The Weight Watchers weight loss plan utilizes points, which are counted in place of calories. Points are based upon a food's calorie, fat and fiber content. Foods with high fat and low fiber contain more points than those with low fat and high fiber, even if they contain the same amount of calories. This is to encourage dieters to choose lean, high fiber foods.
Science of Weight Loss
Calories, the basis behind the science of weight loss, are units of energy. Both food and fat contain calories for your body to utilize for energy. The science of weight loss is quite simple: Eat fewer calories than you burn and you'll lose weight. A pound of fat is comprised of 3,500 calories. Therefore, if you burn 3,500 calories beyond what you consume, you'll lose 1 lb. of fat.
Factors Influencing Weight Loss
Gender, age, weight, exercise routine and medical issues influence metabolic rate and therefore impact weight loss. Your metabolic rate is the rate at which your body burns calories while at rest. People with a high metabolic rate generally include men, people younger than the age of 30 and people who partake in regular exercise. People with a low metabolic rate generally include women, people older than 30, people with a sedentary lifestyle and people with medical issues negatively impacting metabolism, such as hypothyroidism. Weight loss tends to be faster for people with a high metabolic rate versus those with a low metabolic rate.
Weight Watchers Weight Loss
Weight Watchers limits the caloric consumption dieters by limiting the amount of points dieters are allowed to consume each day. Weight Watchers promotes a gradual, healthy weight loss of 1 to 2 lbs. each week. The amount of weight you lose each week is based upon your personal metabolic rate, the amount of exercise you perform and the amount of calories you consume over the course of the week. Therefore, you may find that the weeks in which you consume fewer points and exercise more often, you lose more weight.
Weight Loss Tips
The Weight Watchers diet can produce weight loss as long as the diet is followed properly. This means that all points must be calculated applied appropriately to your day's total. Therefore, a food journal is helpful for many Weight Watchers dieters, according to "Weight Watchers She Loses, He Loses: The Truth about Men, Women, and Weight Loss" by Karen Miller-Kovach, et al. Some Weight Watchers dieters like to use their food journals in a similar fashion as they use their checkbook registers, subtracting their points as they eat them. This helps dieters to look at their points as currency and spend them wisely, choosing the most filling foods within points guidelines. This naturally encourages dieters to eat a healthy, balanced diet, according to "Weight Watchers Weight Loss That Lasts."
References
- "Weight Watchers Weight Loss That Lasts"; James M. Rippe M.D., et al.; 2004
- "Weight Watchers She Loses, He Loses: The Truth about Men, Women, and Weight Loss"; Karen Miller-Kovach, et al.; 2007
- "Contemporary Nutrition"; Gordon M. Wardlaw, et al.; 2007
Member Comments