Weight Watchers Chat -- Part III

[coastgirl]

Molly, congrats to your dh! Sticking with it since Feb shows great commitment. Whatever his goal works out to be, it looks like he's got great determination to keep it from going up again.

 

[pwdebbie]

Quick check in. Six days here, six pounds up. And I haven't even had any of the yummies I was planning to eat. And the mobile app doesn't let you track activity, so I have not bothered to track my food for the last four days. Not worth the time and stress. I am just going to have fun and get back on the program next Sunday when we get home.

 

[coastgirl]

I hope you're having a fab time, Debbie. Don't worry about the increase, you can get it under control when you get home. My version of the mobile app does activity--maybe you need an update? But you can sort that out when you get home. Have fun!

 

[Goofygirl17]

DH finally hit over 40 lost! What a long, hard slog it's been for him, especially with me being the annoyingly speedy loser in the household.

He hit 30 in August and so it has been a LONG time for him. But he did it, got a hug and tears from our leader, and lots of kudos at the meeting. Better yet he feels energized and psyched for the rest of it, which will be a total of 200 if he can reach the WW max for his height etc. He thinks he'll have to do the doctors note for goal though, rather than the WW goal.

Hooray! Perseverance pays off!

Quick check in. Six days here, six pounds up. And I haven't even had any of the yummies I was planning to eat. And the mobile app doesn't let you track activity, so I have not bothered to track my food for the last four days. Not worth the time and stress. I am just going to have fun and get back on the program next Sunday when we get home.

Have a great time!

 

[dizzyr]

I hope you're having a fab time, Debbie. Don't worry about the increase, you can get it under control when you get home. My version of the mobile app does activity--maybe you need an update? But you can sort that out when you get home. Have fun!

Ditto what she said hope you're having a great time and enjoy yourself. My app does activity too.

 

[katemusical]

Hi. My husband and I joined WW a couple of months ago. Ive done it before..he, on the other hand, has never been a member. Well long story short, he hates it. He thinks he gets way too many points and his trainor (who has never done WW) agrees with him. I really dont know what to tell him anymore.
My issue is I get frustrated when I dont lose. Its such a hard path. We are going to WDW in June and I would really love at least 10-15 lbs off.

Is there a thread for great WW recipes?

 

[bumbershoot]

Hi. My husband and I joined WW a couple of months ago. Ive done it before..he, on the other hand, has never been a member. Well long story short, he hates it. He thinks he gets way too many points and his trainor (who has never done WW) agrees with him. I really dont know what to tell him anymore.
My issue is I get frustrated when I dont lose. Its such a hard path. We are going to WDW in June and I would really love at least 10-15 lbs off.

Is there a thread for great WW recipes?

My recommendation for your husband is to TRUST weight watchers. They know what they are doing. They have been doing it for a LONG time now, they have really good people on staff who figure out the best ways to lose and keep it off.

WW is not a quick fix. It doesn't advocate starving. It's not an extremely low low calorie diet. WW wants you to make GOOD, sustainable, "this is your life now" choices. It's not "eat 800 calories a day, get the weight off in two months, and then do whatever".

When DH started, he was approaching 400 lbs. Through him, we found out that the max number of points with WW's PointsPlus is 71. That's how many points he had Daily. He also had the option of using Weekly points as well as activity points. In addition to points, he needed to try to eat a *minimum* of NINE servings of fruits and veggies per day, because he was over 350 lbs.

His first week following the program he lost over 5 lbs. Which is astonishing for him, because he has the metabolism of a slug; he is not a "lose like a man" type of guy. He also has a bonafide pituitary tumor that makes prolactin, and that has really slowed things down. His endocrinologist would be ecstatic if DH just *maintained* for a year; he doesn't even expect DH to *lose*, that's how much the tumor affects his metabolism.

DH had a hard time hitting 71 points at first, and I think he got the 9 servings once or twice before getting below 350 and being able to get the normal 5 servings minimum. I think he's at 67 pointsplus now, having lost 40 lbs (woo!) and now eats some Weeklies.


