Anyone go to WW meetings, but eat low carb?

[JudyS]

Hi, all!

I have been posting on this board for a few months now about my latest struggle to get my weight down. I have been doing Weight Watchers since late September, and I have stayed within my "points" allotment that whole time. I generally exercise and get all "8 health guidelines," too. However, although I did lose some weight during my first 6 weeks on WW, I have since plateaued and not lost anything for five weeks. I also have felt pretty terrible the whole time I've done WW.

I used to do a low-carb diet a few years back, and I felt a lot better than I do now, so I'm thinking that maybe I should go back to that. (The reason I stopped doing low-carb was that the weight all came back, even though I stayed low-carb. So, I figure I'll have to combine low-carb with medication, but that's another story.)

I'd like to keep going to Weight Watchers; I think it is helpful to have to "weigh in" each week. Also, I'm paid up there for a while! So, I'm wondering if I can make a low-carb diet work with Weight Watchers. I'm not really sure how to get this to work; Weight Watchers seems to be geared entirely towards low fat & high carbs.

Does anyone here go to Weight Watchers but follow a low-carb diet? Do you count the WW points AND carbs, or do you just count carbs? I think it would be hard to do both; most low-carb foods are very high in WW Points. Do you find it difficult that they are always encouraging eating high-carb foods (popcorn, fruit, etc) at the meetings?

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

I don't do WW, but if you want to follow the low-carb version of anything perhaps you can make your carb selections very limited or restirct to the very healthy version mainly for a time adding other things slowly.

I've been given a VERY basic selection to consider from someone just starting on another diet who was using WW. She has begun weightlifting. They have her on an 1800 calorie diet. 700 protein, 700 carb and 400 fats. The limitations are absolutely no white carb choices.

carb choices are oatmeal, Ezekiel Bread (I really like this, keep in freezer not many preservatives but very healthy choice), sweet potato, brown rice, apple, pear, berries, grapefruit, corn and peas.

protein choices are fish, chicken, turkey, egg whites and cottage cheese

fat choices are olive oil, flaxseed, almond butter

add at least 6-8 servings of veggies (non-starchy)

Here is where I have found some magic. The trick is to keep your body fed. Not with bad choices but with balanced ones.

Have 6 meals a day with equal protein and carb at those meals (for some reason this allows for better absorbtion of each nutrient) I think WW advocates this too.

I find the 6 meals or at least splitting my meals helps me for many reasons, some medical with reflux problems and esophageal problems. Smaller, healthier choices do work. That said, I still struggle to make those choices.

My friend is eating 6 times/day and I am watching the weight melt off of her. She is no longer completely on the foods I have describes, there have been healthy additions, and she is lifting and doing aerobics.

I think your WW could be worked into something like this since those choices should be within your points alloted and may just do the trick.

I'm glad you are not giving up as the struggle continues.

Keep on keepin on! We can do this!

 

[JudyS]

...I'm glad you are not giving up as the struggle continues...

Thanks, Tiger Lily! I really don't want to give up. My original goal was to lose 40 pounds -- the height/weight charts say I should lose at least about 100, but 40 should be enough to make a big difference in my health, and I thought 40 pounds would be achievable. It's been much tougher than I expected, but I don't want to give up before I reach even this relatively modest goal.

...I've been given a VERY basic selection to consider from someone just starting on another diet who was using WW. She has begun weightlifting. They have her on an 1800 calorie diet. 700 protein, 700 carb and 400 fats. The limitations are absolutely no white carb choices.

carb choices are oatmeal, Ezekiel Bread (I really like this, keep in freezer not many preservatives but very healthy choice), sweet potato, brown rice, apple, pear, berries, grapefruit, corn and peas.

protein choices are fish, chicken, turkey, egg whites and cottage cheese...

Well, I already avoid "refined carbs" such as white flour or added sugar, and even fruit juice. The carbs in my diet come mostly from vegetables, whole fruit, popcorn, and oatmeal. But, I seem to need to go much lower carb than that. Actually, even cottage cheese seems to raise my blood sugar, unless I eat just a very small serving.

I've spent some time trying to figure out how to do Weight Watchers AND low-carb, and I really don't see a good way. The fact that no one else has posted here saying they have done this also makes me think maybe that WW and low-carb just don't go together.

When I was doing WW, if I was hungry, I could have an apple (1 WW Point) or a mini-bag of popcorn (1 WW Point), and still have plenty of WW points left (I get 27 daily WW Points.) But, on a low carb diet, an apple or popcorn would be just way too many carbs.

When I ate low-carb and was hungry, I'd have maybe 2 oz of nuts as a snack. But, 2 oz of nuts is a ton of WW Points -- I think about 8 WW Points, which is more than 1/4th of my daily allotment. (I'm not sure because I stopped eating nuts when I started WW.)

So, if I were doing both WW and low-carb and needed a snack, about the only thing I could eat would be something like celery, and that probably wouldn't make me less hungry. I think trying to follow two contradictory diets would be setting myself up for failure.

