Weight Watchers Chat -- Part III

[disneychick0412]

Hi! I am new here and haven't been to Weight Watchers in years, but I think maybe I should give it a try again.

How much does it cost now to go to the weekly meetings?
Thanks!

Hi!
I just went back myself Thursday! Although it's just been maybe a year or 2 since I last went.

Weekly meetings are $13

 

[disneychick0412]

Hi everyone!!
I took the plunge and went back to meetings! Hopefully I can join this thread and talk to some like minded people!

I'm starting out at 333 pounds so I get lots of points (49).
Do you all use your weekly points??
I would love to hear how much ya'll have lost! That would be incredibly motivating!
I'm really ready to get this weight off!! My ankles really hurt, and I get out of breath so quickly! Tying my shoes or painting my toenails....a struggle!!

Being overweight is exhausting!!

 

[coastgirl]

I have a question for anyone doing WW online...is there a place on the WW website that lists restaurants and point values? I have it on the app for my phone, but wondered if it was on the site as well.

Don't know if you have a Zoup near you, but on their website they list the nutrional information along with the points plus values. I thought that was cool! And now I want to have dinner there.

Weighed in today, and so far I have lost 10 pounds, which is exciting!

With the mobile app, if you search on a food or name of a restaurant, it will come up under the "restaurants" tab in the results. It's the same with the browser app. Took me a while to see it. (As I look at the browser version on my laptop, once I search on foods I get several tabs--"all results", "foods", "restaurant foods" "brand names", "recipes" and "meals". It's similar on the phone app, but fewer categories.) I find with the Canadian version of the tool at least it's not the easiest to use. If I enter "mcdonalds hamburger" I probably won't get any results but if I just enter "mcdonalds" I get the whole menu (148 listings apparently!). The hamburger is there but I have to sort through to find "McDonalds Lunch/Dinner Sandwiches Double Quarter Pounder" or whatever. The names are very specific and won't match unless it's broad (like just "McDonalds") or very specific "McDonalds Lunch/Dinner..." Not all restaurants are in there of course, and I find the mobile app's data for specific foods isn't as easy to use as the online browser version.

HTH.

10 lbs, that is exciting! Congrats to you.

Welcome Disneychick. I've lost about 27 lbs this time, and it does feel good...I carried a 10 kg (about 22 lbs) bag of flour in from the car a couple of weeks ago and realized "hey, I used to carry that and more with every step". It does feel better already. I'm an amateur compared to some of the amazing results here... Good luck on your journey.

 

[keahgirl8]

Hi everyone!!
I took the plunge and went back to meetings! Hopefully I can join this thread and talk to some like minded people!

I'm starting out at 333 pounds so I get lots of points (49).
Do you all use your weekly points??
I would love to hear how much ya'll have lost! That would be incredibly motivating!
I'm really ready to get this weight off!! My ankles really hurt, and I get out of breath so quickly! Tying my shoes or painting my toenails....a struggle!!

Being overweight is exhausting!!

It definitely is! You won't believe how much your life will change when that weight starts to go! Congrats on getting started!

 

[bumbershoot]

Hi everyone!!
I took the plunge and went back to meetings! Hopefully I can join this thread and talk to some like minded people!

I'm starting out at 333 pounds so I get lots of points (49).
Do you all use your weekly points??
I would love to hear how much ya'll have lost! That would be incredibly motivating!
I'm really ready to get this weight off!! My ankles really hurt, and I get out of breath so quickly! Tying my shoes or painting my toenails....a struggle!!

Being overweight is exhausting!!

Congratulations for making the decision to join!

Read the plan materials so you know what the plan is all about. It took me a few weeks to get around to doing that, and it was really enlightening once I did it.

I personally use all of my Weeklies and even Activity Points. I started it early on, and I first tried Weeklies. When I still lost, I talked myself into eating the Activity points, too. I did that for a month as an experiment, and that worked, too. Bonus: my workouts were stronger and I could do more. It doesn't work for everyone, though, and also not everyone wants or needs to eat any or all of the "extras"! If you're interested in trying it out, might as well do it now. No better time, really. Add them in, see if you still lose over the course of a few weeks. (I don't know how old you are, but if you still have a cycle it might be a good idea to make sure the experiment spans a full cycle, to make sure you don't get false results caused by hormones)

I was talking today at our meeting to a woman who was having a struggle eating all of her 42 points, and since I'm sometimes eating 40 points in a given day because of those "extra" points, I had some tips. Plan your foods out, get your Good Health Guidelines in, and assuming your cholesterol, etc, are decent, don't think you only have to eat low-fat everything. My leader mentioned being careful and mindful of zero point fruits and veggies, so you're not filling yourself full of zero point things without eating other foods.

