Does the Weight Watchers Core Program Work?

[JudyS]

I have struggled with my weight for pretty much my whole life. The past couple of years, I have tried and tried to lose weight (and have posted here several times.) However, every diet plan I have used has left me either famished, frustrated at the glacial pace of my weight loss, or both, and so I haven't been able to stick with them.

I have an acquaintance who is doing well on Weight Watchers and I'm tempted to give it a try. The Core plan sounds a lot better than the Points plan -- I really detest weighing and recording everything. However, the Core plan sounds too good to be true. Do people really lose weight while eating all of that stuff? It sounds less restrictive than some of the diets I've tried before, which didn't produce much weight loss for me.

What happens if you follow the Core plan exactly like you are supposed to, but don't lose any weight? Does your group leader sympathize with you, give you a hard time, refund your money rotfl?

Also, would the Core Plan be suitable for a vegetarian? I have been a vegetarian for 26 years; I eat eggs and dairy but not meat, fish, or chicken.

I'm also somewhat concerned about how many carbs are on the Core Plan. My husband has severe Type 2 diabetes and has to really watch his carb intake. However, if necessary we could eat different things, at least for a few months.

Any advice? TIA!

 

[stitchlover]

I will be happy to discuss all things Weight Watchers with you until I am blue in the face or you are tired of me. BUT I have never done the Core plan. I know about it and I will be happy to share with you why I didn't do Core.
Here is a little bit about me so you know I can talk WW. I joined WW in January 2006 weighing in at 261.5, I am 5'6 1/2". I did the points option and now maintain at 142-143 pounds. So right under 120 pounds total loss. Sometimes I push 145 but then I take it right back down to the 142-143 area.

Here is why I didn't do Core. They say with Core you eat from a list of foods, all good stuff, until you are satisfied. Well Core scared the beejeesees out of me. My thoughts were that I obviously don't know when I am satisfied or I wouldn't weigh 261 pounds! So for me dealing with the points issue for the first month or two while I got the hang of what everything was worth was way easier for me.

BUT there are plenty of people who do WW Core and absolutely love it.

I really don't know how Carbs play into the Core system. I will be happy to grab my books and answer any questions you have though so you can decide which system will work for you.

 

[JudyS]

Thanks very much, Stitchlover. Wow, that is a lot of weight that you lost!

Yeah, part of my concern about Core is similar to yours -- if the food is unlimited, will I really lose weight? (The other concern is the amount of carbs.) But, I find it really hard to keep track of what I've eaten, so I think I'll give Core a try. My understanding is that once you've paid to join WW, you can switch between Core and Flex as much as you like, as long as you stick with one plan for an entire week. So, I can try Flex if Core doesn't work.

Stitchlover, did you find that you were hungry much on the Flex plan?

 

[stitchlover]

Yes, you can switch from week to week. They encourage you not to switch from day to day!
There are several people in my WW meeting that would spend 3 months on one and 3 months on the other.
I was never really that hungry on the flex plan BUT I ate 5 times a day! I would always have a small snack mid-morning and a small snack mid-afternoon. I went through a small period of time where I seemed to be hungry all the time. I spoke with a body builder that I worked with and he told me it is very important in weight loss to never let your body get hungry?!?! That shocked me but there was some logic behind his explanation and that is when I started adding the snacks. That week I lost 4 pounds. It worked!

 

[Nancy]

I tried the Core plan and it didn't work for me. I do flex and watch my points. It is not as hard as it sounds. I guess I need the accountability that comes with counting points and Core just didn't give me that. If you join you are encouraged to try what works for you. As others have said, it works for some. I do think that the points plan gives you way more flexability in food choices that core doesn't doesn't. With points I can still eat pizza and an occasional Burger King or McDonalds so I don't feel as though I'm depriving myself at all.

 

[momoflizandains]

I started WW on June 30, and I have lost a total of 27 pounds. I have done core every week but one (when I gained). The foods on core are what I should be eating (fruits and veggies, lean meats, etc). There are certain foods that are limited to once a day, and that helps. I have done flex in the past but did not generally meet the 8 healthy guidelines because I was practicing trying to get as many processed foods and 100 calorie packs as I could. I feel great, and eat well.

