December Weight Watchers

[matey]

Hello Everyone!

Just thought I'd go ahead and start the new thread for December.

My history:

I was on ww after the birth of my second son. I lost 80 pounds and was really happy with where I was at physically, but more importantly, mentally. Then I accidently got pregnant again. I had my baby girl in August and started up ww again in Sept. I put on more with the pregnancy than I would have liked and it has been very frustrating. Weight loss has been slower this time. I know it is part motivation and I think part being older now (30!!). So, anyway, I am officially starting the NEW Points Plus plan today and hoping I can kick my butt into gear. I know it is the holidays so I will try not to beat myself up too much. I would like to make it through without gaining although making it through and losing would be ideal.

[matey]

Just wanted to add that it seems not many people come to this thread, but I know in the past we had a lot of posters. So, even if you are lurking, you should post. The support is so good for everyone.

[rootzdawta]

I'm having a really hard time adjusting to the new points plan.  I wished that they gave me the option to stick with the old plan but I'm trying to get with the change.  I lost all the weight using the old plan, carefully planning how I'd fit in bananas (my favorite food which were previously 1.5 point) and other fruit.  I don't know . . . if they had warned me at least I could have written down my recipes and the WW points.  So I'm a bit peeved.  :)

[matey]

Originally Posted by rootzdawta 

I'm having a really hard time adjusting to the new points plan.  I wished that they gave me the option to stick with the old plan but I'm trying to get with the change.  I lost all the weight using the old plan, carefully planning how I'd fit in bananas (my favorite food which were previously 1.5 point) and other fruit.  I don't know . . . if they had warned me at least I could have written down my recipes and the WW points.  So I'm a bit peeved.  :)

I know. I have been a little annoyed too. I have recipes printed out in a binder and a lot of them have the old ww points values written on them. Now those dont matter and I guess I have to re-calculate everything. The change has been a little overwhelming. I know I dont do well with change when it comes to anything, though. I have stayed on target today though. I know I have to just try and get the hang of it. I did put my old books on a shelf instead of tossing them like the leader recommended, I was a little afraid to throw away my past success.

[matey]

A post to praise myself. Stayed within on my points yesterday and down on the scale this am. Even had a snack last night! Hoping for another good day.

[rootzdawta]

^^Good for you!  :)  Enjoy your snack!

You know,  I tend to have a little snack/sweet every day.  Something that's just 2-3 points.  That really helps me not go overboard.  What's your (everyone's) approach to treats?

[matey]

I seem to swing both ways. Sometimes a snack to look forward to keeps me going through the day. Sometimes it becomes the ultimate temptation. I'm just so bad about having a little something and losing focus and having a compulsive eating binge fest. There are just so many things I cant keep in the house because I CAN'T control myself. It sucks. I am just such a classic over eater and emotional eater.

[pacificbliss]

Originally Posted by matey 

I seem to swing both ways. Sometimes a snack to look forward to keeps me going through the day. Sometimes it becomes the ultimate temptation. I'm just so bad about having a little something and losing focus and having a compulsive eating binge fest. There are just so many things I cant keep in the house because I CAN'T control myself. It sucks. I am just such a classic over eater and emotional eater.

This is me. I bought some Ghiradelli dark chocolate squares telling myself it would be a good size special treat. 2 points. Then I knocked out the bag in 2 days. It seems I just can't buy that stuff.

I started WW about a week and a half ago and it has been quite th learning experience. It's amazing how many things I would put in my mouth that were 3 points or more. It's definitely not the same as counting calories. Part of it is mental as you get precious few points. Part of it is the incorporation of quality of food. There is definitely a penalty for choosing food like pizza. So far I have lost 3.6 lbs.

[matey]

3.6! Great job! It is surprising when you see how many bites of food here and there can add up. I am also really bad about tasting while cooking. I just want to check the taste for seasoning, but several bites can really make a difference. I bought one of those chocolate bars too, doesn't last.

[Dazedstella]

Hi!

Quick history on me: did WW freshman year in college, lost 75lbs, went from 210 to 135. Kept it off for the most part for 3 years and then gained about 25 right after college (when I moved in with my future DH), before I even got a chance to lose it surprise- pregnant! Ended up after birth at 190 . Joined WW again, lost 40lbs but then was in the middle of a move, house sale and purchase etc so stopped and have been unable to drop that last 15 for the past year. I keep failing to follow through on the plan, getting inspired to bake, eating my daughter's leftovers etc etc etc. I have gone on and off for a year now but I am ready to go now. It's funny I have always found that I am one of those people that have ZERO willpower for a long time and then make up my mind and just do it. So yesterday I got fed up and today I am starting it. I weighed in at 153.8 this morning.

I have to say now that I have spent some time looking over the new pointsplus plan I like it, I LOVE that fruit and squash are both zero points now, I always found myself arguing against spending a whole point on healthy food when I could eat a weight watchers chcoclate cake or something equally atrocious. It makes it so much easier to get my sweet cravings met through fruit when I don't find myself (Stupidly) arguing against wasting points on fruit (that would be one of the mindsets that tripped me up this past year of course). I really dislike, however, the fact that I have to throw away all my knowledge of points values of various foods and that I can't estimate anymore the value of something based on the calories since 1pt roughly equaled 50 calories before. OOO I hear an awake toddler- be back later.

[sweet.p]

hello

I just went back also. I'm a life time member. But it's been over  a decade since I'm  way way way over my goal weight. 

Ohh but I love plus points, i think this is really good, I love that fruit is 0.

But i have a problem As a frugal (cheapo) I hate that they are compelling members to purchase that point converter or  pay for a subscription on the WW website to use the tools there.  

