Good luck, OP!
I tried WW a bit ago but I was already eating so few “points” that it wasn’t helpful anyway. Plus being a vegetarian made it complicated.
I have heard many, many success stories though!
Thanks, @1S1Dforcollege I could live on that!
Ditto! Me too! Thanks!
I made a crockpot full on Thursday and it is gone already- making more tomorrow. We love it- it is almost more like a stew and very filling. DD counts out her 3 points worth of tortilla chips to eat with it.
Try a fresh squeeze of lime in it and some chopped cilantro. More freebies.
WW can be a very effective tool for weight loss. I knocked 20 lbs off with it before shifting to a different approach to weight management. As good a program as it is, however, you can’t be mindless about it. Unrestricted zero point foods will undermine weight loss due to caloric impact. And while you can lose weight by sticking to the points without regard to what you eat, your goals should be more than just losing weight. Becoming healthy as you lose weight should be a priority, particulary as you age. If you persistently overindulge in crap food, you will risk increased susceptibility to diseases of aging including metabolic and endocrinal diseases.
As to that “dirty” word “exercise”, keep in mind that your body is very indiscriminate about where weight loss comes from. As you lose weight, if you do not exercise, particularly exercise involving working against resistance, a disproportionate amount of weight loss will come from lean muscle tissue and the ratio of fat tissue to lean muscle will go in the wrong direction. And then you end up being an unhealthy fat skinny person. Plus part of the reason to lose weight is to be able to move better and enjoy daily life activities. Part of that requires strength and muscle tone.
LOVE the soup recipe! Guess what I’m making?
I’ve lost a bit more than 60 lbs in the last 12 months in WW. My work pays for the cost of the program and we have meetings at work (we can also do online only if we prefer.)
I haven’t actually lost weight at all since August. I’ve gained and lost the same 5-ish pounds since then. I haven’t quite hit my stride with the Freestyle program but I will get there.
I ate all my daily, weekly and activity points today. :)) That doesn’t help. But I was busy and active and hungry.
Lol, I just made a similar soup tonight in my Instant Pot. No corn, one can of black beans, half bag of baby carrots. The rest was the same. I add cilantro, lime juice, avocado, a sprinkle of cheddar cheese and a few tortillas on top. Love this soup.
Thanks to @bjkmom for starting this thread! I followed your last thread and at that time I was just (re)starting on WW. I am a lifetime member and over the course of your earlier thread I got back to my goal weight. I can’t say enough good about WW. For those of us whose weight loss is slow and grudging, it takes longer but it really does work if you stick with it. The meetings have been what’s made the big difference for me. I was very frustrated at the beginning and I got a lot of support that helped me to keep going. Eventually, the teeny tiny weight drops added up enough that I could see the difference and from that point on, it got easier. Even though I’ve been at goal for months, I still go weekly and weigh in. It’s my lifeline, really.
I am very enthusiastic about joining you all on your WW journeys. Has anyone tried making the 3 point bagels yet (from fat free Greek yogurt and self-rising flour)? I highly recommend them!
Okay, this is something I’ve noticed. I’ve lost 11 pounds since Thanksgiving on my plan and am down to 124. Sounds pretty decent, however…when I look in the mirror, I am not happy. I had this vision that the body fat was what was disappearing, and underneath would be the lean muscular person that I knew was underneath all that body fat. But that appears to be quite the opposite, even though I know she’s under there somewhere. I have been exercising, but not as much as usual because of various injuries and being busy. Now I’m thinking that maybe I’d have been better off exercising more and eating more if I needed to.
My D has been on WW three times over the last few years (and is on it now). She has always lost weight, but for one reason or another eventually fell off the wagon and gained it back. But she feels that the discipline of calculating/counting points and attending meetings (both of which would make me nutty) are necessary for her to lose weight. Her only complaint is that the attendees at the meetings are usually middle-aged or older, so they can’t necessarily relate to issues that someone her age faces (such as what to order in a bar when out on a date, or how to select appropriate takeout meals when school and work leave no time to cook). From her experience, I have the following to offer:
First, if they’re still selling WW products at meetings (perhaps the Freestyle program eliminated them?), avoid them. They’re way overpriced and chock full of artificial ingredients. I think the fact that these products are pushed at the meetings is the biggest negative of the WW program.
Second, be careful when using WW cookbooks that predate the Freestyle program (we have several). The point values on the recipes won’t be accurate for the new program, though I’m sure they can be recalculated with a little effort.
Three, I highly recommend the Skinnytaste website for excellent WW recipes. it’s been around for years, but all the recipes have been restated to show Freestyle points.
Last, It’s really helpful to have a digital scale for portion control. Eyeballing won’t do it.
Wishing every WW participant a happy and successful experience.
A few years ago I lost 60 pounds on WW. I never went to meetings but I followed the plan to the letter. One thing I found helpful was physical activity. I couldn’t have kept to my points for the day without those extra activity points. But I swear by the program.
I agree with your line of thought about the WW products they sell at meetings. I’'m not trying to take off a quick 10 pounds for a reunion or something, I want the weight off for good. So we’re talking about retraining myself to eat better, not a quick fix. I see no point in using the pre-packaged, pre-portioned WW products. For me, they would be a crutch, not a learning experience.
