I just started weight watchers online last night. I'm hoping I can do without the meetings because of money right now. I've never tried Weight Watchers but I really need something to motivate me right now.
It's given me 31 points to eat and 10lbs for my first goal. I feel like that's a reasonable amount of points.
I've spent some time this morning trying to navigate the app and the online tools. It's a little bit overwhelming.
I know my weakness is lunch. I have co-workers that like to eat out and lunch with co-workers is about the extent of my socialization. It's hard to pass it up. So, the goal is to try to find healthier choices when I do go out.
I really want this to work this time. DBF has lost 90lbs in the past year on his own and I must admit that I'm feeling pangs of jealousy. We started at the same time and I stalled out after losing 20lbs. His dedication to eating right and exercising every day ran circles around mine.
Any suggestions or tips? Anyone doing online only? Does anyone feel strongly that meetings are the best way to go?
Don't compare yourself to anyone else. Your body is different from everyone else's, and in general the difference between male and female bodies makes it really impossible to compare weight loss between the two. Even within a same-sex couple it can be hard; my BIL decided one day that he was going to change, he lost a bunch, started getting strong, and he looks AMAZING. He never looked back, and he has kept it off for something like 8 years now. His ex-partner started at the same time and barely lost anything. He went back to old eating habits, too, especially after they broke up. BIL's new partner tries to lose as well, but it just doesn't click for him the way it clicked for BIL. (my husband and I are the exact opposite of the norm, where I've lost 67 and he's at 39 despite both of us following the program...and I know from "this" side there's no judgment at all, just a knowledge that bodies are different...and from talking with him I know that from "his" side he gets sad for himself while at the same time being so happy for me)
Anyway, stop comparing yourself.
Read through the materials! I know it's hard to figure out WHAT the plan is when you're online-only, but read through your home page and anything that seems to tell you what the plan is. Find out what the Good Health Guidelines are, the things that you should be eating (and in what minimum quantities) every day.
One big suggestion I have is to use the actual nutrition information for the exact thing you are eating, rather than using the generic tracker. My husband keeps using the generic item, and often it's far more, and sometimes far fewer, pointsplus than what he is actually consuming.
Another big suggestion is a food scale! I personally shelled out for the OXO scale that has a higher weight limit, because we have big Fiestaware plates that are heavy. On our old scale, by the time I put that on there and put my huge salad onto it, it had errored out and I couldn't weigh my salad dressing out. The scale also has a pull out reader with a backlight button, so if I can't see it under my big plate I just pull it out and look. I weigh everything that can be weighed. I go to the gram with my salad dressing (even on splurge nights when I have 1.5 or 2 servings of dressing). I weigh out my cashews. I almost always put extra cashews back if I go over the grams. If it's not weighable, I measure it. The scale and my willingness to use it has been a huge key to my success.
Remember that the *average* loss is in the .5-2 pound range per week. An average means there will be outliers, but those are still part of how they make the average. So you might lose .2 per week and that is totally OK. If you're following the program, getting in your GHGs, etc, it's OK. .2 per week still adds up!
Also, gains will happen. When you hit lifetime and start maintaining, they will still happen. My brother and his wife, who have always kept their weight under control, still have gains. When they happen, they take care of it immediately; and that's what we'll do. If we're following the program and have a gain...just keep following the program. Maybe it's hormonal. Maybe we've just realized that the canned veggies we eat like they are going out of style have 250 grams of sodium per serving (that was me, last week, Friday night before weighin). Maybe the universe just made gravity stronger, LOL. Just follow the program.
Know that there's a lot of leeway in HOW you follow the program, points-wise. Some here eat only the Daily points unless there's a special occasion. Some eat it all. I'm in the second group; from early on I ate all of my Weekly points and then added in all (carefully calculated) Activity Points. And there are those in between. You get to figure out how you can eat within the program and lose and be happy.
Best of luck! For me, I love the meetings. I like the friendships and camaraderie we have there. But it's not like it's the meetings teaching me everything. Honestly, it was the tidbits about the program from the WW message boards that taught me a lot about the program, along with reading my materials (which I didn't do for a month or two), more than the meetings. I love my leader, but she tends towards being a "yes man", so if someone says something that is simply NOT correct she doesn't tend to correct them.
(so I do
) Much better to get the program from your materials, IMO.
Again, best of luck!
It's a start!
TWELVE. Oy. Well, soup it is for supper...thankfully I have some leftover turkey soup (from the leftover Easter turkey--double leftovers, that's like eating air, right?? 
)
Always check BEFORE you order. That's 12.8 over 8 weeks, or about 1.5 lbs/wk. I'll take it.
11 points! I only get 26 points, that's almost half my points in a cinnamon roll (and believe me, it was not as good or as big as a Starring Rolls cinnamon roll -- hope they still have them because I intend to get one).
Go to your WI, it may be better than you expect (it usually is), and even if it's not, getting there and keeping on is way more important than a short-lived upward blip.
Are we ready?? I save most of my weeklies for Friday and Saturday, which is why my WI is Wednesday!
