Weight Watchers--October 2010

[SundayCrepes]

Here's the new thread.

[mama_y_sol]

Thanks, Sunday!

In two and a half weeks I have my lifetime weigh in!

I've been running a lot recently, pushing my ds in the stroller on a 3.6 mile look around my town. I know as the weather turns rainy here in the winter, running won't be much of an option anymore. I plan on doing some exercise DVD on bad weather winter days. What are everyone else's winter exercise plans?

[CookiePie]

I have a points question. I make my own plain whole milk organic yogurt, that would be 4 pts/cup, (just like milk) right? I had some for lunch today & I just wanted to be sure! Thanks!!!

[junipermuse]

Hello everyone. We just got back from my SIL's wedding. I'm scared to step on the scale because I did not count points while I was away. We were gone from Thursday night until Sunday night. Now that we're home I'm trying to stick to my daily points without stepping into my weekly points at all. I may skip my weigh in all together though this week. Maybe I'll try to exercise more today as well...

okay just stepped on my bathroom scale and it says I'm down at least .8 lbs since last wednesday. Wow! Maybe all that dancing on Saturday night counteracted the calories I indulged in.

[choochymama]

i'll join in.

just started weight watchers online about 2 weeks ago. i've done it before to the tune of 25 pounds or so but working towards 40-45 this time.

these first few weeks have been a big adjustment. felt tired/hungry A LOT. but just in the past few days i'm starting to get some energy happening.

haven't added the exercise piece yet. i know that will help.

i don't have a scale so i guessed my starting weight. had a chance to weigh in after the first week, down 3 pounds from my estimated starting weight. would love to weigh in this week, but my membership to the rec center lapsed and i'm having a small cash flow problem, so no rec center just yet.

not having a scale is a mixed blessing. would love to see my progress in numbers (i can feel it working, so that helps) but i also feel like not having a scale and the gratification of looking at the numbers reminds me that this is not a quick fix...this is an overhaul in terms of my relationship to food and how i do or don't take care of myself.

feeling patient and grateful to be confronting this issue. it has caused a lot of misery, especially over the last year.

CHEERS! hoping you're feeling good weight watcher mamas!

[Surfacing]

Hello Mamas, I have used Weight Watchers in the past and lost 30 lbs after dd2 was born. I now am almost 3 mos. postpartum with my third baby, and I need to lose 35-40 lbs.

I'm trying to find my old books and stuff, but my kids have played with the booklets and I can only find a few things. I'm trying to piece together a plan by searching for info online - trying not to spend money right now going to meetings, etc. although I know they're really helpful in the beginning (for me anyway).

I've been in a WW thread before and found it motivating and supportive. Hoping to join you Mamas, to give and receive encouragement!

I'm just having difficulty right now finding adequate free info online about points or servings to add when breastfeeding. I like the Core Plan (no time to fiddle around calculating points all day with 3 kids to take care of)... just can't remember how many/what to add. I loved those little notebook thingies they gave us too at the meetings to keep track of what we've eaten in a week. I found it really helpful to just tick off a little box throughout the day when I've eaten or had drunk water. It helped keep an eye on was left in a day if I needed a snack or something.

choochymama - I don't have a scale either and agree that it's a mixed blessing.

Be well, all!

[mama_y_sol]

Hi Surfacing! I think it is awesome you are so motivated just 3 months postpartum. It took me a year and a half after my son was born to join. I wish I had done it sooner.

I totally understand the money issue. Our budget is so tight, it's scary. I have my lifetime weigh in in a week and a half...and I can't wait to start saving the money!

Once I forgot to get one of those tracker books at my meeting, so I went online and googled it. I found a template for the book that some WW had created, and printed off a ton, stapled them together and made my own tracker. I don't think I have the bookmark anymore, but I'll dig around.

[Surfacing]

Thanks Mama_y_sol - hey, weren't we in the same ddc together? (Jan 2008) How is your little one now? It's so awesome that you are doing a lot of stroller running. That's great!

In the end I joined Weightwatchers Online last night. I was clicking around trying to find free stuff and then just decided to bite the bullet. I don't have time for trying to figure out everything and find everything for free. My brain is so fried with exhaustion! The online tracker is so convenient. So far so good! I joined on Friday and wrote an honest accounting of my day. I am doing Core (or whatever it's called now) so I used up my entire 35 weekly allowance on that one day!!! That was instructive!

Seems kind of silly to join on the Thanksgiving long weekend (it's thanksgiving here in Canada on Monday)... but oh well! I am going to be real about it, but eat wisely.