 

[JudyS]

Thanks for the replies!

... I went through a small period of time where I seemed to be hungry all the time. I spoke with a body builder that I worked with and he told me it is very important in weight loss to never let your body get hungry?!?! That shocked me but there was some logic behind his explanation and that is when I started adding the snacks. That week I lost 4 pounds. It worked!

Stitchlover, so are you saying that you were hungry when you were eating 3 meals w/ no snacks, but going to 3 meals plus 2 snacks helped? Did you add more food to get the snacks, or just distributed the same amount of food differently throughout the day?

I tried the Core plan and it didn't work for me. ...

Nancy, when you say that the Core plan didn't work for you, do you mean that you found it hard to follow, or that you followed it closely but didn't lose anything?

Ok, I'm off to use the treadmill now!

 

[stitchlover]

Sorry! Let me clear that up.

I went through a spell when I was hungry on three meals a day. So I pulled a few points from lunch and dinner and added some snacks mid-day. I would eat a 0 point item like carrots, celery with a carb for 1 point...mini-bag of popcorn. Or even a 2 point snack bar with carrots. That would be my mid-morning snack.

In the afternoon I generally like a granola bar, 2 points, with a Coke Zero, 0 points, for a snack. If I'm REALLY hungry I will add some carrots to that. I can eat that at 3:30 and not be hungry for dinner until 7pm.

Now in maintenance I generally eat 30 points a day. So I will eat like this:

5-6 points for breakfast
2-3 points for mid-day snack
7 points for lunch
2-3 points for mid-day snack
around 10 points for dinner depending on the rest of the day.

And if I actually EXERCISED anymore I could eat more. Just haven't decided the exercise is worth it!
HTH

 

[JudyS]

Thanks, Stitchlover!

 

[fofinia]

I've done Core. And it worked for me most of the time. And it's not true that you can eat as much as you want. Not really. The plan lists all the foods you are allowed to eat. And it is true that at each meal you can eat most of those foods, with a few exceptions, until you feel "satisfied". But there are other foods listed as snacks. And you can only have those snacks at other times during the day.

My leader put it this way- You have chicken for lunch. You know one serving of chicken in not going to be enough. So you have two servings. Then you should give yourself time to feel full. If you wait a while and then realize you are still hungry. Should you go have another piece of chicken? No because it is snack time. So you can have one of the approved snacks. So yes you can eat more than a serving but you can't just eat all day long. Unless it is veggies of course, then you can have as many as you want!

If you restrict your carbs all ready then you will be good on Core. The carbs are restricted. But unlike Atkins or others you can have some servings of healthier carbs on Core. And you do get a few amount of points to spread out over your week to indulge on non core foods if you want. But not that much.

And like Momoflizanddains, I found getting my healthy oils in particular much easier on Core. Because then I wasn't "wasting" my points on eating my oil! I say wasting because i would rather save all my extra points for sweets.

Good luck!

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

I tried core for 1 week and I lost 8# on it! One would think I would have continued with it! I found for me that I couldn't live with the restricted carbs. I am a carb lover! so the points plan works better for me, but from my experience, yes it does work! GOOD LUCK and hang in there!

 

[JudyS]

Thanks for all the comments! I haven't started WW; I plan to start Friday.

I have been following a reduced carbohydrate diet for four years and it has really helped with my diabetes. However, the weight I initially lost (45 pounds) when I started eating low-carb has all come back (plus 4 more pounds), so I need to try something knew. I'm not sure if the problem is that my body has adjusted to the low carb diet, or that my carb intake has gradually creeped up, or that I have gradually switched to eating less healthy foods. I'm hoping a new diet, and a formal program, will help me get back on track. (Previously, I was just doing my own diet, on my own.)

I've heard several people (both here and elsewhere) say that Core doesn't have enough carbs for them, but I'm concerned that it may be too many carbs for me. As an experiment, I bought some cereal last night and had cereal, low-fat yogurt, and fruit for breakfast. A couple hours later, I felt REALLY sick. In fact, I've been sick in bed a lot for the rest of the day. I'm concerned that there was just too many carbs in that meal.

