Weight Watchers - This makes absolutely no sense...

I absolutely should not complain, but I don't understand how I can not count points, eat total junk, not exercising and still lose weight. Weeks where I do really well (eat healthy, exercise, stay within points) I gain or maintain. For example, last week I went over my daily points by about 10 each day. But on Sunday, the day before my weigh in, I ate four muffins (throughout the day) that I just found out are 12 points each!!!!! HOLY $#!&, that's 48 points alone that day (not to count all the other crap I ate) but I lost 1.2 pounds on Monday.

I'm not happy because I want to eat healthier but it seems like when I try, I don't do as well as when I don't. Has anyone else noticed this strange phenomenon? I'm not really sure what to do :?:

Just think of where you would be if you stayed on plan.

That's the problem--when I stay on plan, I don't lose weight

I think you would if you don't cheat.

I don't mean to be rude, but if you read my original post you would know that I said "Weeks where I do really well (eat healthy, exercise, stay within points) I gain or maintain." I have been doing this for over a year and a half, and I'm not talking about once or twice. The weeks where I "cheat" are the weeks that I lose weight and that is why I'm asking for people's opinions/thoughts.

I have had the same thing happen from time to time, Peach. In my case, I hit the big 4-0 this year and I sometimes feel that my body is doing its own thing. Over the course of three or four days, my weight can fluctuate by 2-3 pounds due to fluid retention. I weigh in at WW once a month, and really have to be aware as to what is a "good" week to weigh in.

Susan

I'd ask what you are eating during the weeks that you are being perfect. Perhaps you are eating too many processed foods? Are you getting enough veggies?

Hi Princess! The same exact thing happens to me. For weeks, I am very strict about my caloric intake and cardio/weight training yet not drop weight, then I'll go to a party on a weekend and eat double my allotment and not work out for a couple/few days, and lose weight! Here's what I've chalked it up to: sometimes I think the increase in my caloric intake works to kickstart my metabolism. You may have heard this theory elsewhere, and even on this website, but essentially the idea is to work on eating an average amount of calories over the course of a week, but not the same amount each day, so as to keep your metabolism running well and not becoming acclimated to a certain level. For example, one might consume 1200 calories Monday, 1300 Tuesday, 1150 Wednesday, 1500 Thursday, and so on such that a daily average ends up being 1300 or whatever number is appropriate for that person. This is in contrast to eating 1300 calories every single day.
At any rate, you're not alone, and this phenomenon is quite possibly just the result of your body getting kicked into gear by having more fuel kicked into it for a day or so. I do have to share with you that it has been dangerous thinking for me in the past to say,"Hmm, I ate 2 donuts a few days ago and I actually lost weight...the more donuts, the better!" ;) Just use your head, and you'll do great. Congratulations on your awesome loss thus far!

I've experienced this too, but it isn't because your body is working backward.

When I was a probation officer, I would often hear offenders complain that when they were committing a lot of crimes they never got caught, but as soon as they decided to get their life together and go straight, they'd get arrested. "I can't win," they'd say, "as soon as I try to go straight, I get arrested, I can't get a break, it's not even worth trying."

Weight loss, like a lot of life changes, doesn't have instant pay off. What you did five minutes ago, what you did last week doesn't get rewarded on a regular schedule. You can gain weight after days and even a week of careful dieting, and then go on a binge, but lose. The weight you gained is not because you were sticking to plan, and the weight you lost wasn't because you binged.

Bargoo is right - you are going to see consistent loss if you consistently eat fewer calories than you normally need to maintain your weight. You will also see consistent gain if you consistently eat more calories than you need. If your behavior is inconsistent, your results also will als be inconsistent. Consistent behavior will result in consistent results - but consistency is seen over several weeks, not after just one.

If you knew nothing of calorie or point counts, and you weighed yourself before and after every item you ate, you might conclude that a glass of water is more fattening than a candy bar. Now, you know better than that, but over a slightly longer term (that still isn't long enough) you're drawing a similar conclusion.

Fatburner, I think the calorie switch-up is definitely the cause. Like you said, I don't want to think "I ate so much junk food last week and lost, let's try it again" so I go OP. I just think it is so odd that I gain when I'm OP.

