Oh, there's lots more, Steph!
What happens if you go over the points? Well, WW has found that your points target, PLUS your 35 weekly Flexpoints, is the amount your body probably needs to lose weight. If you go over the points, you probably won't lose.
You don't need to eat WW branded food- it is a convenience, as it's all measured out and counted for you. But learing to eat regular food, the stuff that exists in your everyday life, is really what you're after.
So now you know your points range... next you'll need to know how to figure out the points for various foods, right?
Well, there are lots of food lists on the
www.dwlz.com website that list points. And tonight, I'll email you a little Excel worksheet that will let you calculate points for any food when you know these three things: CALORIES, FAT GRAMS, and FIBER GRAMS. (Fat increases a food's points value, fiber decreases it.)
There are some rules and some suggestions to make this work:
Nutrition- you're probably reducing the amount of food you eat, so it's important that WHAT you eat is healthy. There's not a lot of room for empty calories here. Save the cookies and chips for very occasional treats. This is probably a good time to add a good daily multivitamin, too.
Milk- work two servings a day into your plan. skim milk, low fat yogurt and cheese are three good ways to work this in.
Vegetables and Fruit - try to work 5 servings a day. In general, 1/2 cup is a serving. Many vegetables are very low points, or even no points (when not covered in cheese or sauces!)
Water- try to drink 6-8 servings (8 oz) every day. Make it a habit.
Don't skip meals! Start every day with breakfast, to get your metabolism started. Eat lunch and dinner, fill in with a little snack when you need it.
JOURNAL!!! This is really important, especially when you're getting started. Get a little spiral notebook, and write down EVERYTHING you eat each day, and the associated POINTS value. If you don't know the points value for something, still write it down and make your best guess.
This will help you see where you need to make adjustments, and it will keep you honest to yourself. (If I eat that ice cream, I have to write it down...) When you have weeks with good results, you'll be able to look back on your journal and see how you did that, same with bad weeks...