I'm having trouble finding anything low-carb for breakfast on the Core plan. In fact, I'd say there isn't that much low-carb on it at all, at least not for vegetarians like me. Eggs seem to be the only low-carb breakfast food (that isn't actually meat), but my cholesterol is way too high, so I'm not sure I should be eating eggs. Back when I was being "good" on my low-carb diet, I ate boiled ground flax for breakfast most days (yeah, it was yucky, but I figured it was healthy.) Flax seeds aren't on the Core plan, though.

What do folks here on Core have for breakfast?

 

[JudyS]

I said: Back when I was being "good" on my low-carb diet, I ate boiled ground flax for breakfast most days (yeah, it was yucky, but I figured it was healthy.) Flax seeds aren't on the Core plan, though.

I've rethought this. The Core plan says all hot cereals are OK to have, and I think boiled ground flax would count as a hot cereal. So, maybe I'll just assume that boiled ground flax is a "Core" food, and have that for breakfast. It's supposed to be extremely healthy.

(and, I realized I wrote "knew" when I meant "new" in my last post! )

 

[slk537]

Judy - what about fruit? There are lots of lower card higher fiber fruits and they are great for breakfast. Maybe have some plain yogurt with splenda and vanilla extract and add berries or chopped apple and cinnamon? Fat free cottage cheese with sliced fruit? Or a sliced banana with cinnamon and skim milk? Or use your 35 points to add to it?

(I'm on flex and I love it, but I'm a geek so I've researched Core too!)

For those of you who have done Core - do you eat your AP's in addition to the 35 weekly or do you just leave them and assume you'll eat more Core foods to compensate?

 

[Nancy]

Thanks for the replies!

Stitchlover, so are you saying that you were hungry when you were eating 3 meals w/ no snacks, but going to 3 meals plus 2 snacks helped? Did you add more food to get the snacks, or just distributed the same amount of food differently throughout the day?

Nancy, when you say that the Core plan didn't work for you, do you mean that you found it hard to follow, or that you followed it closely but didn't lose anything?

Ok, I'm off to use the treadmill now!

Sorry, I just saw this today.

I gained 3 pounds the 1 week I tried it! The food wasn't an issue, it was for me basically the being able to eat as much as I wanted that did me in. I guess I took that as permission to eat way too much. On points I am restricted (up to a point) on what to eat since I have the accountability thing going on. So on points I am losing an average of 1.5 to 2.5 pounds a week and I don't feel that I deprive myself at all. I actually think I eat better because I spend a lot of time making choices on what veggies and foods will geive me the lower points I need. So for me, I'm sticking with what works and I don't want to try Core again. I do notice that a lot of the people at the meetings do the points and not core (they ask when you weigh in and most I hear say points)

I also didn't lose anything when I tried to do it all on-line and not attend any meetings. Again for me I need the accountability and knowing I wasn't officially being weighed in I just cheated way too much. I need the meetings and the official weigh-ins.

Basically I think you should try it and see if it is a fit for you. Try Core, see how it goes and then if it isn't what you want then try the Points.

 

[bailey2007]

I knwo people who have lost a good amount of weight on the Core Plan. But I don't like many of the foods that are allowed. I tried it once but only lasted 2 days and then switched to the points plan.

 

[JudyS]

Nancy, thanks for the info.

Judy - what about fruit? There are lots of lower card higher fiber fruits and they are great for breakfast. Maybe have some plain yogurt with splenda and vanilla extract and add berries or chopped apple and cinnamon? Fat free cottage cheese with sliced fruit? Or a sliced banana with cinnamon and skim milk? Or use your 35 points to add to it?...

Thanks for the suggestion, but I've tried fruit for breakfast, and it doesn't work for me. Most fruits get almost 100% of their calories from carbs. Berries have less calories (and therefore less carbs) than other fruits, but they are still pretty much 100% carbs in terms of their calorie make-up. I've been experimenting with different foods, and it looks like my body just can't handle many carbs at all. Adding in lots of fiber doesn't seem to help much. My blood sugar goes soaring (I do blood tests to check it) and I feel really, really sick.