That’s why I’m trying not to use my weeklies. I figure they’re overdraft protection for the inevitable errors I’ll be making along the way as I figure out the foods that work best for me…
We’re not a football family, so I should have no trouble avoiding today’s minefield of snacking. I have to go food shopping anyway… I need more Turkey breast, bread, produce and I’m not sure what else. I’m thinking I’ll pick up some smoked salmon. I’m the only one in the house who likes it (and it’s expensive) so I can get a minimal amount. But it’s zero points, and can be combined with some Triscuits or bagel chips for a real treat snack at 3 points.
As to the exercise, over the summer a neighbor gave us a treadmill… they’re moving and don’t want to bother transporting it. It’s been in the basement (10 feet from where I am now) gathering dust. I think I’ll try to find time–even twice a week for 10 minutes-- to get on it. It may not make any difference in terms of weight loss, but it certainly can’t do me any harm in terms of moving towards a healthier lifestyle. i can play Pandora on the computer-- some Motown or something that will really get me moving.
To follow up on @busdriver11 ‘s comment, keep in mind that WW’s activity points are really a surrogate for calories burned. Simply earning points from activity won’t address the loss of lean muscle tissue as you lose weight. It needs to be activity where you are moving your body against resistance. And in our time crunched lives, you don’t need to become a rabid gym rat spending hours a week at your local gym to do this successfully. As little as 30 focused minutes 3x per week can do the trick. You don’t even need to use all sorts of elaborate equipment that you would find in a gym. A couple of pairs of dumbbells, some resistance bands, even body weight exercises using your floor and household furniture as props can be a great way to get started in the comfort of your home. Combining the WW points system with resistance based exercise will yield great results that you will both see and feel.
One cautionary note. If you track WW activity points, be very careful about treating those points as a license to eat more. Remember that at the end of the day, WW activity points are a surrogate for calories burned. WW activity points, however, can be very inaccurate and overstated for many different reasons involving the assumptions used in developing the point values for an activity to your individual differences. (I’ve actually done testing on myself that reliably demonstrates this.) As a result, if you are always eating back your activity points, you will likely find that you are not making expected weight loss progress or are even gaining weight. Activity points are best used as simply a tool to help you keep accountable for daily movement and exercise, not as an excuse to eat more. If you want to eat a little bit more because you are hungry from the activity or want to have a snack you enjoy as a reward for those activity points, then certainly do so but be circumspect about it and don’t eat back all the activity points you earn.
OK, so for those who will be watching the game tonight, let’s talk snack ideas:
- raw veggies with what? I'm thinking diet salad dressing??
- shrimp is zero points, how about bringing a shrimp cocktail?
- smoked salmon is zero points, how about that and some bagel chips? Figure out the points on the chips beforehand.
- Lots of zero point chili recipes out there, all you would have to worry about is the cheese.
@bjkmom I agree with you about the packages stuff…mostly.
BUT at one point…WW made a terrific little bar that was raspberry covered with chocolate. I think it was one point (or whatever the equivalent was on whatever plan at the time). It was DELICIOUS and was my afternoon snack at the end of my workday. I honestly think they helped me! I know, I know…I probably could have found something not from WW. But I really liked these.
They don’t make them anymore 
Back in the Stone Age…WW had a milkshake recipe…of course, now they are called smoothies! They make a perfect afternoon treat. The added points come from nonfat dry milk. But well worth the points. Fruit, nonfat dry milk, ice cubes and a little bit of pineapple juice. Blend in the blender. I use strawberries and bananas!
If I gave the incorrect impression that WW discourages activity, I apologize. WW actually encourages it – but carefully. They don’t want people who can’t exercise much to say “Weight Watchers is not for me.” In fact, WW can be helpful for such people. It may not work as well or as fast as it does for others, but it can work.
We have a member at my meeting who has multiple sclerosis and several other medical conditions. She is unsteady on her feet, and she can’t walk far. Even with the aid of a cane or walker, it’s a struggle for her to get from her seat to the scale and back at WW meetings. For travel of any distance – such as grocery shopping or getting across an airport – she uses a wheelchair or electric cart. Obviously, she can’t exercise much. But she has lost about 40 pounds on WW and her doctors are pleased about that.
We also have two members whose weight is well over 300 pounds, and you can see that just getting from a nearby parking space to the meeting facility is difficult for them. For people like this, it may be necessary for some weight loss to come first and for increased activity to come later. In fact, one of them said at a recent meeting that one of her motives for losing weight (what WW calls your “why”) was to be able to move around more easily. But getting to a level of activity that most of us would call “exercise,” such as a 30-minute workout, is a far-off dream for her. A more realistic goal might be parking at the other end of the parking lot and walking successfully from there to the meeting facility – but even that isn’t going to happen for a while.
So here’s a question for all of you… Does anyone pay any attention to the PRAL values of their food? Several friends of mine (who are more invested in their well-being) than I am seem to be focusing a lot on acidity/alkalinity and claim they have lost weight faster and feel better when they manage to keep that in balance. I tend to be a skeptic around all of these things, but it could be that I am just out of the loop.
You make that sound easy. And I like easy. 
Not to detour from the conversation, but in this 30 minutes, are there some specific exercises you recommend? I can google what they are if I don’t know it. It may be basic knowledge to many, but I need directions.