I joined weight watchers online a year ago in order to lose the last of my baby fat from two pregnancies. I was hoping to lose 20 pounds. I am happy to say that I did, and I lost it fairly quickly, in about 2 1/2 months.

I used the online program from weight watchers because I’m not one to attend meetings, I find them to be too rah-rah, and I don’t want to share my weight issue with so many people. Some people really need this kind of support and I whole heartedly support it for those who respond. I however, knew that I would not enjoy that and that I could maintain the discipline necessary to do this on my own.

The online program has a wide range of features available to help with your goal. A way to easily track what you’ve eaten, your workouts and introduce you to new recipes and foods is pretty essential if you’re going to change your eating habits for life. This isn’t really a diet so much as a change in your entire outlook on food and how you eat and exercise.

After going off the program last year I regained about 7 pounds. This was strictly due to my lack of discipline and the temptation of high calorie foods that were presented during holidays. I have since rejoined the program and am looking to lose those 7 pounds. This time it’s going to take even more discipline since my body is already very close to it’s easily sustained weight. This time it’s going to take more workouts, perhaps swimming, and a lot more summer fruits and vegetables.

In all I highly recommend the online program and think it offers tremendous resources in order to maintain your drive toward reaching the goal. Being able to access it from anywhere through the iPhone/iPod app is also quite handy. I love knowing what’s safe to eat when dining out.

I’ve started to get a lot of correspondence about the new Medifast brownies. It used to be that people would use dry ingredients like the diet’s pudding and hot chocolate to make their own brownie recipes. That’s no longer necessary though because they have just added a new product to the menu that only requires for you to add water and stick the product in the microwave before you end up with warm and diet friendly brownies. In the following article, I will review the taste of this product as well as some of it’s nutritional information.

This product is easiest if popped in the microwave (although you can also make it in the over.) Basically, you just add three tablespoons of water, mix it up, and either microwave or bake it. The instructions indicate that it’s eaten warm, but if you prefer your brownies at room temperature, then you can always wait until it cools down. These come in a box of seven at a cost of $15.50 (or about $2.20 each.) I suspect that they can also be added to a custom package.

Nutrition wise, these are similar to Medifast’s other meals. One serving is 110 calories and has 2 grams of fat, 11 grams of protein, and 4 grams of fiber. There are only15 grams of carbs and 8 of sugars, so this product is as glycemic friendly as most of the other meals. But, considering the fact that these are so diet friendly, how do they taste?

They’re not at all bad. I probably would not mistake them for something that you buy in an upscale bakery, but those foods would not be allowed on my diet either. Considering that these are so low in calories and carbs (and aren’t restricted like some of the bars are,) they are much better than I expected. Often, diet desserts have an odd texture (which is usually too dry and crumbly) and a weird after taste because there is not enough sugar. Neither of these issues are present with the Medifast brownies.

They are sweet enough but there is no overtly artificial taste. And, they do contain some chocolate chips, which is a nice touch. The chocolate flavor is noticeable and pleasant but not overpowering. I’ve found that if I add a touch more water (you have to be careful that you are only adding a tiny bit more because if you add too much, they won’t set up quite correctly,) I can make the texture a little more chewy, which I prefer. However, my coworker likes a more firm texture so she actually adds less water. You’ll have to experiment with what works best for you. I like to eat them cold, but I think that most people prefer them hot. I’ve even heard of some people breaking them up and consuming them with the shakes to make sort of a mock dessert.

Overall, these new brownies are a nice addition to the Medifast diet and, based on some of the questions that I’ve been asked about this product, it appears that it’s quite popular. People were often making their own brownies on this diet, but having them right on the menu is much easier.

Do you realize that you are going to be able to start looking and feeling better just by starting to reduce and eliminate the large amounts of sugars, saturated fats and processed foods that most of us fine in our daily diet? Are you aware that you can actually make a good bit of difference in your life and your health by also starting to switch over to a raw foods diet gradually? This is something that many people have begun doing for many reasons; chief among them is the sincere desire to look and feel better and to increase energy levels.

One of the first things that you are going to need to do when you even consider switching over to a raw foods diet is to completely change the way that you are looking at food itself as well as your relationship with the foods that you eat. If you are one of the people that eats a whole lot of processed foods, meats, high-calorie or high cholesterol foods this is going to be the first thing that you will need to tackle first. If you are eating lots of junk foods or foods high in salt, sugar or saturated fats you are going to need to re-think this too.

For the most part a raw food diet is also commonly referred to as a vegan diet because are removing almost all, if not all, meats and dairy products from your diet. It is also suggested that you cut down on the excessive sugar and salt intake and reduce the amounts of processed and pre-packaged foods that you are eating.

You should recognize that switching over to eating raw foods is going to involve learning about a whole new way of preparing your meals and often involves experimenting with foods that you are unfamiliar with eating. One of the best possible ways to start switching yourself over to a raw food diet, is to simply start adding one new whole, raw and organic food to your diet a day - be it a fruit or a vegetable or a different alternative snack food.

Switching to eating more raw foods is not something that really has to be a huge undertaking that completely throws you and your entire life into complete chaos. In fact, a raw foods diet is not something that you really have to throw yourself into all at once and try making wholesale changes in your life. That really is not the best way to go about changing your life and lifestyle slowly over to eating more and more raw meals that are vegan or vegetarian, and organic in nature. The key to successfully transitioning from your old dietary lifestyle and developing the eating habits that belong to a healthier raw foods lifestyle is to start slowly, adding one or two new raw meals to your diet, while you work on weaning yourself off of your traditional eating habits.