I had gone to a belly dance class with my sister this week and it was a real eye opener -- all that extra flesh jiggles a lot when dancing and it's hard to move! I danced forever before I had kids and was never overweight until I had kids. It's hard to do shoulder shimmies with these big ole boobs, but I guess that control will come when I get more upper body strength. Oh well, onwards and upwards!



Coochymama - I kwym about feeling tired and hungry a lot in the beginning until you get things worked out. It's great when you figure out the balance and right combination of foods to help you feel satisfied.

Junipermuse -

CookiePie - did you get your answer? I just checked online and yes, 1 cup of whole yogurt is 4 points.

[CookiePie]

Thanks Surfacing, that's what I thought!

I've been losing about 1 pound a week for the last 3 weeks. I've done this many, many times. It works, I just don't know why I have to keep repeating history?

[junipermuse]

I have a question for you all. Does anyone notice differences in their weight loss based on where they are in their monthly cycle?

I noticed last time I had my period at the weigh-in immediately afteward, I had my smallest weight loss, and now this month it seems similar. In fact my period started on Thursday and I haven't lost any weight at all and my weigh-in is only two days away. I'm wondering if this is just a normal pattern in my cycle and perhaps I should just expect it every month rather than feel bad that I'm not working hard enough or need to buckle down more you know?

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by junipermuse

I have a question for you all. Does anyone notice differences in their weight loss based on where they are in their monthly cycle?

when I was losing my weight, I generally gained one week per month and lost the other 3 weeks. Pretty much every month, no matter what I did.

I've got to get back on track!!! My DD broke her arm and needed surgery to repair it, and it's been pretty much a nightmare. Meals have been totally screwed up, I haven't worked out in ages, and all my clothes are too tight!

We were just barely starting to get back to normal, and my other child has strep. I haven't been to a meeting in like a month and I've no idea what I weigh (but it sure isn't my goal weight!)

I will get back to my goal weight!! I know I can.

[Surfacing]

Linda that's a lot of stress. Your poor kids! I hope they both feel better soon. I totally hear you on regressing to old habits when the stress is too high or life is too busy. Sometimes it's just about survival.

[Surfacing]

Ever since I was pregnant with my son, I now have a rash from things I never used to be allergic to. When I was PG with him, I would get a rash from certain breads (grains), as well as PB and Nutella. Now that he's 3 mos. old, I did not expect this to continue! I am getting a rash ever since I've been eating oatmeal and wheat puffs.

Has anyone else had this happen? Developing a rash/allergy later in life to grains after having kids??? Weird.

How is everyone doing?

[mama_y_sol]

Sorry to hear about the rash issue, Surfacing. I kind of wish nutella gave me a rash- if there are pretzels in our house, they call me to dunk them into nutella. it's bad.

I'm a little off track- up about a pound or two. I just haven't been that careful with portions, combined with fighting off a cold. WI is tomorrow, so I'll see what happens then. I am really hoping to get a good long run in tomorrow morning.

[choochymama]

checking back in

well, i'm down 9 pounds since starting. i think i'm just around 5 weeks into it. just trying to be patient.

one problem that's becoming more obvious is how my husband is/isn't supporting me in this journey. he wants to lose weight too but shows no willingness to change his eating habits. he believes he can just work out hard and it will come off (his method has not worked in the almost 9 years we've been together).

i've done ww 2x before while with him. i lose weight. he does not. he works at night and i do fine on those nights but when he's off it's NUTS. no wonder we're both overweight!

i decided to track my points this week knowing i was going way over. i am at -60 for the week?? seriously. that's me having used my extra weekly points, going down a point per day for having lost 9 pounds, etc. he had three nights off this week.

i'm proud that i'm tracking even though i'm going way over. -60 is like 2.5 days of extra food?

honestly, i'm a little depressed about it today and am thinking the only solution is preparing my own meals separate from him. no more wine. i don't enjoy it anyway lately. it just puzzles me that he has no interest/desire to change his eating habits and in some ways i feel like he wants to bring me down with him.

he would deny this but his behavior says otherwise. this troubles me in terms of my ability to lose the weight and keep it off.

ughh.

other than that...being on the plan helps me feel like i'm gaining a degree of control over a space that gets way out of control quickly.

[Heavenly]

choochymama - Get healthy for yourself and take responsibility for your own choices and you'll be successful. I know it can be hard when someone else is eating whatever they want but deep down I realize it is a cop out. Stay on points and get healthy for you. Don't worry about him at all. My DH keeps saying he wants to lose weight too but I have given up on having anything to do with it.