DH started at 71 points and needed to double his proteins at dinner, eat REAL bread (lucky lucky man!), good cheeses, eggs instead of eggbeaters, etc. He does best when he plans out his days; otherwise he gets home from work and says things like "I have 30 points for dinner".




I've lost 78 now, and it's astonishing how different my joints feel. Well, right now actually one foot not happy, but as the running shoe story person said today, my gait has probably changed because of the weight loss, and my bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscles are dealing with that right now. I'm in transition to my new gait, I think, but other than that my joints feel great. And the change in how joints feel starts pretty early on; it's something to look forward to.

 

[Mom_Rides]

Week 2 update:

I'm down .8 this week for a total of 11.8 lost. We started exercising this week and I got 5 days in of about 25 minutes each day (3 walks and 2 days aerobic video).

We found our scale was not consistent with its weight calculations so we went and bought a new scale this week and decided not to worry about what our outcome was because we didn't know what our true weight was anyhow. DH had a slight gain according to the new scale and I had a slight loss so we're just starting fresh.

What worked this week: MOVING!!! It felt good (and tiresome...LOL) to move my body this week. I set a goal for 5 days of movement and I kept it!

What didn't work this week: Food. I didn't feel as in control as week one. I had dinner with my BFF on Thursday at Red Robin and I felt sluggish and stuffed when I left. I also went over my daily points on Thursday and it left me feeling defeated. I also had a few days of not feeling hungry and left points (as many as 10) on the table.

Goal for this week: Continue the 5 days of movement and add an additional 2-3 days of second movement (ie: video in AM, walk in PM). Feel better about my food and make a daily plan to eat all of my daily points.

Hoping to hit my first WW goal this week! Have a great week everyone!!!!

 

[bumbershoot]

What didn't work this week: Food. I didn't feel as in control as week one. I had dinner with my BFF on Thursday at Red Robin and I felt sluggish and stuffed when I left.

We just went to RR last night!

Something that I found really works there, if you're having a burger, is to lettuce-wrap it. Yes it sounds pointless. yes it sounds diet-y.

But what it ends up being is...all of the flavor of the burger (or veggie burger in our case) and condiments, with the light crispness of the iceberg, and without that "I ate the whole bun" bloat.

I resisted it for 2 years while DH ordered the lettuce wrap. I might have even made fun of him. And then, finally, I tried it. Not only do you drop something like 10 points from the burger, but you feel so much better after the meal.

And a hint for counting points there, I use the Customizer on their site (or app). Since most of the veggies they put on their burgers are zero points, when I Customize it I drop those veggies off. I don't want their nutrition info calculated into my points; they are free after all. So I pretty much end up with a Boca burger and maybe the sweet pickles, LOL. No lettuce wrap, no tomatoes, no onions calculated for me, thank you very much!

Of course, the ranch dressing I get for my salad and burger decimates it all. Even 2 oz of their ranch is tremendously high. And the fries are hard because, you know, WHAT is a serving size there?????

 

[Conway733]

We just went to RR last night!

Something that I found really works there, if you're having a burger, is to lettuce-wrap it. Yes it sounds pointless. yes it sounds diet-y.

Hmmm. I think I might have to give that a try. I've never ordered a burger without the bun, but it actually sounds good to me now!

I resisted the urge to go out to eat this evening. Stopped at the store instead and picked up some chicken kabobs to grill, and I made additional veggies to go with it. I drove past a pizza place that we ordered from way too much in the past, and then I thought about going out to eat. Glad I resisted for WW reasons, and for financial reasons.

 

[keahgirl8]

Hmmm. I think I might have to give that a try. I've never ordered a burger without the bun, but it actually sounds good to me now!

I resisted the urge to go out to eat this evening. Stopped at the store instead and picked up some chicken kabobs to grill, and I made additional veggies to go with it. I drove past a pizza place that we ordered from way too much in the past, and then I thought about going out to eat. Glad I resisted for WW reasons, and for financial reasons.

I never did either until a few months ago. Now that is pretty much the only way I want to eat it! At home, I basically build a salad on top of my burger with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and mustard. It is so good!

 

[bumbershoot]

Hmmm. I think I might have to give that a try. I've never ordered a burger without the bun, but it actually sounds good to me now!

I'm glad I mentioned it then!

Ask for more napkins up front. Don't wait until you're awash in mustard or whatever to ask for them.

Some prep chefs do a better job with the lettuce wraps than others. If you get a lousy one the first time, don't expect they will all be like that. (and if you get a great one, don't expect that to happen always, either) If it gets too messy, just cut it up and eat it like a salad like keahgirl just basically described. Still tastes the same.

