by Jennifer Kirkman

Created on: October 30, 2009

It is most important to track your food when doing Weight watcher's. The reason for this being is that you know exactly what you have eaten during the day, and how you have used your points. Tracking helps you stay on plan and in control by accounting for everything you put in your mouth.

Weight Watcher's sells three-month journals which is really great, or you can use online tools to help you track. I personally like the three month journal. Inside the journal, they give you a place at the top to record your points for the day. From then on, you write in your food, how many points used, and subtract it from the balance. That way you know how much you have left to use.

There are also ways to earn extra points on the plan as I had mentioned in a previous article. For example, taking a walk that is fairly brisk for 15 minutes will earn you one extra point. If you go on for 30 minutes, you'll earn 2 points, 50-60 minutes earns 3 points. If you can go as long as 90 minutes, you'll get 4 or 5 points.

And another good thing about the tracker is that there is bonus points. In the tracker or the journal, there is a sideline of 35 weekly bonus points for each week. These can be used as additional points if you want extra food or for a special occasion after using your regular points. The important thing all of the time, is to give the proper number of points to the food eaten and not to underestimate the point value. Not estimating correctly could cause a weight gain. Every bite, lick, and taste does count, so it is important to remember that and account extra someplace on the tracker for it. In other words, when you eat it, then write it down.

This is an example of how to use the Weight Watcher's point tracker starting with 25 points allowance a day.

Points Balance: 25

Breakfast: 1 cup oatmeal with skim milk 6

1 slice whole wheat toast 1

1/2 cup orange juice- 2

New balance: 16

Walk-45 minutes 2

New balance- 18

That example is how you use a points tracker on Weight Watchers. to truly be successful on plan, that is what you must do each day to account for what you eat. This is how the tracker really helps you to make smart choices.

The Weight Watchers etools has a lot of foods in their database, over 36,000 or so. You can track your foods on there just as easily as in a journal. After putting in your information for your points target, it will have your daily total for you, and as you use or add points, it does the math for you.

So in summary, the tracker and making healthy food choices to lose weight is what Weight Watcher's is all about. Without it, you will not succeed.

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