Weight Watchers--September 2010

[SundayCrepes]

Here's the new thread

[SundayCrepes]

lovemore I agree with the poster in the last thread. You need to eat more/better.

How about an omelet for breakfast.

1 egg plus 1 egg white (1 point) cooked in a small frying pan with non-stick spray. Add in a bunch of veggies, 1 point worth of shredded cheese. It's pretty filling. Then you could have a slice or 2 of high fiber whole grain bread. (I like the Trader Joe's brand with 6 grams of fiber.) Put just a bit of all fruit jelly on it for taste.

When I first joined WW I was eating a lot. The above breakfast kept me full for a long time. Now I don't know that I could eat that much food for breakfast.

For lunch, cauliflower soup, 1 point per 1 1/3 cups:

1 tbsp olive oil
2 leeks chopped about 1.5 cups (I just use onion)
6 cups broth
2 pounds chopped cauliflower, frozen or fresh
1/2 cup fat-free half and half (I use lowfat milk)
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add leeks and cook. Add broth and cauliflower and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add in 1/2 and 1/2 and nutmeg. Puree with hand held blender or in food processor or blender.

Recipe from: http://www.amazon.com/Weight-Watcher...3442667&sr=1-1

Sometimes I keep a batch of this in the fridge just so I'll have a low point, easy lunch. A couple cups of this is pretty filling. You can eat it with salad and a little bit of protein.

I'd stay away from the peanut butter. 1 point is almost nothing. I love almond butter and jelly sandwiches but gained 5 pounds eating them. Even using high fiber bread, there's still 9 points in one sandwich so they are a special treat.

And I'd stay away from too many english muffins. They just aren't very filling.

When going out of Mexican, take your own pre-portioned amount of baked tortilla chips and avoid the greasy restaurant ones that come with a bottomless container. Eat what you bring and stop.

And just don't eat ice cream.

[SundayCrepes]

one more thing, get yourself some good WW cookbooks. I posted this in the last thread, but I really like these:

http://www.amazon.com/Weight-Watcher...3442667&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Weight-Watcher...3443259&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Weight-Watcher...3443288&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Low-Fat-Vegeta...3443342&sr=1-1

The last one doesn't have the fiber content but I would just wing it.

[akwifeandmomma]

Subbing!

[phathui5]

I'm still here. Went to a meeting this morning. We're going to be at the beach for a week. I'm a little nervous because I'm going to be away from WW online and am going to try to remember to track on paper.

[mama_y_sol]

I went and weighed in last night: 141.6!

My goal is 141. So close! My leader said I have to actually be at 141.0 to "meet goal." I'm not sure if I agree with that. I probably could have gotten naked last night and reached goal. At this point, I am eager to make lifetime, so we can save the $. Just .6 away. It's hard to believe I am finally "here". It's been a year, and 43 pounds lost. My goal is to be below 141 at the next meeting.

[akwifeandmomma]

Originally Posted by mama_y_sol

I went and weighed in last night: 141.6!

My goal is 141. So close! My leader said I have to actually be at 141.0 to "meet goal." I'm not sure if I agree with that. I probably could have gotten naked last night and reached goal. At this point, I am eager to make lifetime, so we can save the $. Just .6 away. It's hard to believe I am finally "here". It's been a year, and 43 pounds lost. My goal is to be below 141 at the next meeting.

Awesome!!! So inspiring. Way to go!

[TwinMom]

I just joined WW two days ago and am so excited to see this thread! So far so good, though I'm pretty sure I'm not eating enough. I know from past experience that once I get into the WW mentality it is hard for me to allow myself to eat foods that cost points, which is just crazy, right? I have 50+ pounds to lose, so I'm in it for the long haul.

ETA: I'm only doing it online, do NOT want to go to meetings!

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by TwinMom

So far so good, though I'm pretty sure I'm not eating enough. I know from past experience that once I get into the WW mentality it is hard for me to allow myself to eat foods that cost points, which is just crazy, right?