And don't forget you can get things like broccoli as your side if you wish. Sometimes that sounds lousy, but sometimes it's really good and just what I want! (and then I steal some of DS's fries and call it good)

***************************************

Today I had a great talk with two of the very fit female employees at my Y; one was instrumental in getting me into their weight-lifting program (ActiveTrax...just the machines, not "real" weight barbells and such), and the other is actually a body builder that I've watched transform over the last few years. And they wanted to talk to ME today, both of 'em! It was neat. Very inspirational, and they were both very kind. Glad I started doing the program at the time that I did. Moral of the story: don't be afraid to interact with gym employees, because they are often nice and kind and CARE about you and want to help with your goals. And might say really nice things about you.



Bought another size down in clothes. Still a bit in denial. Single digit size now (Old Navy sizes). Keep looking at the pants and shorts, holding them up and asking DH to "tell me again HOW I fit in these?" And then I put them on and zip them up. Shocking.

The day after that shopping trip I made DH go out for clothes. He was wearing shorts 4" too big for him in the waist. He admitted that he was having to stick out his belly to keep his shorts on. I told him that was not acceptable, LOL. Along with the concern of what happens if he forgets and sucks in his gut, what is that doing to his self esteem, to be sticking OUT his belly? So we got him some new shorts. Yay!

And we both got to experience the joy of saying "that just doesn't look right on me" without it doing damage to our sensitive selves. Before it would be "it doesn't look right because I've done something terribly wrong and it's my fault". Now it's "that's cut weird, let's try something else". It's a much better place to be.


And THEN we went to RoadRunnerSports, where the kiddo got a new pair of shoes, because his feet insist upon continuing to grow. We're *this close* to having to buy him new pants, too.

 

[wide awake]

Does anyone do the Simply Filling plan? I have 25 pounds to lose and think that will work best for me.

 

[Conway733]

Bumbershoot, that is great! Can I ask, what size did you start at? Being in a single digit size is a dream of mind, so it is exciting to hear that it can happen!

 

[bumbershoot]

Bumbershoot, that is great! Can I ask, what size did you start at? Being in a single digit size is a dream of mind, so it is exciting to hear that it can happen!

I'm 5'3" and was squeezed tight into a 20W in JCP sizes, and a 20 in Old Navy khakis. I thought the khakis fit (those were the "perfect fit" ones before they put stretch in them) but my thighs were rubbing together so badly they actually split in the thigh seams entirely after a week at Disneyland, while on the plane out to Orlando (bi-coastal trip), and I had to throw them away.

I was in XL shirts mainly, though I had a polo type that was 2X. Now that I think about it, I was stuffed into some of the XLs. (the frowny face is not at the size, but at how I was jamming myself into them, without realizing I should do something about it OR go up a size...I dressed really really terribly for several years, out of denial and self-loathing, and it makes me sad I was so awful to myself)

I'm medium currently. What's left of my tummy is keeping me from being comfy going lower than that. 40DD at the start and now I'm 38 C but actually I think I'm 36C at this exact moment. The clothing-replacement budget is hard enough without including the regular bra purchases; remeasuring and buying smaller bras that fit perfectly is going to have to wait.


I wore my new shorts today and didn't think they would go on as I put my foot in, but they were just fine. Still stunned.

I keep saying it's like magic. I had to figure out what worked best for me and then I just kept going. Had my first gain fairly early on, survived it, kept on going. (gains still make me wince, but you just deal and keep on going) I weigh all my food that can be weighed; only oils and beverages including half/half get measured. I'm careful. I jog now. I do strength training now. I've been doing WW since Feb 2012.*

Hardly magic when you lay it all out like that.

But still, seems like magic. And it can work for you, too.




*(well, I don't track when at Disneyland/world/Universal, but the things I want to eat are very very different than what I used to want, and the amount I can eat has changed dramatically)

 

[NC State]

WOW that's great, thank you for sharing. When I started March 2011, I was in a 16/18W and now I'm in 10/12 sizes. Still not at my goal but I'm not giving up.

 

[daisy_77]

I just rejoined (again....). I say the 2,746th time is a charm. I had a baby in early December. I need to lose about 80 pounds total. I am hoping to stay motivated by reading what you all are doing and eating. I've done WW many times before. I have lost lots of weight on it before. This time, I really need to lose this weight. I am heavier than I have ever been.

I would love to set a mini goal of 15 pounds before my trip in September. I have a lot to lost, so hopefully it's feasible!


Bumbershoot...You are an inspiration!! Amazing progress!

 

[disneychick0412]

I just rejoined (again....). I say the 2,746th time is a charm. I had a baby in early December. I need to lose about 80 pounds total. I am hoping to stay motivated by reading what you all are doing and eating. I've done WW many times before. I have lost lots of weight on it before. This time, I really need to lose this weight. I am heavier than I have ever been.

