First weight watchers meeting

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
So I had my first weight watchers meeting on Saturday. I finally was forced to face exactly how much weight I gained. I hadn't weighed myself for months cause I was too scared. But I finally did it. Holy c**p. I weigh 164.8 pounds! That is by far the most I have ever weighed in my entire life. So by medical standards I am techically obese. That means in the last year I gained forty pounds. That's ALOT of weight to lose. So at first I felt a little discouraged. The most I have ever been overweight in the past was by 25 pounds. Now I weigh even more. So I gotta force myself to do this. My jeans no longer fit and I went up to a size 14. One more size and I will officially be plus sized. Not gonna happen. So at the meeting I was given my total amount of daily points. Only twenty six. That's not much.

A plain old small hamburger at Mcdonald's is five points. A subway sandwich is about ten. But all fruits and most veggies have zero points so I can eat as many as I want. That made me feel a little bit better. At least I'll never go hungry. Still twenty six points really isn't much considering the point values of meat, bread, dairy, etc. But I also get 49 free points a week to eat whatever I want. I can spend those extra points in one day or spread them out throughout the week. So I can have the occasional cookie or ice cream cone. And when I go to my boyfriend's favorite mexican restaurant every other Saturday, I can use up the majority of my free points there. I haven't looked up the value of mexican food yet, but I'm sure that even one meal would be way over my 26 daily points. So I can just save all my free points and splurge on Saturdays. So far it seems like a good plan. I think I can do this. I go again on Saturday to get weighed again. I am just praying that I at least dropped a pound. I need some kind of progress. So wish me luck. I am determined to do this!
 

SuZir

Well-Known Member
Just remember to eat enough and take your time getting those pounds off. You have gained a lot of weight in very short time. That is very typical after very tight diet and loosing weight quickly. Don't do the same mistake again but make sure to eat enough, don't get impatient if you loose weight slowly and be sure to make veggies and fruits the big part of your permanent diet.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
I'm not really a big fruit person but I do like mangos and strawberries so I can have those. Plus I'm a big veggie fan so that's good. I am hoping to lose at least 2 pounds a week. My male friend who is also on weight watchers is losing on average of three to four pounds but he's a man and they take off weight much easier than women. Lucky him!
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
Want to boost your weight loss?
Cut out ALL wheat. You can have any other grain but NOT wheat.

(I'm losing about 2 lbs a week, and the only diff is "no modern wheat" and more veggies... and I'm eating meals and snacks, and anything I want to have but... no modern wheat... it's harder than it sounds to avoid wheat, though)
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
WeightWatchers was nabbed the healthiest weight loss diet and the best one...I just wish I could remember where...lol. Look it up online. I think it's from some pretty prestigious medical people. The more you exercise the more you will lose and the healthier you will become. This isn't a fad diet...it's a very healthy diet. I was in WW for a while, then couldn't afford it anymore. I wish I had kept my book of points.
You don't lose super fast on WW, but you will lose if you stick to it and you will be healthier.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
I did weight watchers before way back in high school. At the time I weighed 125 and thought I was fat! If you can believe that one. I ended up losing and going down to 108. I wanted to lose more but weight watchers told me not to cause I was already low enough. Anyway, the plan then was completely different. Instead of counting points, you counted breads, proteins, and dairies. Totally not the same thing. I have never tried it this way. I am hoping it works for me.
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
Hello CA. Listen to me on this. I will be a WW alumni for one year in June. I have lost 20 lbs. Some weeks I lost 3 lbs, some 2 lbs, but most around one pound. Some weeks I gained. The numbers will fluctuate-DO NOT let this discourage you.

My advice to you in regards to WW is to A) attend the meetings, no matter what, and B) use your tracker.

I use the tracker app on my iPhone and it's been very effective. There are a TON of foods you can eat. You shouldn't be eating McDonald's anyway...or subway. And if you do eat subway, eat the veggie delight, it's only 6 points! Snack smarter, make soups and stews, watch your portions. If you are a snacker and like chips, buy the WW ships at the meeting and and Oh so Nuts bars are great to have on hand if you're late for a meal or on the go...keep them in your purse or glovebox. Watch your alcohol intake but, above all, do not deprive yourself of the things you love. Along with your 26 points you also get 49 weekly points...USE them if you need to! Do not skip meals and switch out white carb foods for healthy green or orange foods. Instead of regular potatoes, have a half of a sweet potato. Instead of French fries, have a side salad. Instead of a burger on a bun, have a grilled piece of chicken without the bun. Hebrew National sells 99% fat free hot dogs...I eat those instead of regular hot dogs with a half cup of baked beans, way less points. And lots of pickles, zero points!

