Weight Watchers Question

[poorlittlefish]

Hello!

I am hoping for some thoughts from all you WW pro's.  I am BFing my 10month old so I am on the nursing mom's plan which gives me 36pts per day.  I have about 15lbs to lose and last week was my first week.  I lost 4lbs my last week and used about half of my weekly points.  I haven't been able to log any activity points.  This week I used all my weekly points for 2 parties that I had and am terrified that I won't lose.  Do you all use all your weekly points?  Not sure how to use those--save them or just use them.

Also, I feel like I am stuck in a rut already because I don't know what foods are lower in points.  I do the online version and since I can't bring my computer with me to the store I find I keep eating only greek yogurt, eggs, low fat cheese and fruit and veggies.  What are some favorite meals that you all have?  I eat breakfast and lunch and work and those are the meals that I seem to need help with. 

Thank you for you help.  This weight is still from my 3 year old DD so I am really hoping that this is the key to getting rid of it.

[Attila the Honey]

Hi!  I've only been on WW a month, so I am far from an expert but I had a couple of thoughts.

First of all, YES I do eat my weekly points.  I lost 10.2 my first month, and maybe I could have lost more if I didn't eat my points but I find being able to eat foods I love and enjoy regularly to be really a big part of sticking with this plan.  I don't count activity points though, mostly because I am not doing very much activity yet.  lol

I really love the hungry girl site for recipes:  http://www.hungry-girl.com (click on "Chew On This").  Every now and then she uses a scary ingredient like sugar free pancake syrup, but mostly her recipes are fun and easy.  :) I also like http://www.laaloosh.com for WW recipes and snack ideas.  I like to snack on string cheese, hardboiled eggs, crispbread with almond butter, veggies with dips made from greek yogurt, granola bars, cottage cheese and apple sauce, lots of fruit, popcorn, pop chips (! so delicious!), toast and pumpkin butter, bagel thins with whipped cream cheese, smoothies...  I guess my list doesn't differ too much from yours, actually, so I will be interested in seeing what others recommend. :)

[Linda on the move]

Hello!  I'm a lifetime member.

When I was losing I usually used my weekly points. I found that I was more honest on the program when I used them.  From talking to other members, I think that most members are more successful when they use weekly points because they spend more time "on plan."  Often, the reality of people who don't use WPs is that they just go completely off plan for all sorts of little things. Life happens, and living on exactly your daily points every day from now on isn't realistic, so relax. You are learning to eat in a more moderate and yet realistic way. 

Second, if you eat your WP while loosing, you keep them when you get to lifetime. If you don't eat them now, you'll have to experiment to see if you can add them in later or not. Better to eat them now!

I do meetings and not on-line, so I'm not as good at the on-line resources. I have a couple of WW cookbooks that have the points listed, so I do a lot of my meal planning from those. I think with the on-line stuff, there are recipes you can use.

My breakfast and lunch are pretty repetative. Breakfast is usually either egg beaters with lots of vegies OR oatmeal with dried cranberries. My favorite mid morning snack is a FF latte. Lunch is often leftovers from my nice meal the night before, or a salad with tuna on it, a sandwich made from an Arnold's Sandwich thin, or soup.  I make really nice dinners, but I just can't get excited about putting much effort into breakfast and lunch.

Part of the key for me staying on plan is a meal plan with all our dinners for the week listed, and then having the stuff on hand to make those meals. Are you making a plan before going to the store?

[SundayCrepes]

I know your post is old, but I'll still answer it in case you or anyone want info.

I am a lifetime member. In January I went 5 pounds above my range. I hadn't counted points in months. So last month when I started counting points again it was on the new plan and I'm loving it, mainly because fruit is zero points.

While I'm losing weight I don't use my weekly points unless something comes up. This is working fine for me. My leader under the old system said some people lose weight eating their weekly points, some don't. I don't know if that's true of the new system or not. Last year most weeks I lost 0.2 pounds with a random larger lost. I just kept at it and eventually the weight came off. Now I have been averaging 0.6 to 0.8 pounds lost per week. I don't know if that's the plan or if I'm better at keeping track of points.

Regarding the nursing. You will have to wait and see how your body responds to the points you are using. I started out last year tandem nursing. Then my son stopped nursing to sleep and my daughter cut back how much she was taking in. I went from losing to gaining. I had to cut back my points after that.

Buy yourself a weight watchers calculator. You can buy them off ebay if you can't get one at a meeting place. Take it grocery shopping if you need to.

I mainly cook with whole foods. I plan out a menu for the week and make my grocery list off of the menu. I have a list of about 30 different meals I like cooking for dinner. I consult the list to come up with what I'll cook each night of the week. I got the list by buying some weight watchers cookbooks (they're my favorite cookbooks, they're really yummy, healthy recipes.) I also went online and searched for weight watchers recipes. Or I used/adapted old recipes.

We recently went gluten free so I am having to learn new breakfast ideas. Right now I make a smoothie every morning. I fill the 48 ounce blender with frozen fruit, add a cup of unrefined peach juice, 2 cups 2% milk, and blend. I share it between me and the kids. I count 7 points for my share. I am just now learning to cook with coconut flour and almond flour so we'll see what other breakfast ideas I come up with.

For lunch I usually eat leftovers. For homeschooling park day I pack almond butter, jelly, and rice cakes (plus peanut butter and cream cheese for the kids) and I make rice cakes for lunch. 1 rice cake with almond butter and jelly is 4 points so I usually eat two of those. Plus lots of fruit if I need to fill up.

Tonight for dinner I made a crockpot potato soup with mushrooms and pasta. Soup was 6 points for one cup and 1/2 cup tinkyada brown rice pasta mixed in was 3 points. (I LOVE tinkyada brand rice pasta and highly recommend it. It's whole grain, but it's lighter than whole wheat.) Plus we had cantaloupe and leftover pineapple.

Last night was black bean and brown rice tacos with lettuce, tomato, and avocado. Fresh pineapple on the side. When I make brown rice for dinner I make extra and freeze the extra on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. When frozen I put it into Ziplock brand bags (they are BPA free.) Then I can just microwave how much I need for one dinner. Two tacos was 12 points (because of the avocado.)

Later this week we'll have curried bean soup over quinoa. I make a yellow vegetable curry that's good. I have a great recipe from a WW cookbook for fresh tomatoes and artichokes over pasta. My son LOVES my red pepper and basil sauce (I adapted the recipe from weight watchers cookbook.)