It had been 10 years since Sandy Norris Smith last walked into a Weight Watchers meeting. But she did so last fall with renewed determination to improve her health.
"This was about being honest with myself," says the former educator, who retired after 40 years of teaching exceptional education. "My reasons are much different now than when I was younger.
"In my 30s, it was about how I looked and what size clothes I wore and where I could shop for clothes. Now, in my 60s, it's much more about how I feel, wanting to be in the best health I can be since I have a new granddaughter. As she gets older, I want to be able to keep up with her.
"This is about being honest with myself, not trying to hide I am overweight," Smith says.
She has set a 100-pound loss as her long-range goal. Reaching that target weight is built on smaller losses that are incremental steps toward the larger goal. She says she has dropped 20 pounds since October and is 16 away from her first small goal; once there, she'll set the next weight-loss number.
One reason she turned to Weight Watchers was reinforcement in changing her ingrained eating habits. But what surprised her when she re-upped was that the traditional plan has evolved with the company's new "eTools" for the tech-savvy. A new app and other online Weight Watcher-developed programs just rolled out on Jan. 1.
"On eTools, I can track my food every day. It's all computerized, and there are a lot of things I can put in and don't have to calculate points because they will already be in there," says Smith.
The foundation of Weight Watchers is its point count: a numerical count assigned to every food based on a formula that figures each food's mix of protein, fiber, carbohydrates and fat, according to the Weight Watchers website. For example, processed foods generally have higher point counts, fresh fruit has zero.
At the first visit to Weight Watchers, each member is assigned a PointsPlus count per day, the idea being that tracking ingested foods by tallying points will make an individual more aware of how much he or she eats as well as encourage healthier food choices. It will reinforce sticking to appropriate foods in order not to surpass the allotted points per day.
"I have the eTools app on my iPhone. It tracks my points for the day. It has points calculated for chain restaurants. If I'm going out to eat, I'll try to look up the restaurant menu ahead of time, select what I think I might want to have so I can look at the points. When I have my phone with me at the grocery, I can stand there with the labels and calculate points."
But the most freeing aspect, Smith says, is that she no longer has to eliminate favorite recipes from her diet, so there's no sense of being deprived of food. The new online program can adapt old recipes to her new lifestyle.
"I love to cook. There is a 'Recipe Builder' where I can put in all the ingredients of my old recipes and it figures the points individually for the ingredients, divides it by servings then gives me the PointsPlus values per serving," she explains.
Weight Watchers has had websites for several years where members could find point breakdowns for restaurant foods. However, eTools is its first go at making online help accessible through an app. Only Recipe Builder can't be accessed on the app; it still requires using either desktop, laptop or tablet.
Sandy Norris Smith stirs chili in her East Ridge home."Members can do everything on their phone," says local Weight Watchers leader Louise Powell. "Thousands of restaurants are on there. Thousands of recipes, whether you are looking for a 2-point snack, no-cook entree or a specific food. Lots of blogs relative to membership, where members can chat with other members all across the United States.
"We are now partners with Fitbit and members who have a Fitbit monitor can sync it with their eTools account," she says.
Weight Watchers also introduced an online 24/7 chat and personal coaching this month as part of the eTools package.
"Members can go online and get an immediate answer to any question regarding Weight Watchers," Powell explains. "The 24/7 chat makes a coach immediately available to talk online. Personal coaching is a telephone conversation with a coach that members schedule in 15- or 30-minute sessions."
Powell says eTools is offered as part of an optional monthly pass price for members who attend weekly meetings in a brick-and-mortar venue. Not all members are computer literate, so they may choose to only pay for meeting attendance. Online members get eTools automatically when they join. The app and eTools cannot by accessed by nonmembers.
Smith says the program has helped her be successful because "I don't feel like I'm depriving myself, because I can have anything from any food group. It's just about making choices and portion control."
The class meetings also have changed her eating habits.
"I'm much more conscious about planning meals ahead. I'm a label reader now; I'm really looking at how much protein is in certain foods, much more conscious of the sodium in food.
"Another thing that is a challenge for me, having come from a teaching career, is slowing down when I eat instead of trying to gobble my lunch down in a 20-minute lunch period that is also the time you have to make any phone calls or go to the bathroom," she says. "One of the techniques we practice is putting your utensil down after every bite. That helps you slow down."
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.
HEALTHY EATING
Sandy Norris Smith and Louise Powell share some of their favorite recipes adapted with Weight Watchers' Recipe Builder. Smith suggests making the chili and freezing it in prepackaged servings. She particularly recommends the oven-fried chicken tenders, saying they have become a family favorite.
Mixed Bean Chili
1 pound 90-percent-lean ground beef
1 14 1/2-ounce can, no-salt-added, diced tomatoes
1 cup onions, minced
1 or 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 can Bush's Best Seasoned Recipe Black Beans
1 can Bush's Best Chili Beans in Medium Chili Sauce (your choice of bean)
1 can Mexican corn
1 can French green beans
1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 10-ounce can Rotel original diced tomatoes and green chilis.
Brown ground beef with minced onions and garlic cloves. Drain fat off in colander, pour browned beef into large pot.
Add can of diced tomatoes to pot, juice and all. Add black beans, refill can with water and pour into mixture. Add chili beans, refill can with water and add to mixture. Drain cans of Mexican corn and French green beans and add them to mixture. Add chili powder, cumin, diced tomatoes and green chilies. Stir ingredients, let simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.
Yields 10 servings. PointsPlus count per serving: 9.
-- Sandy Smith
Oven-Fried Chicken Tenders
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 large egg lightly beaten
24 fat-free saltine crackers, coarsely crushed
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pound chicken beast tenders, about 10 pieces
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (peanut oil suggested)
Heat oven to 450 degrees.
Combine first three ingredients in a large plastic bag. Combine egg and buttermilk in a pie plate and whisk together. Combine cracker crumbs, paprika and salt in a shallow bowl.
Shake chicken strips in the plastic bag, dip each in liquid mixture, then dredge in cracker crumb mix.
Pour oil in center of a baking pan. Place in hot oven for three minutes. Arrange chicken pieces in hot pan. Coat top and sides of chicken with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 12 minutes.
Serve with a favorite dip. Sandy Smith suggests 2 tablespoons of Ken's Honey Mustard Salad Dressing.
Makes 4 servings. PointsPlus count per serving: 6.
-- Sandy Smith
Creamy Alfredo Sauce
1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1/3 cup fat-free sour cream
2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Combine Parmesan cheese, yogurt, sour cream, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and pepper in a medium bowl. Stir in parsley just before serving over hot pasta. The heat of the pasta will melt the cheese into the rest of the ingredients, so mix sauce into pasta, not just spooned over the top.
Serve at once or cover and refrigerate for up to two days. Makes eight servings.
One serving: 3 tablespoons. PointsPlus count per serving: 1
-- Louise Powell
Brownie Muffins
1 box devil's food cake mix
1 15-ounce can plain pumpkin
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin pan with nonstick oil.
Mix cake mix with pumpkin and fill 12 muffin cups in pan. Place pan on bottom rack of oven and bake 20 minutes.
Makes 12 muffins. PointsPlus count per muffin: 1
Note: Do not open oven while muffins bake. They will rise high like a popover, but once out of the oven will fall to make a very dense, rich chocolate dessert.
-- Louise Powell