she finds a method she likes, but if not there are so many other zero point options to go on the list!

“I love ____ so much I could literally eat it every single day”:

Now that’s a go to food! For me that list would include green beans, eggs, and grapes. I could literally eat them every single day, literally.

This Week’s Homework: #MyFoodJourney

Your homework for this week is #MyFoodJourney. Since we are talking about our individual journeys this month I want you to tell us what the top 3 foods are on your food journey #MyFoodJourney and then tell us how you will use that on your journey….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 #MyFoodJourney 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 – Meal Prep for Dummies (like me!)

As school starts back up in most areas of the country this is our last week for the Summer of Savings. Hasn’t it been fun? It has been for me and I hope you have enjoyed it too…Comment below if you found a favorite way to save money this summer!

The 3 Day Shop Your Pantry Challenge last week was an eye opener for me. I found 15 individual size bags of popcorn and about 12 boxes of sugar free jell-o. Why? I also discovered I own way more food than I realized and managed to purchase all the additional groceries I need for this week with change. You heard me, change. Now I’m only feeding a household of 2 with an occasional tiny visitor, but still…I have so much food in my pantry, freezer, and fridge that I took a bag of change to the store today and even got my fancy fat free milk. We. Are. Spoiled.

I also realized I am most likely to veer off track (and spend money needlessly) if I’m not prepared to eat something I already own. Y’all already know I’m not big on eating the same things every day but I decided I better get a few meal prep pointers for the dummies (finger pointing at myself!)

Make a list of what you already have. Sounds overwhelming, boring, tedious. Just do it and you may be surprised. I called it “shopping the pantry”. Deanna’s family calls it “living off the land”. You can’t prep if you don’t know what you are starting with
Use your tools. I have freezer bags, Souper Cubes, a pressure canner/cooker, a slow cooker. What tools do you have?
Use this week’s chat to develop your go to foods list. If I have a flavored yogurt in the fridge I am much more likely to eat it rather than feel like I need to run through the arches. Having grapes already washed and on hand makes night time snacking a no brainer. YES, washing and prepping your fruit and veggies when you get home and putting them clear containers is meal prepping
Use your favorite Instagrammer, YouTuber, family member or friend to help! I asked Alyssa (who is only 4 ½ by the way) to help me prep last week and we had sugar free jell-o for days! If you are on Instagram @mealplanaddict has some of the most clever ideas I’ve seen.
Finally, re-shop that pantry and use what you have first. The End of Season Tomatoes last week left me craving and wishing I had more. This week I’m using what I found in the freezer to make Stuffed Peppers in the pressure cooker and more overnight oats using some of the Peach Freezer Jam