You might try making a point budget based on your daily points. Make a target number of points for each meal and for a couple of snacks. It helps me!

[TwinMom]

Thanks for the idea for dividing up points for each meal. I think part of my problem is that I'm afraid to "waste" points early in the day when I'm not really hungry. I logged my first weigh-in today and lost two pounds, but that amount could easily be water weight. Next week my goal is to do the 30 Day Shred at least three days.

I forgot that all of this week's activity points (7) and extra points (35) would disappear today; I had planned on wasting them all on wine tonight. Oh, well, now I know!

[akwifeandmomma]

-3.2 today for a total of 5.6 Got my first 5# star.

[TwinMom]

Congrats on the 5# star!!

[mama_y_sol]

great job akwifeandmomma!

[Fruitful4Him]

subbing

I have been doing weight watchers unofficially at home, loosely, for a couple of weeks. I officially signed up on Friday. I wanted to have my first official weigh in asap and my city has meetings going on nearly every day *somewhere*, so I drove across town to get started. I didn't care for the leader. She was nice but didn't really seem to know what she was talking about (very scripted sounding and just didn't seem like she really KNEW her stuff even though she has been a leader for some time apparently). I am going to try a meeting closer to home this coming week. Will it throw off my weigh in days if I weighed in Friday and then weigh in for THIS week on a Tuesday, for example? I just would ideally like to find a WW group that is a better fit, I think.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by Fruitful4Him

Will it throw off my weigh in days if I weighed in Friday and then weigh in for THIS week on a Tuesday, for example?

not really.

In the long run, it's nice to settle into a regular meeting day/weigh in with a leader you like. I like to start my WW week for tracking and weekly points on the same day as my weigh in. I think of WW in one-week increments and that just works best for me.

But for right now, just keep going to meetings until you find one you like!!!! A meeting you like can be the difference between meeting your goal and not meeting your goal.

You can go to more than one meeting a week, too, but you only weigh in for the first one. Just show them your stuff proving that you are paid up, and you check out other meetings.

Good luck!! We just moved cross country so I'm meeting shopping again.

[junipermuse]

hey guys I want to join in here too. I have done weight watchers several times before with more or less success. The last time was after dd was born, but I quit because of the money. But the time before that was before dd was born and I was down to a very healthy weight then. I gained a lot during pregnancy though and I have never really lost it all. The time that I lost a lot of weight, my husband did also and we were both our skinniest since college. I would love if that happened again.

Anyway so I joined last Thursday, though I may switch to Wednesday meetings because they're earlier in the day, and I like to weigh in before I eat. I took both my kids with me which was a challenge, but we survived. I think I've been doing pretty well so far. Though I'm lucky to have those extra 5 points for partial nursing. I'm kind of glad I didn't start when ds was younger because I would have been sad to give up the other extra 5 points when I started him on solids. I haven't been too overly hungry though I've definitely been using up the extra weekly points, I don't think I'll have to dip into my activity points which is good.

I'm really glad that i'm getting more exercise this time, than I was after dd was born. I think part of it is the more mild weather here. We can walk everyday because even in the middle of summer the mornings and evenings are cool. And my dd was horrible about sitting in a stroller as a baby/young toddler, but she's better now and ds enjoys riding with his big sister, so now that its part of the routine its pretty easy. I'm hoping after christmas money won't be so tight and I can join the Y again and start working out with weights and stuff in addition to just walking and the occasional video

[Fruitful4Him]

Originally Posted by junipermuse

hey guys I want to join in here too. I have done weight watchers several times before with more or less success. The last time was after dd was born, but I quit because of the money. But the time before that was before dd was born and I was down to a very healthy weight then. I gained a lot during pregnancy though and I have never really lost it all. The time that I lost a lot of weight, my husband did also and we were both our skinniest since college. I would love if that happened again.

