WDW on Weight Watchers

[keenercam]

Hi, everyone! We are back from 4 wonderful, activity packed days at my favorite place in the World! I thought this trip would be very difficult because I have been doing Weight Watchers and exercising at home. I was afraid I would go away and blow it all, including my "cheat-free" streak, my March exercise challenge, and my March weight loss challenge.

I am pleased to say this was a successful trip, "diet"-wise. Not very difficult at all, after a lot of planning and strategizing.

Since my pre-trip efforts to locate nutrition information at WDW restaurants was a bust, I thought I'd share my experience with all of you, so that you can have some ideas if you are heading to the World while on WW.

Saturday night: stopped at McD's on the way to the hotel from the airport at about 11:30 at night. I had a caesar salad with no dressing, a large glass of ice water and diet coke mixed with a little sugar free lemonade.

Sunday: EASTER MASS, BRUNCH AT CHEF MICKEY'S, DISNEYQUEST, DINNER WITH FRIENDS.

Chef Mickey's: This was a bit hard. But, I had been saving all my flex points for the week and went into this knowing I would be satisfied with "tasting" a lot of foods, rather than eating quantities of everything: So, I ate lots of green beans, fruit w/less than a spoon of cottage cheese, a small slice of ham, almost 2 slices of bacon, a sausage, a little scrambled eggs, a small piece of prime rib, less than 1/2 a mickey waffle (it wasn't as good as I remembered, so a taste was sufficient to satisfy the urge) with no syrup, a spoon of breakfast souffle (scrambled eggs with squash and other veggies -- didn't eat the crust or the thick layer of cheese on top); ice water; and a cup of coffee with a dash of creamer. All of this was absolutely wonderful for a total of 19 points. I didn't feel deprived and felt like I tasted everything I wanted. I knew this would be my main meal of the day and we ate around 12:30, so eating a lot of points didn't bother me.

Sunday Dinner at Fresh Tomatoes (off site with friends) -- huge salad w/tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, feta cheese, chick peas & fat free italian dressing. Vegetarian vegetable soup. 1 small slice garlic foccaccia bread.

Snacks throughout the day: pepperidge farm pretzel goldfish & baked lays. (These were my secret weapons during the week. I carried baggies of pretzel goldfish with me and kept baked lays and light popcorn at the villa for snacks "at home".

Monday: MAGIC KINGDOM, worked out at fitness center, WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS, SHOPPING AT DOWNTOWN DISNEY
cheerios with milk (in our room);
Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern: field greens w/strawberry vinegarette dressing; crab cake over succotash and ham & cabbage soup.

Mid-afternoon snack -- Goods to Go at OKW -- conch fritters (shared w/DH)

Dinner at All American Cafe at Sports Complex -- salad with no dressing (I prefer it that way); grilled chicken sandwich; tasted my son's fries, tasted the buffalo tenders.

Snack: pepperidge farm goldfish pretzels

Tuesday: MGM, O'HANA'S, PLEASURE ISLAND (COMEDY WAREHOUSE)
Breakfast (in room, not very hungry): coffee & 1/2 granola bar
Lunch: Sci Fi Dine In -- grilled chicken caesar salad w/no dressing and no croutons
Turkey Leg -- just bites of it, shared with DH and DS (satisfied urge)
Snack: popcorn

Dinner at O'Hana's -- ate a lot of the salad and the green beans; ate too much of the wontons w/peanut sauce (my passion); 1 wing; taste of rice; skewered shrimp; 1 piece skewered turkey. Shared LapuLapu drink w/DH. Had a piece of coconut bread. Pineapple in caramel sauce for dessert. Used A LOT of points for this dinner. But my WW week starts on Tuesday, so I had a fresh supply of flex points and no hesitation to use them.

Wednesday -- Got up early to workout at FITNESS CENTER, MINIATURE GOLF, EPCOT, MAGIC KINGDOM (late night)

Breakfast: cheerios w/milk; coffee, ice water
Snack: sugar free snack bar (they had minnie strawberry bars that were 80 calories, but also had one made with nutrasweet that was 40 or 50 calories, and that is the one I had -- delicious, even while my family was eating Barg's rootbeer floats and ice cream cookie sandwiches)
Lunch: pretzel goldfish & baked lays and ice water and crystal light iced tea
Dinner: ELECTRIC UMBRELLA at EPCOT -- turkey & muenster cheese on foccaccia bread, lots of lettuce and tomatoes and peppers from fixin's bar; fruit, ice water
Late night at MK -- taste of popcorn. Sugar Free butter pecan ice cream at Main Street ice cream shoppe.