Hello all, I am new to this thread. Just joined a WW meeting last night, diet started today. I have done it multiple times before but mostly by myself so I am hoping the meetings will help. I also usually waste all my points on non-filling stuff so I am trying to focus on the filling foods so I don't feel starving all the time. So far today I have had a 1 point WW bar, a smoothie made with the WW smoothie mix and one medium banana (only 2.5 points total!), a large salad with 1 tablespoon calorie-wise dressing, a lean cuisine meal, 30 pretzels, 2 points of cheese and 3 baby dills. I am slightly hungry but I know it's in my mind because that is a lot of food! lol

[GuavaGirl]

Hi Ladies, I hope it's okay for me to drop in. I was thinking about going to weight watchers, but I'm just wondering how practical the calorie counting is going to be for me since I don't eat much out of a box and I am always making new recipes, and I'm really not going to be into the weight watchers food products either. I'm mostly into whole foods. A friend said that there are 2 ways to track your food. Can someone enlighten me?

Also, for the weigh in, do you just wear your normal clothes?

...and anything I might need to know for the first meeting?

Thanks!

[Heavenly]

They don't do 2 ways to track anymore, that was the old plan. Now it is called the momentum plan. You track everything and focus on eating lots of filling foods (veggies, whole grains, lean meats, etc). You can most definitely do it without buying packaged foods. If you sign up for the online tools (included in the Monthly Pass price) there is a recipe builder. You input in all your ingredients and nutritional info and it calculates the points per recipe for you. You can save all your recipes so you only have to do the calculations once. WW encourages eating whole, healthy foods and you don't have to buy any of their boxed products to do it. In regards to weigh-in, yes you just wear regular clothes. Try not to wear something really heavy like a cable knit sweater! lol I just wear jeans, a t-shirt, whatever.

[mama_y_sol]

Guavagirl, I don't buy hardly any packaged foods and I NEVER buy any weight watchers products. I am definitely into whole foods and I really think ww supports that. Once I got the monthly pass, I also got e-tools. Linda suggested here to me to try the recipe builder online. I love the recipe builder. You plug in all the ingredients and it calculates the points for you.

I'm not sure what the two ways your friend means. I am guessing the first way is to count points, and the second way is to eat freely from a list of certain foods (think whole grains, fruits, veggies, beans, lean meats, etc). I have not tried this second way of counting points, since I tend to go out of control with my portion sizes. I always thought "it's healthy and whole foods, I can eat as much as I want", well, no, I tend to go overboard.

I weigh in in normal clothes. I avoid super bulky things like jeans and sweaters. I know those will add a pound or two extra. However, I don't like "playing games" with the scale, true weight loss will show next week regardless of what you are wearing, you know? Some people at my meeting will weigh in naked just to see a loss. I don't get it, at the end of the day, clothes or no clothes, you weight what you weigh, why play games?

Good luck at your first meeting!

Tonight is my Lifetime Weigh In. I think I am totally on track to earn it. What did you lifetime members do to celebrate?

[junipermuse]

It's funny about the weigh-in, yesterday at my meeting someone commented that I was brave to wear jeans. But I always wear jeans. I do try to wear the same basic thing for weigh in every week so it doesn't affect my weight changes. So it's always a pair of jeans and a nursing tank. Maybe a t-shirt too, but no jacket, sweatshirt, sweater etc. And always barefoot. I do weigh naked at home, but I keep track of that weight separately. Also I don't like to be surprised at the meeting on whether I've lost or not. I want to go in knowing, so I usually weigh myself again at home with my clothes on the morning of my meeting just so I'll know my weight going in.


I'm feeling kind of down though because this week I only lost .6 of a lb and the week before I stayed exactly the same. I'm hoping for a bigger loss this next week, so I'm going to try to exercise more and use less of my Weekly Points.

In better news, my dh decided to start doing WW with me. He has gained weight with both my pregnancies and hasn't lost any of it. He lost a lot of weight with me last time I did WW, but said he didn't want to do it without me. I've been doing it now for about 8 weeks and that's how long it's taken him to decide he was ready to do it too. I think it'll be pretty easy for him, since I'm already doing the calculations for dinner. We've picked out a couple items at local restaurants near his work that he can eat for lunch too. He pretty much has to cut out the junk food and pick some healthier snacks. He gets a lot of points too, so he's been doing it a couple days and it hasn't been too difficult. He isn't going to meetings, he's just doing it online, but he loves the app for the iphone. He thinks it makes everything so much easier (I like the app too, but he's such a geeky tech-loving guy, it's perfect for him). I'm really happy to be doing it together, though I know he'll probably lose faster than me (though he does have more to lose) so I'll try not to let my slower loss discourage me.