They no longer give out that paper slide to figure out points from a food label,

And we can not do it in our head as the OP said. 50cal  = 1  point is no longer the calculation for +points..

What's a gal to do!!!

[sweet.p]

[sweet.p]

Originally Posted by rootzdawta 

^^Good for you!  :)  Enjoy your snack!

You know,  I tend to have a little snack/sweet every day.  Something that's just 2-3 points.  That really helps me not go overboard.  What's your (everyone's) approach to treats?

I have a similar approach, little treat after dinner.

Used to be an ice pop.

But now that fruit is ZERO i mght eat berries with a shake of powdered sugar.

[matey]

Well, I know it's annoying to buy new, but things are cheap right now. My ww store was out of single books, but they had small member packs for 14.95. These include the dining out and food book, plus a 3 month tracker. Single books are normally 10.00, but I think they are probably on sale too. The calculator is normally 11.95, but through Jan is 5.95, So, I got the member pack and calc for 20.90. We are frugal, low income people, but I made it work. I do have a membership. I cant do it on my own and need people to ride my ass to get me there. I am too heavy right now to trust myself.
 

Originally Posted by sweet.p 

hello

I just went back also. I'm a life time member. But it's been over  a decade since I'm  way way way over my goal weight. 

Ohh but I love plus points, i think this is really good, I love that fruit is 0.

But i have a problem As a frugal (cheapo) I hate that they are compelling members to purchase that point converter or  pay for a subscription on the WW website to use the tools there.  

They no longer give out that paper slide to figure out points from a food label,

And we can not do it in our head as the OP said. 50cal  = 1  point is no longer the calculation for +points..

What's a gal to do!!!

[rootzdawta]

I just don't trust that fruit is zero.  LoL . . . I just can't.  And I don't know . . . I'm still annoyed that I don't have the option to do WW the way I was doing it.  I wasn't one to sub out 2 points of chocolate for 2 points of fruit.  I made sure to get my fruit and then I went for the treat.  I kind of feel like I'm being told what to eat now . . . and the great thing about WW before was I could eat what I wanted within my points.

So sorry to all of you who have to buy new materials.  I hope it doesn't derail your weight loss at all.  

[Dazedstella]

So I am feeling really frustrated by the plus points calculation right now. I am hoping someone does it online only and can help me figure it out, I only do WW online and I was filling in a recipe today for my vegan butternut squash soup and the way the recipe builder added it up was so weird. So it goes 3lbs butternut squash which shows up as 0 pts even in that quantity, 3 medium carrots 0pts, 4 cups vegetable broth 1 pt, 1 2/3 cups light coconut milk 10 pts (and then a variety of other spices that don't matter for this) for 6 servings (although really it made like 8 dinner size portions) so that totals up to 11 pts for the whole pot of soup divided by 6 should be approx 2pts per serving. Instead it said the total was 28 pts so for 6 servings it's 5 pts each.

This kind of makes sense to me as they are counting based on the actual values of 3 lbs of squash etc but if I put it in my tracker individually it would add up to 2 pts and the points tracker itself doesn't take into account multiples of 0 pt items like it used to. I ate 3 medium clementines over the course of the day yesterday- still 0 pts.

I don't know if this makes sense to anyone, it was just kind of confusing. Using the old recipe builder used to be so easy the points for everything showed in the column, it added them up, divided by the number of servings etc. Now it seems like it's including the pts value of 3lbs of squash in the total without ever telling you what the points for that alone is.

Ugh.

On the upside- really yummy lunch today just to share- 1 cup low fat plain yogurt, 3/4 cup frozen blackberries defrosted, 3/4 cup frozen blueberries defrosted and 1 tsp of honey. The only thing that would have made it better would be some shaved almonds or something.

[theoldmommers]

If you're building a recipe it's going to list the points value as if you were just eating it separately.  However, the calculation counts all the carbs, etc. in that food when it's tallying up.  So, the butternut squash or whatever is not 0 points if it is in a recipe.  Not to be negative or anything, but this seems kind of stupid to me.  I recently recalculated my chocolate berry green smoothie and it went from 7 points to 14 points.  It was less points if I didn't add the 4 cups of spinach.  Oh, ok - so I shouldn't eat the spinach? KWIM?  Now I'm just counting my high fruit and veg items as meals instead of recipes.  Surely, the point is to eat as much fresh raw produce as possible.

I think this Points Plus thing will be so much easier to newbies.  The biggest losers (or not) are those of us who were really losing with the old system.

I am trying to embrace the new plan.  I've started planning out my food each day again, but have yet to stay OP.  I'll just keep tweaking it like I did the old one until I hit upon what works for me. 

Express delivery of a big box of butter cookies from DFIL in Paris NOT helpful.  Feelin' the love, though!

[pacificbliss]

Dazedstella I went in and tried it. It is a little confusing. I don't know why it does it that way. I actually came up with 4 pts per serving. For some reason the column on the right does not show any points value for the squash and carrots but if you watch as you're entering them it does include some points at the bottom. For the squash it assigns 13 points. It's a bit misleading. I wonder if it is supposed to do that? If there is a way to report it you might try to.

[matey]

Tonight at my meeting they said the online stuff has had a lot of problems that that there is quite a bit of tweaking going on.

I hardly lost anything, but I am trying not to be frustrated. Cold weather has kept me inside but I have not gotten back into the Y habit. So, I have hardly been moving plus holiday goodies everywhere. I just want to make it through the holidays without gaining.

[matey]

hope to write more later, but lo needs to nuse. I meant to add that on my last post, but when I went to edit to say that, it wouldnt work I have been having so much trouble with the edit button on here. I hate change!