Now, it's hard to see the benefit for your husband when I'm describing my particular husband, because he has ALWAYS had an extremely hard time losing weight. I've been following a blog called "bendoeslife" that chronicles a 20-something man who lost 120 lbs inside half a year. That's not my husband; it's taken him a year and 3 months to lose 40. But he's losing it, and I think he's far less likely to gain it back because his eating habits are now part of him, part of his life. There's no "when I eat normally again", because this IS normal now. Before I met DH, when he was in his early 20s, he lost 140 lbs. It took him a year and a half, and he was starving himself and working out THREE hours EVERY day. It's just hard for him to lose. WW is good for him because he's not starving, so binges are far less likely (he's one of the most emotional eaters I know...thanks, MIL!), and that keeps him on track.


So your husband should check out the WW community forum for the board for men. I think it's "guys on a diet". There's also a blog by the same name, where men can discuss their higher points needs.

I like to think of points as being ways to *nourish* your body. You don't want to punish it by starving; rather, nourish the body you have now, with just enough of a deficit to expect an average of .5 to 2 pounds lost per week.

I hope he can trust WW and just try it for a few weeks. Follow the Good Health Guidelines (if you're doing meetings, it's in the info/brochures you got...if you're online, it's somewhere in your plan material in etools), follow the plan, eat your points. See what happens over the next 3 or 4 weeks.



As for YOU, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Maintaining is OK, and that's what you're doing when you don't lose in a particular week. Remember, we're going to be maintaining for FAR longer than we're going to be losing, so learning to maintain is good! And even weeks where you gain are OK. It's going to happen over your lifetime.

If you are of an age where you have cycles, you might see a gain at that time. For me, I gain AFTER "time of month", which is highly annoying. But then it's gone the next week. If you have a celebration and eat a bunch of food, the scale might be higher shortly after because of the food in your belly. But by the following weigh in it will probably be gone, as long as you're following the plan. etc etc.

If you don't want to *see* the gains, have the person weighing you just tell you *when* you are up, and then just don't look at the number. But do weigh in. Otherwise, how will you know how well you are doing overall? I used to skip weigh ins (previous times I did WW). But I shot myself in the foot by doing that. What if I gained 5 lbs one week and didn't weigh? And then over the next week I lost 4. When I weighed the following week, I would see a "gain" of 1, right? I wouldn't KNOW about the 4 lb loss in between. Seeing a 5 lb gain hurts, but seeing a 1 lb "gain" 2 weeks after hurts more. Whereas seeing 5 lbs up then 4 lbs DOWN feels better!

So weigh, and find a way to deal with the ups and the evens.

For us, we plan out our food on weigh-in day BEFORE we weigh in. If we're following the program, we shouldn't change it up just because of one day's scale experience. So we have our weigh-in day ritual, and it doesn't change, no matter what the scale says. We find that to be a good way to deal with it. No celebrating a loss with food (talk about a bad idea!), and no punishing ourselves, either. We just keep calm and carry on.


Best of luck to you and your husband!

 

[bumbershoot]

Well long story short, he hates it

I didn't catch that the first time. How does he hate a plan that lets him eat more than he thinks he should? We LOVE that we eat more than we would eat if we were doing a normal "diet". And love that we're still losing.

While DH doesn't generally go into Weekly points anymore, and doesn't eat Activity points (though he wears an Active Link and knows WHAT activity he is getting), I eat it ALL. I'm less than 10 lbs above the upper WW goal weight (though my goal weight is a lower weight than that, and I think I'll end up going even lower) and I'm still losing, while eating my 26 Daily points, 49 Weeklies, and however many Activity points I get each week. Along with my fruits and veggies and water and etc. I try really hard to get my good health guidelines in, of course. (but I'm not perfect at that) I'm 43 and 5'3" and if you can see signatures, you can see my loss ticker; I'm doing pretty well. The previous times I've done WW I did the "let's deprive Molly!" plan, which mean ONLY the daily points, and I felt that the other points were cheating. That never lasted long. Lots of points untracked, lots of weigh-ins skipped, and ultimately I never hit goal and would quit. This time I'm doing it differently.

So it's odd for me to think of someone *hating* a plan because it has them eating more than *they think* they should.

Has he lost? Is he following the actual plan? Doing his good health guidelines, getting in his fruits and veggies? Is he weighing or measuring EVERYTHING? (that's been the key to MY success...I am as precise as I can possibly be (except when at Disney))

If he really really wanted to, he could lower his Daily points, but he would probably want to talk to a leader before doing that.