In retrospect, it was wishful thinking for me to believe that my body could handle the Weight Watchers diet. I've been told in the past by an endocrinologist (in this case, a diabetes specialist) to keep carbs down to 125 grams a day; that's about 500 calories, or around 30% of the daily calorie allowance I'd get on WW Points. WW is a low fat diet, and low fat diets get 65% or more of their calories from carbs. So, the carb count on WW is just way too high for me. WW claims that their diet is "low glycemic" and that it helps diabetics control their blood sugar (it says this right in the big booklet they give you when you sign up), but I should have believed my personal doctor, rather than just some literature they give everyone.

So, it looks like I can't do WW Core. The main foods on Core are full of carbs, and even though they are "good" carbs (unrefined, high-fiber), my body just can't handle them.

I don't think going on Points will help. Points is also a low-fat (and therefore high carb) diet. Many low Points foods are very high in carbs, so choosing foods that are lower in Points value won't work for me. In fact, from what I've been reading, Core should be better for controlling blood sugar than Points is.

So, I can't do either of the WW diets; I need a low-carb diet instead. I wish WW had a low-carb diet!

I'm pretty upset about this. (I've actually been crying, off and on, about this. Having my blood sugar going up and down like a rollercoaster doesn't help my mood, that's for sure!) I really want to lose weight and I feel I need the support of going to a meeting. Plus, I've already joined WW and I've paid in advance. So, I'm not sure what to do now. Does WW have any way of providing help to people who get sick following their diet?

 

[fofinia]

I wonder if you have ever read any books specifically for someone with Diabetes and who is a vegetarian? I found a couple listed here:

http://www.vrg.org/journal/diabetes.htm

Maybe you could borrow them from the library. It seems that you should be able to do either points or Core, but you need to take the extra step of avoiding foods that you know don't agree with you because of your diabetes.

If you talk to your leader maybe she can offer some other advice. They are usually very friendly and helpful if you ask.

Good luck!

 

[JudyS]

I wonder if you have ever read any books specifically for someone with Diabetes and who is a vegetarian? I found a couple listed here:

http://www.vrg.org/journal/diabetes.htm...

Thanks for the link! I guess, though, my diabetes must be worse than the diabetes of the people they were studying (either that, or I'm on fewer diabetes meds), because I seem to need a much lower level of carbs to keep my blood sugar down. The diet in the article suggests 50% of calories from carbs, and I seem to need to keep it down to about 25%. My body just can't seem to handle even the healthy grains they recommend. Unfortunately, the low-carb vegetarian foods (nuts, flax, other seeds, healthy oils, breads made with gluten flour) I had been relying on for the bulk of my calories are not allowed or are very limited on WW.

f you talk to your leader maybe she can offer some other advice. They are usually very friendly and helpful if you ask.

Good luck!

I will try that. Thank you!

I really suspect that I won't be able to do either of the WW diets without some serious modification to reduce the carb content. I'm not sure if anyone here goes to WW meetings but follows their own diet -- maybe I'll start a new thread on that.

 

[fofinia]

I was thinking... Why not try the WW points program. And that way you can keep eating the foods you know keep you feeling good for your diabetes. But maybe you need to be eating less of them and by keeping track of points you will be eating less. Points is really a calorie counting diet. It does limit your fat to an extent. But the way points are calculated is mainly focused on the calorie content of food. A food can go up by a point or two for higher fat content. And go down a little for high fiber.

So if you know you can only eat 25% of your daily food from carbs then you can just eat that many points worth of carbs. For ex; Say you get 24 daily points. Then 6 points of that would be safe for you to eat as carbs. The rest of your points would be focused on proteins, etc.

I just figure where you paid all ready to go. Try to make the program fit you. And if you get strength out of going to the meetings then GO! That is a good thing that you found something you like and that you think will help.

Wish you the best!