Anyway so I joined last Thursday, though I may switch to Wednesday meetings because they're earlier in the day, and I like to weigh in before I eat. I took both my kids with me which was a challenge, but we survived. I think I've been doing pretty well so far. Though I'm lucky to have those extra 5 points for partial nursing. I'm kind of glad I didn't start when ds was younger because I would have been sad to give up the other extra 5 points when I started him on solids. I haven't been too overly hungry though I've definitely been using up the extra weekly points, I don't think I'll have to dip into my activity points which is good.

I'm really glad that i'm getting more exercise this time, than I was after dd was born. I think part of it is the more mild weather here. We can walk everyday because even in the middle of summer the mornings and evenings are cool. And my dd was horrible about sitting in a stroller as a baby/young toddler, but she's better now and ds enjoys riding with his big sister, so now that its part of the routine its pretty easy. I'm hoping after christmas money won't be so tight and I can join the Y again and start working out with weights and stuff in addition to just walking and the occasional video

I also like to weigh in early before I get going for the day, etc. Good Luck with Weight Watchers. I am gearing up to recalculate my points soon and I am not looking forward to any sort of point reduction, lol, so I totally understand.

[is it puppies?]

I just joined today! I had to quit last year when I became pregnant. I gained about 65 lbs, now I am only about 10lbs over what I was last spring before I lost nearly 30lbs so I feel okay about things. I have a goal of about 50lbs by Feb for a mexican vacation with the inlaws who are a bunch of skinny minis.

DD is 12 weeks now and I am EBF- the extra 10 points puts me at 41 points which is CRAZY! I am a bit concerned though- does anybody know what the current guide lines are re: weight loss of only 1lb per week? Is this accurate? I'm sure I have found other information that is more up to date.
Looking forward to losing weight

[junipermuse]

Well I lost 2.2 lbs this week. Yay! That's more than I expected considering I've already been losing weight slowly for a couple months using spark people. I just think weight watchers is easier to keep track of then spark people, and the weigh-in is a big motivating factor for me.

So I have a question for everyone. In the past when I've done weight watchers I've always done it full on with low-fat everything and lots of frankenfoods with the added fiber and fat removed and artificial sweetener. But deep down I don't feel this is really healthy. I really want to aim to make this a fairly whole-foods diet. I really believe in a traditional foods diet except my guess is I just don't work physically hard enough to make that many calories work for me. So here's the question where are you on the spectrum? What sacrifices do you make to have whole foods (real butter, avocados, nuts) etc? And what do you choose to eat that is more processed but helps the weight come off better? If you don't buy in to the whole Traditional foods/ fat is good for you mind-set that's okay too. I was just wondering what others think.

For me I'm really trying to find a balance. Like I will still have regular full-fat butter on my toast (though only 1/2 a tablespoon), but instead of whole milk in my cereal, I'll have 2%. I also am trying to only have processed food as a treat, so something I'll really enjoy.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by junipermuse

So here's the question where are you on the spectrum? What sacrifices do you make to have whole foods (real butter, avocados, nuts) etc?

I try to keep animal fat to a minimum, but I eat olive oil, nuts, etc. Part of this isn't just about weight, but about heart health. I follow a Mediterranean style of eating. The core of my diet is vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. I eat beans almost every day and fish a couple of times a week. My snacks are usually fruit.

(I also love to bake cookies )

I use low fat diary, such as 1% milk and 2% cheese, and don't consider them frankenfoods.

Meat is more of a side dish/flavoring for me. I cut back on animal fat by using one whole egg and 2 egg whites in place of 2 eggs.

The main sacrifice I make is being super careful on portions on things like nuts.

And what do you choose to eat that is more processed but helps the weight come off better?

skinny cow ice cream bars!!! I love them, and having them on hand helps me stay on plan! Sometimes, just knowing I can go and grab one if I really want me makes me feel happy (without actually eating it!)

And sometimes I drink crystal light or diet soda. I think they are both chemical soup, but they taste interesting and I get bored.

For me I'm really trying to find a balance.

I'm trying to find balance, too. I want to eat for long term health as well as weight management. I want something that it truly livable long term. I'm trying to find the middle path.