Joined WW today.....seems a little overwelming...any advice?

[wiskband]

Hi all, I am making the switch today, I am going from low carb to WW. I decided to do this because I have not rreally lost anything in about 3 weeks, granted I have strayed on the weAkends but, while I was losing I was splurging a litle onthe weAkends. I just plateaued. I did loss 2 pounds and though the plataeu was gone but I gained it back. I think my body is ready for a change.

So I weighed in @ WW and bought the just the complete food companion. It seems so hard to look every single thing up. but Ill do it1 My only Q so far is I am confused about the activity points? How does that work?
Also it states I have 22 points a day AND 35 FLEX points a week? Is that correct?
Anyway any info is appreciated!
thanks
renee

 

[MelanieC]

Hey Renee,
Welcome to WW land! It does take getting used to, but once you do its really easy.

If you are 150-174 you get 22 Target points. You must eat at least that number each day. Each week you get 35 flex points that you can eat any way you want. Spread them out, or save them and eat all in one day or over a weekend. Very strange at first, but try to use them to your advantage. Really stick to your target each day, and use the 35 when you are in those situations where you need more points. Going out to eat, extra hungry one day, surprise situations etc.

Activity points are based on your weight, (light, moderate or heavy exercise) and time. In your 3rd week (somewhere around there), you get an exercise slider (like the points slider). I have the info on my palm pilot.

Example- 45 min of moderate exercise at 142 pounds is about 2 points of AP's. 1 hour of moderate exercise is roughly 2.5 points. I round, so it might be slightly different. My palm figures to the exact number. The slider will round too.

I have the complete food guide in word format, a points calculator for the computer and a pda program. Let me know if you need any of these.

Good luck, and don't hestitate to ask questions if you get confused.

Most important tips:
1. Journal- Very important. Don't skip this step
2. Weigh your food. Measuring cups, digital food scale, teaspon and tablespoons. I use these all daily. I think a digital scale is a good investment after you get used to doing this.

 

[Samandmom]

I do WW online only. All I have to do is type up the food item I am eating and it will tell me the POINTS. Even though you are going to the meetings do you have acess to the online POINTS guide? I visit a few sites. click here for Dottie's site She has POINTS for alot of restaurants. Also I have found another site recently Click here for Aimee's site. She has great recipes that I will give a try after we come back from our trip.
I eat a single serving of sugar free jello and 2 TBS of fat free cool whip for 0 POINTS!!! I eat one every night.
Some people like take their 35 FLEX POINTS and just add them on to their daily POINTS. So instead of 22 a day you would get 27 a day or can save them for your weakends.

 

[wiskband]

Sam........
I am not sure about on line being part of the walk in WW program...I was just on the site and it appears to be something different. I am assuming that you pay for this seperatly. I have to be careful about how I spend, I still have Curves and now WW both together is about 88 bucks a month! lol. Any way thanks for advice and I already have a frig full of Jellp sugar free ( was doing LC previsously). Also, I have been on that Dotties site, do you know if those points are the same as WW? This would avoid me having to buy the dining out book.

Mel c.......
Thanks alot mel. I dont have a PDA but anything for the computer would be great! Is it easy to download? I am illiterate with this thing, but, simply things I can do! lol.
As far as journlaing, I do that every evening on this site in the jouranls area.
Also, are digital scales expensive? I would consider this, I plan on watching food intake forever, lol.
thanks again.......
renee

 

[marsh0013]

hey renee, welcome to ww! i didn't know you were switching!

the sugar free jello w/cool whip free can definitely be a life saver. very good tip. also, planning out your day ahead of time really helps to see that you're getting enough veggies/milk and also hitting your points.

and yeah, dottie's points are ww points. it's a really good guide to use when you don't know how many points something is. other than that, you can figure out foods with nutritional labels with your slider (i assume they gave you one at your meeting..i do online, so i don't have one). but you can also use this formula calories/50 + fat/12 - fiber/4 = points (just make sure to cap the fiber at 4).

for the food scale, i have an analog food scale, and it can be a pain. i want to buy a digital one, to make my life easier. i have to look at the analog one from the same angle to make sure i'm getting the right reading. so annoying! so i'd definitely suggest investing in a digital scale.

good luck and feel free to ask any other questions you might have!

 

[MelanieC]

Renee,

I bought the digital scale at the WW meeting and it was $39. I heard that target has them for more around $29, not sure if there is any different. Years ago I got an analog one, and the darn thing was so hard to tell if I was being acurate. It depended on how you looked at it. The digital is so easy to tell and If I am adding nuts for instance, I can be exact!

Don't waste your money on the WW dining out guide, unless you need it to be transportable. This is why I love having my PDA. I have the complete food guide, and all the restaurants, points calculator, activity calculator and journal with me at all times. I can easily sit and look at a menu and figure out my points right there. The dining guide only has FF restuarants that you can look up at Dotties or on the FF restaurants web site. Seems silly to pay $5 for that. I have never purchased it since I already have the info.

I will send you some stuff tonight, tomorrow night at the latest. I will send you the actual files (zipped), you should just have to click on them and open them using the program that your computer uses to unzipp files. Should be easy, let me know if you have problems.

Marsh - I forgot about that VERY IMPORTANT planning your day out. I do this all the time. Always think ahead. If I know I am having pizza for dinner, I write that in my journal ahead of time. Then I know that I have to eat less during the day. Sometimes its good to plan out everything your going to eat. Planning before going out to eat helps, especially if you don't have the luxury of a PDA. If you know what you are going to eat before you get there, you will be prepared and do great!

