Weight Watchers Chat -- Part III

[bumbershoot]

Originally Posted by Jeslynb

Dipping a toe in here... I have 100 lbs to lose and have set a goal of running in the Royal Family 5K in February 2014.

Hello! That's a nice goal to have. So much of what you wrote felt like me, that was amazing.

Originally Posted by keahgirl8

The important thing is...do not get discouraged, and never give up!

My goodness, you are so close!

Originally Posted by tubachick

I have a goal weight that is way over 150lbs away. Since re-joining WW a few months ago I am happy to say I am 11.8 down!!

Woohoo! And hey, a 5K is a lot! I mean, it's an Olympic sport, so it is *something*. Yes we're still watching the Olympics. Thank goodness for the DVR...we just watched the men's "5000 meter" last night.

I re-joined WW last February, I walked a 5K in June (and the raceday picture from that is my "before" picture, because I wasn't letting anyone take pictures of me during the REAL before time), I walked/jogged a slow 5K in October-ish, and last month I JOGGED the Castaway Cay 5K! Did it in 46 minutes, too, on the ground (I'm normally a treadmill runner), in the tropics (Feb, but still...). Sure it's more than 30 minutes longer than those Olympic men ran it, but that's OK.

Originally Posted by Disneyluvr

Hello! I have been lurking for a while and finally decided to come out of hiding.

My name is Donna and I'm a 43 yr old wife, mother of 2 teens, kindergarten teacher and Disney lover, who also happens to be overweight!

I just rejoined WW for the 2nd time last Tues. Actually tomorrow will be our 1st official meeting and I'm really excited to be taking the steps necessary to get healthy!

I'm happy I found this thread to help keep me motivated and hopefully find some friends who are going through the same thins and get some great tips!

Welcome to you, too!


My biggest tip is to *read the materials*! They put good stuff in those things they give you at meetings, especially the meeting when you join, so read it. It might look like glossy fluff, but when you're 2 months in and finally realize what the Good Health Guidelines are, and then realize they were sitting in that booklet they gave you, you feel a little silly. (not that I've done that or anything) (OK yes I have)

My second tip is to buy a nice food scale (I personally do not find the WW scales to be necessary, and prefer the OXO with the higher weight limit and detachable screen because we have big and heavy plates) and weigh or measure EVERYTHING. I weigh my salad dressing. I weigh my cereal. Cereal is a HUGE trigger food for me, and I have to be accurate, because a serving size to my brain is fill the bowl, fill it to the brim! have seconds!. So I weigh it. I weigh chocolate.

I eat all points coming to me (Daily, Weekly, and Activity), and I weigh everything so I know what I'm eating, and I don't feel the least bit guilty about what I'm eating, because I know it's OK.


Those are my two tips. Read and weigh.

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

Originally Posted by bumbershoot

That's their minimum points, so I'm assuming so. I'm 155.8 now (started at 220.8 )and my goal range is between 113ish and 141, so I assume it'll take me somewhere in there. I'm going to continue eating ALL the points until and unless my body tells me I have to slow it down. But for me, my losses got a bit better (and a LOT more comfortable, stomach-wise and craving-wise) once I started eating APs; I consider it giving my workouts fuel. Works for me. Though right now I'm sick (last week my son was sick), so I haven't worked out in a million years, it seems, and I'm having to deal with "only" Daily and Weekly. Ugh. Last exercise I did was the Castaway Cay 5K on Feb. 9!

Eating Activity points (and Weeklies) is not something everyone chooses to do or can do; I'm not telling you what to do in case it's coming through that way. Just saying what I'm doing.


And congrats on your losses so far! It's awesome!



Oh, and the very rough estimate of calories per point is 40. So if you multiply 40 by 26, you see it's not that many calories overall, and that might help you see how it can take you all the way.

Thanks!!! That makes much more sense. I haven't been hungry not eating the activity points so far, but now I won't feel so guilty if I go over my 26 and dip into them. You're doing great, congratulations!!!

[keahgirl8]

Originally Posted by pwdebbie

Welcome to all the new folks! Some of you mentioned goals that involve running and/or marathons. That's an amazing goal to set for yourself. I've always been a "tripper" so I'm a little afraid to run. But I admire you all for aiming high! You'll have to keep us updated regularly with your progress.

Keahgirl, I don't think I ever knew how much you actually wanted to lose when you started. You are so close to where you want to be!

Thanks, Debbie (and bumbershoot too)!

I was always afraid I couldn't run. I just started out slowly and here I am! I still run and walk, and plan to continue doing that. If you're not comfortable running, you can always walk!

[Disneyluvr]

Originally Posted by bumbershoot

Hello! Welcome to you, too!


