September 2011 Tips and Recipes

Improve Yourself

September is Self Improvement Month, so this month's ezine is dedicated to tips on self improvement. Perhaps you want to improve your resolve to lose weight or improve on getting fit. Self improvement can cover many different areas. It can cover your personal relationships, your work performance and of course, how you look and feel about yourself. These tips will focus on the latter of these areas.

Note: Just a quick update on the iPhone app. Many of you have been asking if and when it will be available. I have completed the testing and I can say, I love it! The restaurants are easy to find. You can either select a letter of the alphabet, use the search tool or select to view all restaurants. Once you find the one you want, all the food items are sorted by the menu groupings. These are the same groupings as on the website, so it will be easy to find on the app.

Plus there are calculators! That's right. The app has a points plus calculator, the original WW points calculator and the allowance calculator. So not only can you take the restaurant points and nutrition on the go, you can use the calculators while away from your computer. There are a few minor changes to be made and then it is ready to be submitted to iTunes for approval. So keep your fingers crossed that it's approved quickly.

Another quick update on the website. It's time to start chatting about Exercise and Weight Loss – with a forum. In the next few weeks, I will have a forum setup. This is all new to me, so bear with me as I work out the kinks. There will be topics related to exercise and weight loss, Weight Watchers, recipes to share and more.

That's it for the quick updates, now on to the ezine.

Weight Loss Tip

Improve Your Success

So you've been on your weight loss program for awhile, or perhaps you have just started. The one thing we all want are results. We want to see the scale show lower numbers as well as the inches shed. So how can you improve your success to help you reach your goals? Here are some tips to help you succeed in losing weight.

Stay Positive

When we first start out on a weight loss journey, motivation is usually high. You are excited to get started and see the progress. But as time goes, and we experience a plateau or two, motivation can go down or even disappear. Without motivation, success will always be out of reach. So staying positive is a key factor to improve your success and improve yourself.

Getting and staying motivated is different for each person. Some people are highly competitive, so finding a diet buddy (or competitor) may help them stay motivated to “win the weight loss war”. Others find motivation with results. For these folks, set smaller goals so that you always have results to help you stay motivated. These smaller goals can be as small as 1 pound or even making it through the week without your favorite “cheat food”. Know one knows yourself better than you, so find something that works to help you stay positive in order to improve your weight loss success.

You're The Boss

Make sure you are in charge of your success. Don't count on others to reach your goals. Of course you can take and accept all the help that is offered. Rather it be a compliment that helps motivate you, a friend to exercise with or even your significant other who helps hide the tempting kids snacks. All of this help is welcome and even needed. But it is your goal, so be sure you put yourself in charge and don't leave room to blame others or make excuses. To improve yourself, you must be willing and able to count on yourself to make the needed changes.

Push for Improvement

You may be highly motivated, eating all the right foods, putting yourself in charge and accepting all the help you can get, but still hit a brick wall some weeks. These weight loss plateaus, as much as we all hate them, are just part of the process. Depending on how much weight you have to lose, how long you have been at it, your age, eating habits, exercise habits, etc., you may experience more or less plateaus than others. But we all have them at one point or another, or at least the majority of us will have a week or two (or more) where we don't see the results we were hoping for.

When this happens, it is so easy to get discouraged and forget why we started in the first place. It's these weeks where we need to focus on our own self improvement the most. So instead of focusing on the weight loss self improvement goal, pick another area of your life to focus on and improve. This will help you stay positive about yourself and take your mind off the weight loss plateau.

Improve the Move

Getting fit and active is one of the many goals people set for themselves when they think of self improvement. Exercise is also a common factor people add when trying to lose weight. So it goes without saying that adding exercise to your weight loss goals is one way to improve your success in reaching that goal.

Instead of repeating some of the same exercise motivation tips, I thought it would share some funny quotes on exercising. Hopefully this will give you a laugh or two and help improve your mood as well as your move.

The only exercise some people get is jumping to conclusions, running down their friends, side-stepping responsibility, and pushing their luck! ~Author Unknown

The word aerobics came about when the gym instructors got together and said, "If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it jumping up and down." ~Rita Rudner

I have to exercise in the morning before my brain figures out what I'm doing. ~Marsha Doble

I really don't think I need buns of steel. I'd be happy with buns of cinnamon. ~Ellen DeGeneres

My idea of exercise is a good brisk sit. ~Phyllis Diller

Aerobics: a series of strenuous exercises which help convert fats, sugars, and starches into aches, pains, and cramps. ~Author Unknown

Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate. ~Author Unknown

Okay, enough of the fun and not so useful quotes. In all seriousness, exercising is a great way to improve yourself and your health.

I consider exercise vulgar. It makes people smell. ~Alec Yuill Thornton

I am pushing sixty. That is enough exercise for me. ~Mark Twain

Whenever I feel like exercise, I lie down until the feeling passes. ~Robert M. Hutchins

If you are like many people, you may have taken up gardening as part of your self improvement goals. Gardening is a great way to relax, get active and spend time together. The one thing that we struggle with is how to use up all the veggies that our garden produces. So I thought I would share one that I found that we loved.

Grilled Garden Veggie Ravioli

Grab some of your summer squash, zucchini and herbs and spices from the garden for this recipe.

What You Need:

• 1 package (24 ounces) frozen miniature spinach and cheese ravioli
• 1 medium yellow summer squash
• 1 medium zucchini
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon each of garlic salt, dried minced onion, dried oregano and dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Pinch of sweetener (sugar substitute) or ½ teaspoon of sugar

How to Make It:

1. Cook ravioli per package directions.
2. Add the tomato sauce and seasonings in pan and heat on the stove until hot. Turn heat down and simmer while grilling the veggies.
3. Cut zucchini, summer squash and tomatoes in half.
4. Place vegetable halves on the grill using medium heat.
5. Heat for a few minutes (until you see char marks).
6. Turn and grill the other side of veggies.
7. Remove skin from the tomatoes and dice.
8. Cut the zucchini and squash into half inch pieces.
9. Add the veggies to the sauce and increase to medium heat.
10. Cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
11. Drain ravioli and top with sauce and serve.

Number of Servings: 6

Nutrition Information Per Serving

Calories 269; Tot Fat 7(g); Sat Fat 4(g); Fiber 3(g); Protein 14(g); Carbs 39(g); Sodium 1026(mg)

Org Pts 5; Pts + 7

This is a great main dish to use up your garden fare.

Exercise 4 Weight Loss 2 Achieve Fitness and Health

Best wishes from your diet buddy