Look through the material and Figure out ways to change up your menus so you can be successful. WW is fun and a real self esteem booster. I hope you have a good leader. If not, look for another meeting!

Xo, best of luck!
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
Really? Wow okay. All I buy is wheat bread. So white is better? Or can I do multigrain?
Nope.
As in, essentially, NO BREAD. No tortillas. No cookies. Essentially, nothing made with what we usually consider "flour" (white flour, whole wheat flour, bread flour, multi-grain flour... it's all essentially WHEAT)

You'd have to bake it yourself... like, barley bread and such, with special ingredients (I do that).
I can cheat - I don't need gluten free - and I've found I can handle "ancient wheat" (i.e. specialty wheats), which makes it easier to make bread.

OR buy gluten-free bread, which is what people on a gluten-free diet use, IF they want bread.
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
CB-Weight watchers is a good program as it is meant to be a lifestyle change and not so much a diet. If you start exercising you also get extra points which it is o.k. to use. Back in 96 I lost 70 pounds and have always kept at least 50 of it off. Also, for me, being forced to go gluten free because of my Celiac's has also helped me to lose weight-15-20 pounds in the last 11 months and I don't miss the gluten at all! For me, in addition to wheat, that means no barley or oats either. I also have really worked at trying to not eat a lot of processed foods.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I was going to mention that since you can have all the fruits and veggies you want, a smoothie in the morning should be a great go to for you. I know yoplait is now on WW for 1 point I believe and I would use that as your base and add as many fruits as you can. For extra protein I would look into some sort of protein powder that would bulk it up but not add many calories. You could even add a splash of the V8 fusion drinks to it to give you some veggies first thing in the morning. Speaking of them, I would find out if they have any points and drink them along with your water. In fact, if they are good for you I might invest in one of those Soda Stream things and use them to make a fizzy fruit flavored drink. I love those V8 fusion drinks and they are one of the ways I get all my veggies in each day. I drink at least two large glasses of it a day.
 

HaoZi

CD Hall of Fame
Since you like fruits and veggies, you might find some good interesting recipes you can pull from the Mediterranean diet, it's pretty healthy and full of fruits and veggies and lean meats.
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
Be careful about drinking your fruits and veggies as most prepared food contains a lot of sugar.

However, if you have a good juicer, you can juice your own fruits and veggies without any additives and then it's zero points, Know what I mean??

Also, flavored yogurts have way more sugar in them...my personal goal is to cut out as much sugar and white starchy foods so I buy plain non fat Greek yogurt and have a cup a day with one cup of either fresh fruit or frozen unsweetened fruit. It's only 3 PTs and very filling. I also try to consume three fruits a day and all before 1pm. For snacks, a cup of baby carrots and 3Tbs of hummus, yum.

Just play with different ideas but I would avoid processed or packaged foods if you can.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
Well I have decided to forgo my usual breakfast burrito in the morning for some fresh fruit instead. So my breakfast will be point free and that will help me save more points throughout the day. I'm not a big breakfast eater anyway. I get weighed again on Saturday. So I've been good all week. Tomorrow all us girls are going out to lunch so that is going to be tricky. But I know I can do it. I've done good so far so I'm not going to blow it now.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
I hate milk. I'd rather save my points for lunch and dinner. I am not very hungry in the mornings. Maybe yogurt but I can't tolerate plain so it would have to be fat free vanilla.
 

Mattsmom277

Active Member
I'm not on weight watchers (although considering it when we are better in the financial area, hopefully soon). I had gastric bypass in 2004 and it was highly successful. Even though I've gained back, it isn't an amount that frightens me, just an amount that I KNOW has to go and realize was a result of increased issues with MS that eliminated my ability to do what I used to do at the gym (I hated the gym, but learned to love it, and boy I miss is). Anyhow, as I said, I'm not doing weight watchers but seeing the comments in this thread a couple things came to mind that I'll share.