My biggest tip is to *read the materials*! They put good stuff in those things they give you at meetings, especially the meeting when you join, so read it. It might look like glossy fluff, but when you're 2 months in and finally realize what the Good Health Guidelines are, and then realize they were sitting in that booklet they gave you, you feel a little silly. (not that I've done that or anything) (OK yes I have)

My second tip is to buy a nice food scale (I personally do not find the WW scales to be necessary, and prefer the OXO with the higher weight limit and detachable screen because we have big and heavy plates) and weigh or measure EVERYTHING. I weigh my salad dressing. I weigh my cereal. Cereal is a HUGE trigger food for me, and I have to be accurate, because a serving size to my brain is fill the bowl, fill it to the brim! have seconds!. So I weigh it. I weigh chocolate.

I eat all points coming to me (Daily, Weekly, and Activity), and I weigh everything so I know what I'm eating, and I don't feel the least bit guilty about what I'm eating, because I know it's OK.


Those are my two tips. Read and weigh.

Those are great tips Bumbershoot, thanks!
I love to snack on dry cereal and I always measure it out (well now I do, haha) but like you I would just pour a big bowl, I was probably eating 2-3 servings in one bowl!

Have you tried the new Fiber One 80 calorie chocolate cereal? It's really good, tastes like coco puffs to me

[nocomment711]

I wish I could run. I try to build up my walking stamina, but my legs (mostly my shins) don't enjoy treadmill walking, and it is still a little too cold to run outside.

I was planning on doing a 5K in may, but idk if that's gonna happen unless I can get my stamina up.

[Jeslynb]

Thanks for the tips and support, Debbie and Bumbershoot. I do need to sit down and go through my materials. I have been using etools to track, which makes it somewhat easy to not read all the "stuff".

I hope I am not being overly ambitious with my 5K goal for February. I figure I can surely walk part of it if I need to. I am giving myself 3-4 months of walking/elliptical/initial weight loss before I start the C25K program. If I can start it over the summer or even by the fall, I should be in shape for Feb 2014.

Hi to all the other newbies.

[keahgirl8]

Originally Posted by Jeslynb

Thanks for the tips and support, Debbie and Bumbershoot. I do need to sit down and go through my materials. I have been using etools to track, which makes it somewhat easy to not read all the "stuff".

I hope I am not being overly ambitious with my 5K goal for February. I figure I can surely walk part of it if I need to. I am giving myself 3-4 months of walking/elliptical/initial weight loss before I start the C25K program. If I can start it over the summer or even by the fall, I should be in shape for Feb 2014.

Hi to all the other newbies.

I think it is totally doable. I would highly recommend the Jeff Galloway training app, especially if you are a beginning runner.

[tubachick]

Originally Posted by bumbershoot

My biggest tip is to *read the materials*! They put good stuff in those things they give you at meetings, especially the meeting when you join, so read it. It might look like glossy fluff, but when you're 2 months in and finally realize what the Good Health Guidelines are, and then realize they were sitting in that booklet they gave you, you feel a little silly. (not that I've done that or anything) (OK yes I have)

My second tip is to buy a nice food scale (I personally do not find the WW scales to be necessary, and prefer the OXO with the higher weight limit and detachable screen because we have big and heavy plates) and weigh or measure EVERYTHING. I weigh my salad dressing. I weigh my cereal. Cereal is a HUGE trigger food for me, and I have to be accurate, because a serving size to my brain is fill the bowl, fill it to the brim! have seconds!. So I weigh it. I weigh chocolate.

I eat all points coming to me (Daily, Weekly, and Activity), and I weigh everything so I know what I'm eating, and I don't feel the least bit guilty about what I'm eating, because I know it's OK.

I AGREE!!! I read it all, and then I read it again when I need some more "motivation" the weekly handouts, the online articles--- and then I remembered the WISH threads. All of them keep me on track to my healthy lifestyle. (its not a diet).

I have a food scale, I need to use it more. But I have stated to weigh out meats (I think that is harder for me to estimate) but I need to get better at putting it all on the scale.

I track everything, even if its something I probably should have said no to.

Thanks for your encouraging words!!!

[MellieluvsDisney]

Welcome to all the new people! So exciting!

I'm also looking into starting to run in April, as soon as the snow goes away (Canada here!). I have a goal set to run my first 5K on June 29 of this year.

I so admire people who train for marathons!

[Jeslynb]

Originally Posted by keahgirl8

I think it is totally doable. I would highly recommend the Jeff Galloway training app, especially if you are a beginning runner.

Thank you - it will be awhile until I can run, but I have heard great things about Galloway.

[kirstie101]

Can I join you all? I just started WW two weeks ago. I have about 30lbs I'd like to lose, though truthfull I should probably lose 50. So far I'm down 3lbs and I'm pretty pleased with the program.
My one concern before I started was that I am a runner, and I use that term very loosely, and after long runs I tend to be starving that evening or the next day. But so far I've done ok just using the Activity Points I earn.
I need to buy a food scale. Thats on my wish list!
Looking forward to reading all the tips/advice on here!

