I went to Weight Watchers and I'm not happy!

[judy]

Yesterday was the day I finally decided I had stuffed myself with enough junk food and took my now chubbier self to WW. I figured if I have to lose, I might as well have a substantial amount to work on!

I love WW, totally believe in it, know it works, etc. But, to add up the total amount of points you can have/day, you add up your gender, age, weight, height, amount of exercise and I think that's it. Mine came out to 17 points/day! The lowest you're allowed to go is 18 points. Each point has to do with a ratio of the calories, fiber and total fat in a food.

There's also an extra 35 points/week that you can use for anything you want. Some people use it for weekends, a special party or a little more food every day.

I already substituted the sugar in my 2 cups of coffee with Splenda, so if I total up an average day, including 2 snacks, that's about 22 points. If I use my 35 points as 5 extra/day, that allows me 23 points/day.

I definitely am not going to live my life trying for 18 points/day. Life's just too short for that kind of discipline. I can do the 23/day but I need a treat here and there
a cheeseburger every few weeks, etc .

I'll see what happens - My weight was pretty good when I retired, a little over a year ago. I've been good with breakfast and lunch, but have been keeping Entenmann's in business and eating such fun junk food for dinner! I was very upset when my Quiznos closed! No more hot pastrami with mozzarella cheese on a hero.

I figure if it took me about a year of eating horrendously like this to gain 10 pounds, I may not have to be so rigid with my diet. It's a wait and see thing.

I could add more exercise, but I just don't want to right now. I really hate exercising.

18 points/day! Like h***!

[DianaB]

Good luck, Judy. If you've been on WW before then you'll know what it'll take to do it again. You and Janet can help each other with recipes and stuff. You know that I'm here to cheer you on!!!!

[Gina]

Good luck Judy! I agree with you life is to short. Just do everything in moderation, your far from heavy. I have lost weight since I had this dental work done, 7 lbs.. something good came out of it....lol

[Janet]

Did you use this formula to figure your points? I'm a lot heavier than you and I started out with 29 points, now I'm at 28 points. Plus the 35 weekly Flex points. I don't use any of those very often.

Are you...
Female --- Score 2
Male ------- Score 8
Nursing Mom--- Score 12 (really should check in with the Leader for more info)


How old are you?
17 (younger than 18 see your parents and leader)- 26 --- -Score 4
27 - 37 ------- Score 3
38-47 --------- Score 2
48- 58 -------- Score 1
Over 58 -- Score 0


What you weight?
Enter the first two digits of your weight in pounds. For example, if you weigh 175lbs, enter 17. If you weigh less than 100 pounds, enter the first digit of your wieght in pounds, i.e. for 98, enter 9. (Now for my two cents.... what in the hell are you doing WW for if you weigh 98 friggin pounds???)

How tall are you?
Under 5'1" ------ Score 0
5'1" to 5'10" ---- Score 1
Over 5'10" --- Score 2

On more days of the week, ho wod you spend your days?
Sitting down (office work, driver) -- Score 0
Occasionally sitting but mainly standing (teacher, housewife, sales) -- Score 2
Walking most of the time (waiter, mailman) --- Score 4
Doing physically hard work most of fthe time (nurse, gardnener) --- Score 6


Add all of those "Scores" up and that total is your daily points target. If your total is less than 18 then your daily target is 18, if more than 44 then its 44.

[gja1000]

I really don't like the "new" WW flex points.

I just stick with the "old" point system that I used to lose 35 pounds a few years ago.

On that system I was allowed 25 points, albiet no flex points - but you did get extra points for exercise and you could save points to use later in the week.

I just don't think that 18 points is enough food - at least it is not for me. I have trouble with 25 points sometimes.

If it worked in the past, then why change now!

Just my $0.02 worth!

[cindy0721]

my points total to 26 points a day.. is that bad?

[cindy0721]

i was thinking jenny craig? is ww better? i need to lose 30 lbs....

[gja1000]

Originally Posted by cindy0721

my points total to 26 points a day.. is that bad?

No, of course it is not bad! And whether or not WW or Jenny Craig is better, I really think it is what is better for you.

I've never used Jenny Craig, but I think you buy your food and they somewhat tell you what to eat everyday, so there may be less room for "cheating".

With WW however, you get to eat what you want within your point range and as such, maybe more room for cheating or not counting points accurately.

I think it is a personal preference of what works best for the individual.

[Janet]

gja1000 is right for the most part. I don't know how the point system was before, so I can't say which is best, but this one works great for me so far. I don't find the points hard to follow at all. Plus I like the fact that I can have whatever I want (within the daily points) and not feel deprived. I've used very few of the 35 Flex points. You just have to watch portion size as with any 'diet.' I've heard that the WW program will help instill better eating habits and as such most people don't gain all their weight back. Now I've tried every diet under the sun except where I had to order food, Nutri System, Jenny Craig...etc) and I've gained every pound I've lost back plus more.

[gja1000]

I completely agree that WW teaches you how to eat properly, including good choices and proper portion size. But I do think that some people do well with the prepackaged diets such a Jenny Craig because they do not have to think about what to eat and how much to eat. For some people that system works very well.

If you look at the statistics, a great majority gain back what they lose from any type of diet. Theoretically though, a diet such as WW that teaches you healthy eating habits, should be more successful.

In the old WW system, you just got a range of points based on weight and age. So for me that was 22-25, I think. Then when you exercised, there is a chart to look at for amount and intensity and the chart will tell you how many points you can add for the exercise that you did.

I have gained back some of the 35 pounds I lost several years ago. Actually, I've gone up and down from the original weight loss. But I always feel that I CAN lose the weight, if I can just get my eating under control, which is sometimes hard, even with WW.

Good luck to everyone.

[judy]

Originally Posted by gja1000

I really don't like the "new" WW flex points.

I just stick with the "old" point system that I used to lose 35 pounds a few years ago.

On that system I was allowed 25 points, albiet no flex points - but you did get extra points for exercise and you could save points to use later in the week.

I just don't think that 18 points is enough food - at least it is not for me. I have trouble with 25 points sometimes.

If it worked in the past, then why change now!

Just my $0.02 worth!

Dear gja,

I KNOW you meant to help, but give me something constructive!

I think the extra 35 points is purely a moneymaker. The longer it takes to lose the weight, the more weekly dues the get.

But, I need those points - 18 is ridiculous!

[gja1000]

Judy,
I think you are on to something re: 35 flex points. I just know that I sometimes have a hard time with 25 points and I could NEVER eat just 18 points on a regular basis or even 23 points (at least 23 would be torture for me!).

Good luck!

[judy]

I can do about 23. At least once I start losing weight, I don't my points cut!

They have chocolate snack bars - 1 point each and little pretzel bags - 2 points each.
So far, they'll do. I also had 0 point sugar free jello after dinner.

Jello is just fun to eat!

[gja1000]

I also like the WW carrot cake and caramel cake. I'm a chocolate snob and only like the really good chocolate, e.g, godiva, so I can't stand the diet chocolate things.

I also eat low fat 100 calorie popcorn. If you can find the lo fat 100 calorie bags, they are only 1 point because of so much fiber.

I'm a salty person, so I also snack on the fat free pringles. You can eat 15 of them for 1 point.

[judy]

Luckily, I'm not too fussy about what I eat. I LOVE chocolate, but have been known to pour low fat chocolate syrup into fat-free Cool Whip and I'm happy.

No standards, huh?