 

[Goofygirl17]

Molly- I love your reply. It's a great explanation about how to follow the plan and how to look at gains/losses etc.

 

[TARAMEOW]

I have been having a really bad week. It all started Sunday we went out for my Mothers Birthday. I ate a Burger with fried onions Swiss cheese and a side of Mac & cheese... Then a piece of cake

Yesterday we went to Panera Bread my first time going had a mozzarella and tomato sandwich with an apple cinnamon muffin

Haven't exercised all week. Big surprise today I stepped on the scale and I gained 2 lbs. Going to have a major heart attack Sunday when I do my weigh in, can't seem to get motivated.

 

[bumbershoot]

Molly- I love your reply. It's a great explanation about how to follow the plan and how to look at gains/losses etc.

Aw, shucks. Thank you. Of course, pretty much everything I've learned this time doing WW I've gotten from other people!

 

[drewswife]

Hi everyone

I have done just about every version of weight watchers there has been going back 35 years. I liked the previous version of points a little better only becuase you utililized calories in calculating the points so I found the guestimating a little easier when eating out. I do love the iphone app and scanner.

I have lost about 10 lbs since my new years resolution and I have 5 more to go to rehit goal and reestablish my lifetime benefits.

My new goal is to get in more excercise and just registered for the TOT run in October (alothough I will be walking)

I am glad I found this group - it is nice to have others in the same boat.

 

[Goofygirl17]

I have been having a really bad week. It all started Sunday we went out for my Mothers Birthday. I ate a Burger with fried onions Swiss cheese and a side of Mac & cheese... Then a piece of cake

Yesterday we went to Panera Bread my first time going had a mozzarella and tomato sandwich with an apple cinnamon muffin

Haven't exercised all week. Big surprise today I stepped on the scale and I gained 2 lbs. Going to have a major heart attack Sunday when I do my weigh in, can't seem to get motivated.

It was a tough week here too but I went to the meeting, weighed in and I'm starting this week motivated!! You can do it!

Hi everyone

I have done just about every version of weight watchers there has been going back 35 years. I liked the previous version of points a little better only becuase you utililized calories in calculating the points so I found the guestimating a little easier when eating out. I do love the iphone app and scanner.

I have lost about 10 lbs since my new years resolution and I have 5 more to go to rehit goal and reestablish my lifetime benefits.

My new goal is to get in more excercise and just registered for the TOT run in October (alothough I will be walking)

I am glad I found this group - it is nice to have others in the same boat.

Welcome!

As I said above it was a very hectic week here and I gained .6 I'm starting this week motivated though and my goal for this week is to weigh, measure and track in my book. It seems to keep me more honest and motivated than online.

 

[bumbershoot]

DH and I both hit new "decades" at weigh-in yesterday (a change in the "tens place" of our weights, for those who aren't familiar with that way of describing it). Woo! And he lost another point, so I've been kidding him all weekend about how he's going to ever live with one less point. (he still gets a lot of points...40 more Daily points per day than I do, though I always have to remind myself that I eat Weekly and all Activity so I'm hardly eating only 26 points per day)

Anyway, his plateau (since AUGUST) has been seriously busted, and I hope it continues for him!

This coming week I'm back to the YMCA 5 days a week b/c of my son's classes, which will allow me to run 3 times per week and do strength training on the other days, and I'm excited about it. It'll be interesting to see if lifting weights changes the way I'm losing, but I figure I'd rather slow down while getting to goal, rather than maybe gain a little once I hit goal. But I know that overall lifting weights is really good for health and weight loss!

 

[pwdebbie]

Back from WDW Saturday. Sunday morning the scale had me up 10 lbs. This morning I'm down 4 of those pounds. I'm sure it was water weight -- my ankles were so swollen in FL. Tomorrow night will be my official wi at the meeting so I will find out how much I really gained after ten days in the Disney parks.

You know what -- all the food I looked forward to turned out to not be all that appealing! The cinnamon roll was a major disappointment! And I had a caramel bar at Karmel Kuche that was lackluster. We had one shared cupcake at BOG given to us for our anniversary and it was ok, but nothing I would have spent $4.00 for. I got a cream cheese stuffed pretzel and ended up throwing 1/3 of it away. Give me Auntie Anne's any day! Ok, I did enjoy the cotton candy! and the shared sundaes at Ghirardelli and Plaza.