So, I think I'm going to stop doing the WW diet, and just do low-carb. For now, I'll keep going to WW meetings, though.

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

I am happy to hear that you are doing such a good job researching what works for you.

You seem to know yourself quite well and I just know you can find the right key.

Let me know how things are going. I'm interested in hearing of your journey.

I'm sittinghere wondering if you have thought of logging your eating on one of those free web sites to see your combo of nutrients. That might help, but you seem to have a great handle on you and perhaps you've already got that down so well. Just rambling with thoughts to try to give some extra boost.

Cheering you onward and downward!

 

[JudyS]

Thanks, Tiger Lily!

I've used FitDay a little in the past, but I haven't used it lately. I've just been looking up WW Points/ carb grams manually and writing them down. I think FitDay would be a good system once I invested the time to enter all the "custom foods" that I cook into their database, but I haven't gotten around to doing that; maybe this is something I'll have time to do after the holidays.

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

Traditional WW is about portion control.....doesn't matter (almost) what you eat as long as you don't exceed pts. Traditional LO-CARB is about WHAT you eat, not necessarily portion size.

So, WW Lo-Carb made me MISERABLE. Early plateauing. I've returned to trad. LO-CARB. I can eat when I'm hungry (smaller, more frequent portions) and with the reduction of carb-triggers, I'm less hungry!

Most fruits and snax like popcorn are off-limits. But I don't crave them since nothing is triggering my cravings. Even South Beach is waaaayyy too many sugars & carbs for me...I've come to accept it...It is just how it is for me.

Looking back, my over-eating & binging was more than just emotional...it was a painful PHYSICAL need to maintain the blood-sugar high that those old bad carbs kept me on SINCE CHILDHOOD! My poor Dad who was ALWAYS hungry and needed to eat more & more, was, I believe, a carb addict as well. Yes. It IS an ADDICTION with the painful feelings of withdrawal (emotional & physical) that for me occurred 24/7.

I'm not losing tons of weight & I sometimes still yo-yo a bit, but at least I am FINALLY in control of ME (instead of my addiction controlling ME!) I feel healthier & more relaxed as well.

When in doubt, I return to my old Atkins info (high protein, reasonable healthy fats & lo/no-carbs).

I'm also looking for an on-line support system that isn't too time-consuming.
(Need to spend my time wisely- like HERE at the DIS!)

As TL 03 said! Keep on keepin' on!

 

[pjlla]

Does WW not still offer the CORE program? It was essentially a low carb (but not to the Atkins extreme) WW program. But admittedly, I haven't been to a WW meeting in a long time (waaaaay too long, according to my scale!). So maybe it isn't something they still offer..................P

 

[NCRedding]

Yes, WW still offers the Core program. We had one person in our group who tried it for one week and didn't think it worked for her so she switched to points and met her goal in 11 weeks.

I've looked over the Core program and think it does look low-carb, but not as restrictive as Atkins.

 

[JudyS]

Does WW not still offer the CORE program? It was essentially a low carb (but not to the Atkins extreme) WW program. But admittedly, I haven't been to a WW meeting in a long time (waaaaay too long, according to my scale!). So maybe it isn't something they still offer..................P

Core is definitely still available. However, it didn't work for me. I tried it for a week, but gained weight, even though I stopped eating before I felt I had really had enough.

I think it would be hard to use Weight Watchers Core as a low-carb program. Basically, when you eat low carb, you have to substitute fats for the calories you would normally get from carbs. However, Core doesn't allow you to eat most foods that have fats in it; apart from your 35 weekly points, Core doesn't allow nuts, seeds, oils, any dairy products except fat-free ones, meats except lean ones, etc. I suppose you could do a lower carb version of Core by emphasizing lean meats (which still have some fats) and eggs, but then you'd be getting all unhealthy saturated fats, instead of healthier plant-based fats. Or you could eat lots of soy, but that might not be healthy, either (too much phytoestrogens and omega-6 fatty acids.)

When I did Core, I found it had too many carbs for me. My blood sugar would double after each meal (from about 100 mg/dl fasting to 200 mg/dl after a meal, which is dangerously high.) I tried to stick to the lowest-carb options I could find, but since I'm a vegetarian, there wasn't much low-carb food available on Core.

I'm still going to Weight Watchers meetings, but I'm doing a reduced carb diet instead of either Weight Watchers diet -- I let myself have an average of 115 grams of carbs a day, plus some extra if I exercise. I also let myself have up to 800 calories of dairy, eggs, or high-fat foods a day. I'm eating maybe 1800 calories a day, assuming I'm getting 100 grams of protein. This is more calories than Weight Watchers Flex allowed, but I'm now losing weight again. (I had been stalled on Flex for over a month, after losing only 12 pounds.) Since I started this lower carb diet about 4 weeks ago, I've been losing about 2 pounds a week.