[pwdebbie]

Down 1.6 today for a total 81.2 off. Only 3.8 to reach my goal of 85 off by my next Disney trip (mid-April). I think it is doable in five weeks! My dd posted pics today of before and after on FB (she started maintenance last week) and someone asked where my pics were. I said I was going to take pics in Disney the same places I did in 2010 and then put those up for my before and in-progress-but-not-there-yet pics.

[keahgirl8]

Originally Posted by pwdebbie

Down 1.6 today for a total 81.2 off. Only 3.8 to reach my goal of 85 off by my next Disney trip (mid-April). I think it is doable in five weeks! My dd posted pics today of before and after on FB (she started maintenance last week) and someone asked where my pics were. I said I was going to take pics in Disney the same places I did in 2010 and then put those up for my before and in-progress-but-not-there-yet pics.

Congrats! I knew you'd make it!

[bumbershoot]

Originally Posted by KIRSTIN'S MOMMY

Thanks!!! That makes much more sense. I haven't been hungry not eating the activity points so far, but now I won't feel so guilty if I go over my 26 and dip into them. You're doing great, congratulations!!!

Thanks!

Oh yes, don't feel guilty. I mean, if you go into Weekly/Activity and you track it accurately and over a period of weeks you're not losing, you *know* where to go, what to do. If you do continue to lose even while going into the "extra" points, then yay! But don't feel guilty.

Originally Posted by Disneyluvr

Those are great tips Bumbershoot, thanks!
I love to snack on dry cereal and I always measure it out (well now I do, haha) but like you I would just pour a big bowl, I was probably eating 2-3 servings in one bowl!

Cereal was one of my downfalls, that's for sure.

Originally Posted by nocomment711

I wish I could run. I try to build up my walking stamina, but my legs (mostly my shins) don't enjoy treadmill walking, and it is still a little too cold to run outside.

I was planning on doing a 5K in may, but idk if that's gonna happen unless I can get my stamina up.

I dislike walking with a passion. There's something about the way my hips are built that makes walking *hurt*. But I can run (once my lungs and leg muscles catch up with me) withOUT hurting. It's the weirdest thing. So I simply couldn't walk on the treadmill for exercise, and even while doing the couch to whatever-K programs it must be funny to watch, because I'll be running running running, then go to the walk portion and I limp. So weird.

Anyway, so when I was first losing and starting to seriously work out again, I just used the elliptical. That's what started getting my lungs and heart and muscles ready to MOVE again.

Originally Posted by Jeslynb

Thanks for the tips and support, Debbie and Bumbershoot. I do need to sit down and go through my materials. I have been using etools to track, which makes it somewhat easy to not read all the "stuff".

I hope I am not being overly ambitious with my 5K goal for February. I figure I can surely walk part of it if I need to. I am giving myself 3-4 months of walking/elliptical/initial weight loss before I start the C25K program. If I can start it over the summer or even by the fall, I should be in shape for Feb 2014.

Hi to all the other newbies.

etools does indeed make it easy to not really *know* the program. And then one day you'll be on vacation, or your internet/phone app will be out, or they are doing maintenance, and then you don't totally know what to do.

I don't think you're being overly ambitious at all.

Originally Posted by tubachick

I track everything, even if its something I probably should have said no to.

Good for you! I read somewhere in the last year that...your body tracks it all, so we should, too.

Originally Posted by kirstie101

Can I join you all? I just started WW two weeks ago. I have about 30lbs I'd like to lose, though truthfull I should probably lose 50. So far I'm down 3lbs and I'm pretty pleased with the program.
My one concern before I started was that I am a runner, and I use that term very loosely, and after long runs I tend to be starving that evening or the next day. But so far I've done ok just using the Activity Points I earn.
I need to buy a food scale. Thats on my wish list!
Looking forward to reading all the tips/advice on here!

I got my OXO scale at BedBathBeyond. I hear they have coupons, but I didn't have one at the time. Wait for a coupon!

There are lots of people on here that do not eat their activity points, but I personally don't know what I would do if I weren't eating them. When I'm consistently working out, especially jogging, I become ravenous. Doing WW helps with that because I know that I do not get a huge milkshake for 3 miles on a treadmill, instead I get an extra *serving* of dinner, or 3 milano cookies, or whatever the points work out to, but I still do seem to *need* that extra food when I'm jogging.

And APs are calculated with a deficit anyway. "They" say to use 80 calories burned per AP (if using a heart rate monitor), and some use 100 (I use 80). Well if the very basic calculation for a point is 40 calories, then even with 80 you're already only eating half of what you've burned. Make sense?

Originally Posted by pwdebbie

Down 1.6 today for a total 81.2 off. Only 3.8 to reach my goal of 85 off by my next Disney trip (mid-April). I think it is doable in five weeks! My dd posted pics today of before and after on FB (she started maintenance last week) and someone asked where my pics were. I said I was going to take pics in Disney the same places I did in 2010 and then put those up for my before and in-progress-but-not-there-yet pics.

Woohoo!!!!!

I love that picture idea.

[Disneyluvr]

Had my 1st weigh in last night and I am down 2 lbs! Woohoo, I am on my way!