I would love to set a mini goal of 15 pounds before my trip in September. I have a lot to lost, so hopefully it's feasible!

Bumbershoot...You are an inspiration!! Amazing progress!

Hi!! My goal is to be below 300 by my trip in November. I'm at 333, and since I have so much to lose I think that's reasonable.

Reading about people who have been successful is very motivating for me, so I'm excited to be on this thread. I want to be one of those successful people too!!!

I started last Thursday, and we don't have a meeting this week because of the holiday. So I will be going 2 weeks between weigh-in's. Hopefully that will mean a good result on the scale! I haven't been perfect, but I've done much better than I normally would have. At my first meeting, the leader said "You don't have to be perfect to do Weight Watchers". That has been stuck in my head all week!!!

Oh, and Daisy.....I have done Weight Watchers probably 2,000 times myself!

 

[bumbershoot]

WOW that's great, thank you for sharing. When I started March 2011, I was in a 16/18W and now I'm in 10/12 sizes. Still not at my goal but I'm not giving up.

Thanks!

Yay for not giving up! Just think; however long you've held steady at a 10/12, that's maintaining! Once you hit your goal you'll be a pro at maintaining already! And I mean that for real; maintaining is better than going back to where you started.

I would love to set a mini goal of 15 pounds before my trip in September. I have a lot to lost, so hopefully it's feasible!


Bumbershoot...You are an inspiration!! Amazing progress!

Aw, thanks!

15 pounds sounds decent. Just read the materials over and over. I had only doing WW three times, with enough time in between to know there were changes and I should read the materials, and it still took me a matter of weeks to actually do it. Amazing the info they give you in those glossy pages. Plan things out and do it!

When my son was teensy I had rock-hard arms from carrying him all the time. I highly recommend that arm workout. He turned 2 and didn't want to be in arms as much, and not only did I lose the arms, but I started gaining again!

I started last Thursday, and we don't have a meeting this week because of the holiday. So I will be going 2 weeks between weigh-in's. Hopefully that will mean a good result on the scale!

There's no Friday or Saturday weighin? Oh I would not enjoy that! But you're right...it should mean good things on the scale next week.

 

[disneychick0412]

There's no Friday or Saturday weighin? Oh I would not enjoy that! But you're right...it should mean good things on the scale next week.

I wish there was a Friday or Saturday weigh in! In my town there are 2 meetings on Thursday, 9:30am and 5:30am. I only have to drive about 2 or 3 miles to get to it. There is a Saturday morning meeting about 30 minutes away, but it's at 8:30am, and I really don't want to go to that one.

 

[NC State]

I lost 1.4 this week! I think using myfitnesspal.com helped me stay on track. I was more aware of my calories and sugar in take. So that brings me to to a total of 41 lbs lost!

 

[Conway733]

I'm 5'3" and was squeezed tight into a 20W in JCP sizes, and a 20 in Old Navy khakis. I thought the khakis fit (those were the "perfect fit" ones before they put stretch in them) but my thighs were rubbing together so badly they actually split in the thigh seams entirely after a week at Disneyland, while on the plane out to Orlando (bi-coastal trip), and I had to throw them away.

I was in XL shirts mainly, though I had a polo type that was 2X. Now that I think about it, I was stuffed into some of the XLs. (the frowny face is not at the size, but at how I was jamming myself into them, without realizing I should do something about it OR go up a size...I dressed really really terribly for several years, out of denial and self-loathing, and it makes me sad I was so awful to myself)

I'm medium currently. What's left of my tummy is keeping me from being comfy going lower than that. 40DD at the start and now I'm 38 C but actually I think I'm 36C at this exact moment. The clothing-replacement budget is hard enough without including the regular bra purchases; remeasuring and buying smaller bras that fit perfectly is going to have to wait.


I wore my new shorts today and didn't think they would go on as I put my foot in, but they were just fine. Still stunned.

I keep saying it's like magic. I had to figure out what worked best for me and then I just kept going. Had my first gain fairly early on, survived it, kept on going. (gains still make me wince, but you just deal and keep on going) I weigh all my food that can be weighed; only oils and beverages including half/half get measured. I'm careful. I jog now. I do strength training now. I've been doing WW since Feb 2012.*

Hardly magic when you lay it all out like that.

But still, seems like magic. And it can work for you, too.




*(well, I don't track when at Disneyland/world/Universal, but the things I want to eat are very very different than what I used to want, and the amount I can eat has changed dramatically)

Wow! Inspirational for sure! I stared WW because by 20W sized pants were getting too tight, and I refused to go up another size (since I've been going up sizes seemingly forever). I like hearing your story - thanks for that! Happily, a few weeks in, the pants aren't as tight for me now. Off to a baseball game and fireworks for the evening. Happy 4th, everyone!