The comment about ditching prepared foods is a good one. The ingredients labels never help paint a easy to understand picture, and sure they usually have calorie counts for portion size blah blah blah, but the additives and whatnot put in to keep them shelf stable so long have all kinds of effect on our bodies and weight issues that we never really see clearly (until our hips expand!). My easy child struggled with some extra points most of her childhood (about age 6 she started gaining). I no longer keep a scale in the house, and have never focused on her weight, just tried changes that came across as normal. She stopped gaining but wasn't losing. Since she hasn't been splitting with her time at her dads (starting last June), she is home every single day and suddenly I had 100% control over the food she eats. I wanted to not focus at all on "weight" because I knew it was a touchy subject (especially since she is now 13 and we all know the importance of appearance for teen girls at that age). Instead I have not once ever told her the changes I made around here were done to help both her and I try to lose weight. I rarely ever use prepared food anymore, convenience may at times be missed, but the results have been well worth it. Since June I have lost 2 pant sizes. easy child on the other hand, I have watched lose a double chin, develop a cute defined waist, have the cutest cheek bones appear, her clothes look fabulous, the change for her is night and day. Part of it obviously is some slight height growth plus that hormonal change at that age into a shape more like a young lady than a child. But I know the biggest attribute to the shift with her is the end of prepared food. I began cooking from scratch, freezing leftovers (I cook more than we need for dinners just for this purpose) for the nights I don't want to/can't cook. That way our new form of convenience food is no longer frozen prepackaged chemical infused food (Also save a TON of money, which is great!). She (and I) are much more satisfied and have less urge to "graze". We eat smaller portions because the food is just more filling. We are no longer hungry so quickly following our meals, so much less "grazing". And we love veggies (fruit a little less) so we "graze" on those a LOT. We don't deprive ourselves of treats. We LOVE food and I LOVE cooking and (eek) baking. Luckily my S/O never gains weight and has a huge sweet tooth. So for us, if we want a baked treat, I bake it. easy child and I treat ourselves with a reasonable portion and by the time we want more or it "calls to us" from the kitchen to go for more, S/O has wiped it out and we don't get to indulge again lol.

Greek yogurt is so thick and creamy that even for me, not a HUGE yogurt fan, it ends up being a dessert type feeling when I have it. Since on WW so many fruits are zero points, and since like me you seem to not enjoy plain yogurt, I buy the plain and add a little splash of fresh (or concentrated if it's what i have) of lemon (you could use lime) and a small amount of vanilla. I keep that in the fridge and when I want a dessert like treat, I put a portion into a bowl and load it up with fresh fruit that adds the "sweet" in. The natural juices (especially strawberries!) sweeten without any added sugar. Alternately, we use the jazzed up plain yogurt as a fruit dip. We do at times, when having it as fresh fruit dip, add in a little bit of splenda brown sugar, which turns it into a near knock off of those caramel fruit dips that are wretched for someone that they sell near the fruits at the store. It's delicious and tastes so indulgent. Not sure how something like splenda works on WW though, so you may want to skip that. I probably shouldn't use it either, but do in small amounts at times because I tell myself it is better than straight sugar and because largely I've eliminated packaged stuff with chemicals in them, so this is minimal compared to previous eating patterns full of all manner of stuff now that I mostly cook from scratch.

I know you work, which makes it tougher to do from scratch, especially with two teens and all the rest on your plate. A crock pot can be your best friend! Easy prep within minutes in the morning, arrive home to wonderful luring smells and a dinner ready to serve. The upside being there would be leftovers for another meal for the whole family another day. It helps hugely to keep on track with cutting out prepared food, without the time consuming issues that come with a lot of recipes. The slow cooking also allows flavors to meld and enrich the taste, and we focus now much more on the rich flavors of our meals and enjoy each bite much more than flavorless prepacked foods that we ate in much larger portions.

We by no means are losing steadily as I hear those on WW do, but we ARE losing steadily and with no feeling of deprivation at all. It hasn't seemed at all like we are even trying to lose. We somehow even lost (or at least didn't gain) over the Christmas holidays, despite me baking up a storm (trust me, I baked a TON) and having all manner of comfort food type dinners which for us, are part of our love of the holidays. I can only wonder if we exercised better how much more we would have lost.

I am proud of you. Not really even over wanting to lose weight and doing something about it (Which obviously is awesome!). More, I am proud of you that you are doing something positive for YOU. You deal with a lot and I know you are pretty alone in managing you and your kiddos life. It is so easy to never focus on something YOU want, and yet it is so important. You deserve to put some of your time each day into loving yourself and doing something that motivates you and lets you take the focus off others needs and back onto yourself. So I'm incredibly proud of you for putting yourself first for a change with something, and wish you the best of luck!
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
Well I couldn't go this week cause I can't afford it so I won't get weighed again till next Saturday. So I don't know if I gained or lost. My pants are tight right now but it's that time of the month so I can't tell if it's from that or what. Hopefully I will see some pounds fall off by Saturday. I sure hope so!
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
If it's that time of month, probably better that you didn't go... if you're like me, I tend to retain a lot of water that week... You'll be in better shape for a weigh-in next week.
 
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