 

[sharoncity]

Hi Renee-
I do online WW also. You may want to look into it further. It ends up being cheaper than walk-in WW and I find it sooooo convienent! I enter the food as I eat it. I can look anything up VERY easily by typing it in, I can calculate pts for anything not listed, and it adds up pts for the day, week as I go along. I can tell in a second where I stand as far as flex pts and such. It also assigns activity pts automatically once I enter what I did and how long. I honestly don't think I'd do as good a job writing everything down if I did it by hand. Plus with a click here or there, I can go back to previous weeks to see what I did or ate. JEESH - do I sound like a commercial or what??!! I paid $45 up front for 3 mos. $15 per month is a bargain compared to walk-in.

Whatever you do, good luck! We will all be here to cheer you on!!
Onward and downward!!
TTFN-
Sharon

 

[wiskband]

Sharon........
that sounds great ! ( the online WW ) Definitely what I need because i have a tough time just getting to the gym! My hubby works alot of unpredictable hours so I can enver really plan on going anywhere ( 4 kids here)....I guess Ill sign up and just weigh in at the gym. The bbok I bought I guess can still be used for when I don;t want to go and look up on line.

MelC......
yea any info you send would be great. I hope I can download/zip unzip whatever it is! lol.

Anyway I may sound like I am making excuses but I did have alittle trouble today with the whole WW thing.
I am painting my entire kitchen and cabinets ETC. and have little time to do this so eating has been put on the back burner but I did try!
(B) nuked a hot pocket breakfast burrito. I could not find this in the WW book, it is by Nestle... I did however use the cardboard calculator and found that this was 7 points.

About coffee, is that any points????

Did not have any lunch being that I was in a painting frenzie and by dinner once again, I was just so hungry kitchen was wet, I sent the hubby out to BK.
I went on dotties site to check out points because I do not have the dining out book. I found that what I ordered was
chciken sandwich is 13 points I had a few fries considering this a small fry 5 and small onion ring 4. totaling OMG 22!
I did take one side of the bread off........(due to previous LC habits lol).
So I guess that I went up to 29 points.......
Well....this takes alot of getting used to!
I have no room for snacks.......
and just realized I had a coffe with half and half which is another point!


Did anyone else have these problem when they started?

tomorrow Ill do better......gonna start planning it out better.
thanks guys.
renee

 

[MelanieC]

Hi Renee,

PM me your e-mail address and I will send you those files.

Don't worry about today, use it as a learning experience. You can't have DH run to BK without looking up what you want BEFORE you order it. Until you get used to all of this and you know exactly what to order. As far as breakfast goes. That was a high points breakfast, but I am sure you aren't stocked with low points things. Plus it takes time to learn what you like that is low points. It will come with time. Plus, with all you had going on, it doesn't make it easy.

Try not to skip a meal too. That is setting yourself up for worse things later. Even if you eat your lunch piece meal, (1 oz low fat cheese, crackers, yogurt.....basically just eat easy grab type stuff) so your blood sugar stays constant.

Main thing is to not stress if you go over your points. Just use it as a learning tool, plan better for the next time and move on. Let me know if you need some meal ideas. I usually have a piece of whole wheat bread and 1 tablespoon of all natural peanut butter for breakfast. That is the best meal for the morning to keep you from feeling hungry! Instant oatmeal, kashi cereal, an egg cooked in pam on a piece of whole wheat bread. There are so many ideas.

 

[maciec]

The key to any diet is commitment! I have bee on WW for almost a month now and I have lost 9 pounds. I usually diet 5 or 6 days of the week and leave 1 day where I am not so strict on myself. I don't journal that day at all. Such as today. I had all kinds of yummy foods (ice cream, steak, cookies) and I didn't think twice about it because it's my free day. Now tomorrow will be a totally different day. I usually start off my day (9am) with a half of a grapefruit (1pt) and a 1/2 cup of Raisin Bran with skim milk (3pts). I have always liked the cereal and the grapefruit it was the skim milk that has taken some getting use to. I usually try and get to lunch no later than 2pm. I usually try to stay around 5-7 points. For dinner I have become very creative. What helps me is that I only have to cook for me and not DH. I up the majority of my points that I have left over for dinner with the exception of 3 that I save for dessert (1/2 cup orange sherbert).

I carry my slide with me to work and to the grocery store. I went to Dottie's site and printed out the points for all of the places that we ever or would ever go to eat, put them in a binder, and keep it in my car.

Until you get the hang of things you really need to look things up in the food guide or use the slide.

You can do it. It will take just a little bit of your time until you get use to it. You already know what's good for you and what's not. Just make wise decisions.

This is the first time that I have EVER stayed on a diet this long. I was just disgusted with myself after my son was born in September that I knew I had to do something. Before Nico was born I weighed in at 210. After I had him I dropped to 180 and stalled. Now I am at 171. My goal is 140 and I won't be extremely happy until I get there......but I know I will

Melissa

 

[Nancy]

It is hard to get used to but it is so worth it! Dotties site has great tips and lots of info. I just went there for the first time last week and was amazed. I think what I found hardest was eating 3 meals a day. I NEVER ate breakfast before WW. Lunch was junk food. Now I eat breakfast, I actually eat more food for lunch then before because I stick with salads w/ ff dressings and usuually a Lean Cuisine or Smartones dinner. Dinner I eat whatever the family has, I just have my salad and eat smaller portion sizes. It is hard getting used to thinking in terms of points, but it becomes second nature and now that's how I look at all food. WW has been the only time I have ever lost weight...and I'm amazed that I'm still doing it. It really is a life style change.