Thursday: travelled home. Ate 1/2 bagel and coffee at airport. Rest of meals were easy, since I was back in my own kitchen.

Some strategies that worked:
1. I checked out the menus ahead of time on Deb Wills' site and picked my entrees ahead of time, wrote down the names of possible restaurants and what was good to order there, in my journal, before we ever left home. I looked at that journal when we were deciding where to eat and before I ordered my food.
2. I carried my journal EVERYWHERE and wrote down what I ate right after ordering it. This kept me in line and helped me keep track of how much I had already eaten any given day.
3. I always had snacks in my bag (granola bars, pretzel goldfish. The goldfish were great because I could eat a few every so often instead of eating an entire bag of them.).
4. I also had gum and mints.
5. I drank water every time I thought of it, at our room, at the fitness center, in the parks, in every restaurant.
6. I carried crystal light to go packets of lemonade and iced tea. We always carried at least one frozen water bottle and one refrigerated. Mixed the CL in the water. Drank the frozen bottle as it melted and then kept pouring the CL mixture over the ice and drinking that.
7. I went into every lunch and dinner planning to have a salad before the main dish, so that I wasn't voracious when the entree came. This also gave me something to eat while my family was eating appetizers.
8. I avoided all fried foods except the conch fritters and the wontons.
9. My WW week starts Tuesday, so my two splurges -- Chef Mickey's and O'Hana's were split between the two WW weeks -- one on Sunday and the other Tuesday night.
10. I committed to work out 2 days at the resort fitness center and did that.
11. If there was something I wanted to eat, I asked my family if they were interested in sharing it. If they were, we did. If they weren't, I ate one of the snacks in my bag. I'm not THAT good with temptation.
12,. We walked SO MUCH that I earned a lot of activity points that I didn't hesitate to use.

All told -- it went really well. I lost 2 pounds as of this morning, since my last weigh in last Tuesday, so I was relieved.

At least I know I have the willpower and can do vacation like that without gaining the 3-8 pounds that I have managed to bring home with me on previous vacations.

BTW, the BEST resource is www.allearsnet.com. Deb has all the menus there, and it is fun to plan ahead on where to eat and what to eat. It also allows you to avoid places where there is nothing WW-friendly on the menu.

 

[disnutt]

Thanks for posting the hints! I've been reading the menus ahead of time, too. I want to be prepared so that I can indulge in something without feeling too bad.

 

[DznyDreams]

WOW! Congrats for staying OP and doing WDW at the same time...that's VERY encouraging!!

Thank you for taking the time to post this valuable info.

 

[nuke]

That's great! I think this is one of the key things with WW. We can actually use all the tools and lessons that we learn and apply them when we don't know the actually points of things. I find myself constantly choosing healthy options when eating out.

 

[DVCTiff]

Thanks for all the great info. Very helpful since I'm going back on WW in a week and will be heading to WDW a couple of weeks after that.

BTW, where did you find the Minnie Strawberry bars with Nutrasweet? Are they a cookie like a fig newton? Thanks!

 

[keenercam]

Thanks everyone! Glad to share what I learned.
The minnie strawberry bars are frozen fruit bars that are sold where they sell mickey ice cream bars -- 2 points. At Winter Summerland miniature golf course I found another frozen strawberry bar right next to the minnie ones, and the second brand was made with nutra sweet and only 40 or 50 calories -- I hadn't looked at the ice cream in the theme parks, so I don't know if they sell them there too. Hopefully, someone who is going soon (hint, hint disnutt and DVCTiff!) can check for us and let us know!

 

[johde]

Great post. I'm doing SBD but did most of the same things you did when I went in September. I checked out all of the menu's before I went as well. I was taking my first solo trip and did entirely counter service. That may have been a benefit because no one was tempting me to eat poorly. By planning ahead, I was able to have a large variety of foods and not get stuck eating the same thing every day. WDW has really tried to make it easier for people who want to eat more healthy. I was staying in a Sudio at BWV than OKW so I used my refrigerator and microwave to have a good breakfast and healthy sweet snacks in my room. I also allowed myself to have one treat a day.