It can get very frustrating when I'm sticking to the plan (not to mention paying for it) and not seeing the results I think I should. Sometimes, I get to a point where I want to stop because I figure why should I pay and try if it isn't going to work. That's why I like this board so much because you find out that you're not alone and it is worth it to stick with it.

Thanks again!

Peach, is it possible that when you stay op you limit yourself too much and your body thinks it's starving? I have occasionally lost after a binge, but not consistantly! I don't know what the explanation is! Kel......where are you?!
I "hear" your frustration, and I feel bad!

Ok I will admit to not reading all the responses but are you eating ENOUGH points/calories during the weeks you eat healthy foods? I know that sounds like a strange concept but you may have a high metabolism and when you don't eat enough you gain.

Also when you say healthy are you eating a bunch of the convenience diet foods? Are you following your 8 Healthy Guidelines? Are you exercising and eating your activity points? Are you eating your weekly flex points?

Also you may be 'shaking' up your metabolism by that/those weeks where you just totally blow it and it is confused.

Have you tried to vary the number of points you eat each day by varying the number of activity points you earn each day and using a few to a lot of your flex points?

I have also experienced that.......I have also had a eating disorder since i was 15...but.....i found that you can eat carbs....and loose weight.....and when you are strict on yourself.....your not getting the nutritents your body needs.....water & salads are not good for you! And when starting a diet you retain alot of water causing you to gain.....but if you make it thru that first week you will start seeing a BIG difference....but that week where you feel as though your not doing anything is a HARD week!!! EAT CARBS!!!! (brown rice, whole wheat bread, tortillias) I lost alot of weight eating the tortillia with light cream cheese and turkey roll ups daily.......just an idea!! Just keep your chin up!!! There is no certain plan that is gonna gaurantee weight loss.....everyones body is diffrent and adapts diffrently to stuff like that....its finding your own comfort zone!!! Good luck!!!

hey peach it sounds like your points allotment isnt large enough therefore when on plan body thinks its starving

with ww, i experience the same thing. when i eat a little more than my points, i tend to lose. maybe the points allotted aren't enough.

I don't think you can determine anything based on one week. Maybe your points are too low, maybe they're not. Even on the Biggest Loser where people were doing completely extreme things to lose weight, there were times when someone worked out like mad and ate very carefully and lost little to no weight that week. Then the next week they would lose double the "usual" amount. This is just the way the body sometimes loses.

You can drive yourself crazy trying to determine why a weigh-in isn't what you expected. You can't look at any one weigh-in and try to make judgements by it. If after three to five weeks of consistent behavior, you still haven't seeing significant loss then you can start tweaking.

I think if you try to tweak based on just what happened the week before, you end up changing your plan every week, and never notice a true pattern.

I've heard that after you eat, it takes three days before the weight shows up or disappears. So if you have one day where you binge, you won't see the weight until about three days later.

What you are describing is what we old WW people know as the Wendie Plan (http://groups.msn.com/AWeightLossAdventure/weightwatchersactivitypoints.msnw) Basically it's where you eat way over your WW daily points target once a week and trick your body into staying on high fat burn. In essence you are basically eating your 35 extra points all in one day which is within the regular WW plan. My opinion for what it's worth is that you are not going off plan at all, you are just eating all of your extra points in one day instead of spreading them out over the week. My thing is track it for a couple of weeks by having a big eat day and see how the weight loss goes, if it works stick with it :):)
Tiffanie

It's not really the Wendy plan because I'm eating 50-60 points per day.

Also, it's not just one or two days here and there, I am talking about months of this behavior.

I truly appreciate everyone's comments, but I don't think I've explained my experience well enough. I just need to do what works for me, and if that's eating twice my daily points every day so be it.

Fatburner, You are right! She did kick start her metabolism. I read an article once where a fellow dieter would eat Kentucky Fried Chicken when he started to plato and then he would start loosing again. It is typical for some people. Like, you said, she just has to make sure it's one chicken leg!

Princess,
Glad you decided to stick with it! I see that you have now lost more than you need to loose yet! That's great! You're over the hill! LOL!
Bev

Wow I am so glad to hear that this isn't only happening to me, I too have notice the same thing with myself princess I even notice sometimes when I excercise more then I gain weight instead of losing who knows the body is such a weird thing.