 

[keahgirl8]

Back from WDW Saturday. Sunday morning the scale had me up 10 lbs. This morning I'm down 4 of those pounds. I'm sure it was water weight -- my ankles were so swollen in FL. Tomorrow night will be my official wi at the meeting so I will find out how much I really gained after ten days in the Disney parks.

You know what -- all the food I looked forward to turned out to not be all that appealing! The cinnamon roll was a major disappointment! And I had a caramel bar at Karmel Kuche that was lackluster. We had one shared cupcake at BOG given to us for our anniversary and it was ok, but nothing I would have spent $4.00 for. I got a cream cheese stuffed pretzel and ended up throwing 1/3 of it away. Give me Auntie Anne's any day! Ok, I did enjoy the cotton candy! and the shared sundaes at Ghirardelli and Plaza.

I found the same thing on my last DL trip. My beloved corn dogs just weren't as good as I remembered them, and I was fine with just one of the macaroons I needed every day last time.

Let us know how your weigh-in goes! More of that 10 may come off quickly too. Water retention is a killer!

 

[coastgirl]

Goofygirl, here's to a good week for you--may your positive energy lead to good things!

Molly, fab news on the new decades! Great news for your dh, too, that he is breaking his plateau.

I weigh myself at home daily (I know, I know...) and I glimpsed a new decade this week--hoping to "live" there soon. One thing about weighing myself at home, I've learned to take the little variations in stride, but once I see a number, I "own" it, and I feel it's only a matter of time until I achieve it "for real".

Debbie, that's really encouraging that 4 of the 10 is gone that fast. Wishing you a speedy return to your previous level. And it's a little disappointing when things aren't as good as you anticipate, but very reassuring that it's all "sinking in". GLad Ghirardelli wasn't a "casualty" though!

 

[pwdebbie]

Debbie, that's really encouraging that 4 of the 10 is gone that fast. Wishing you a speedy return to your previous level. And it's a little disappointing when things aren't as good as you anticipate, but very reassuring that it's all "sinking in". GLad Ghirardelli wasn't a "casualty" though!

Two more gone this morning. I'm expecting to be about four pounds up at wi tonight. We'll see!

 

[bumbershoot]

I weigh myself at home daily (I know, I know...) and I glimpsed a new decade this week--hoping to "live" there soon. One thing about weighing myself at home, I've learned to take the little variations in stride, but once I see a number, I "own" it, and I feel it's only a matter of time until I achieve it "for real".

Except for the last couple weeks (and at the beginning), I weigh daily, too. Doesn't seem to mess with my head, and I like seeing the overview of what happens as the week goes by. I was lurking on the WW forums last night and saw a question of "should I see small losses every day?" and I think that, for me, seeing what happens day by day, week by week, it helps me lose the *expectation* of certain results.

For awhile, when we first bought our home scale, our meeting weights were always *higher* than the home scale. By almost the same amount each time (but by a different amount for me than for DH). Then suddenly it switched, and now we are always LOWER than the home scale. SO weird. Probably at some point it'll switch back, LOL.

Anyway, as long as your mind and heart can handle weighing more often, there's no problem with it. It's just important to know yourself. Like my husband can't handle it well and should not do it. It doesn't change his eating plans, but it messes with his head. I urge him to get off the home scale, but does he listen?

Two more gone this morning. I'm expecting to be about four pounds up at wi tonight. We'll see!

Woo!

I think it's neat that you know how high you went, so that even if you have a gain at official weighin, you will know that you actually were higher and LOST over the week.

 

[mrzrich]

Down 3.2 at weigh in tonight. Reached my 5%.

I have a serious food addiction and one of my big challenges is how I handle myself the evening after I weigh in. I usually have 20 to 40 weeklies left at the end of my week. After I weigh in, whether it be good news or bad, I binge. Tonight there was left over spaghetti in the fridge. As I was driving home from my meeting, all I could think about was the spaghetti. Now I would have been ok if I had slowed down and measured it and tracked it, but no, I just inhaled it. I have always had this problem. Last time when I was on program and lost over 70 lbs, it was my eventual undoing...listening to the voices calling me from the refrigerator. Anyone else facing similar demons?.