If You're Struggling to Figure Out Your Weight Watchers Smart Points, Read This

Getting into the swing of things with Weight Watchers took me some time. Frankly, I still don't feel like I've really mastered the plan, but I'm not sure anyone ever truly reaches that point. However, I'm slowly but surely figuring out how and where to "spend" my Smart Points throughout the day and week to maximize my success with weigh-ins. Though there's no hard-and-fast rule that will apply to everyone, these tips might help you if you're struggling to find the right balance.

I like to spend most of my points on my favorite meal of the day, which is usually lunch. I've never been a fan of breakfast, so I always eat something very small that doesn't cost much, usually fruit. I also don't cook much in the evenings, so saving a salad for that meal makes sense for me. What I do love is leaving my desk during lunchtime and walking down the street to buy something like a quinoa bowl or mixed vegetable stir-fry. Whatever meal makes you happiest is where you should focus your points so you can really, really enjoy it.

I know some people have active dating and social lives and want to have "normal" nights out with their friends and significant others, which involves a good meal and sometimes alcohol. Do you have a standing date night on Fridays? Do you and your girlfriends always do Sunday brunch? Keep that in mind, and save your weekly Smart Points for that. I used to always have a night out on Fridays, so I would save all of my weekly points for Friday evenings and just quick-add them as "Friday fun" into my points tracker. It was a one-and-done deal, and it allowed me to keep my social life intact while managing my weight loss.

A large part of budgeting your points properly is tracking them. I don't care if your day goes off the rails — the worst thing you can do is brush it under the rug and not acknowledge it. Even if you went over your points by double for the day, write them down somewhere so you can see what happened and get back on track the next day. Also, learn from whatever you did. If I have a really off day, I like to make a note in my tracker about why it happened. Was I stressed? Did I have an unexpected work function? Whatever it is, it's important to keep track of it.