Weight Watchers - Does it matter WHAT I eat?

Ok don't everyone go hating me for this, but sometimes I actually have a hard time eating all my points in a day.

I have never been a person to sit around and eat all day or eat outrageous portions. But I started weight watchers a week and a half ago at a hefty 306 pounds. So I have a LOT of points...36 to be exact.

My problem has actually been eating all of my points. My question is, does it matter if I have to go to a fast food joint to use up all of my points? More than once in my first week I got to the end of the day with over 20 points, and had to go get something really unhealthy to get up to my points for the day. Someone at work told me she thought that was the wrong approach and that I should make sure to just eat more throughout the day. But I feel like I'm constantly eating, and still ending up with lots of points at the end of the day. The other day I had to actually go to a gas station and buy a candy bar, and still went to bed with 3 points uneaten.

I think that my first grocery shopping trip was a bit overzealous because I hear so many people complain that they don't have enough points so I only bought stuff that was SUPER low like 1 or zero points to snack on. This week when I go shopping I'm going to get more fruit and rice and stuff like that, which I know will help me get my points in. But is it actually harmful to use up points by eating greasy nasty food?

I lost one pound at my first meeting. I was hoping for more, but I was coming off a low carb diet and adding carbs back after a low carb has always caused immediate gain for me, so I'm thinking that one pound was good for my situation. I guess I will see next week how I do. I also joined a gym and have worked out more in the past week than I have in my whole life, and someone told me you can put on weight for a week or two after starting a workout routine. So I'm not upset about only losing a pound, I just want to make sure I didn't sabotage myself by eating most of my points at Taco Bell and Wendy's last week.

Dear melBell.

i think you already know the anser to this question yourself!!!
of course it is bad to make up points with fast food, and is really not the way to go, if for example you had a double portion of starch like pasta or rice with your dinner, that would be a far better way to make up points.
I am not going to go in to all the reasons as to why fast food is bad for you, unnatural, over processed etc, as it is well documented.

Though it may not be the weightwatchers approach -my personal recommendation would be that if faced with option of
A: Making up points with Fast Food
B: Not eating all your points for the day
OPTION B definitely wins.

Of course Option C, which is to spend a bit more time actually planning what you are going to eat , and working out the points in advance from healthy food is the very best way to go. IE not finding at 6pm that you have a defecit.

I am going to be a little harsh on you here and say that I am hearing excuses and denial in your post, and that your whole attitude will need to change in order to be successful. We all got in to this boat by eating large portions - you didn't get to be 315lbs by eating regular portions three times a day, in the same way that i didn't get to be 286 that way.

Just as an example a nice large bowl of crunchy granola / muesli with low fat yoghurt can be as much as 8 points. Try and plan for a 10 point breakfast lunch and dinner and one or 2 snacks.
Planning is going to be the key for you.
But purely from a health point of view as oposed to weightloss, don't eat junk food.
Really best of luck to you with this!

Ellie, I appreciated your honesty and directness, but I think you may have misread what I'm saying. I'm not making excuses for anything. In order to make excuses I would need to first be convinced that I had done something wrong. I stayed within my points so I have nothing to make an excuse for.

I am simply questioning whether the WAY I stayed within my points might harm me in the long run. And for your input on that I thank you. And you are right that I also suspect I already know the answer to it, but that's why I'm asking. Trust me, I'm not seeking permission to eat fast food every night. That's one of the horrible habits I'm trying to change. If there was a way to lose weight and still eat out every meal and never exercise I would have already found it and everyone would be paying me money instead of going to Weight Watchers!! :)

Yes I definitely think its not okay to eat takeout for those leftover points. When I did weight watchers ( didn't go to meetings..did it on my own) I went by the book I have (which is a few years old..and I'm sure it's changed a lot by now) I always had the same problem..extra points...I think I started off at 24-26 points. I found that I was eating ALL the time.

Some things I did to help eat most of the points were to eat lots of peanut butter, almonds...not buy light cheese...etc.

However I don't think you're required to eat THAT many points (stop me if i'm wrong, lol)....it really is a LOT of food. I think that the plan is designed that way because of your weight and some larger people are used to eating a lot of food throughout the day...If I was supposed to eat 36 points and couldn't....then I wouldn't worry too much about it. I would aim for 30!

Like I said, I am ignorant about the new Weight Watcher's Plan...so these are mostly just my opinion. If you're having a really hard time making it to 30 points, you could opt for not buying the 'light' versions of some things..such as 1% milk instead of skim....regular yogurt, etc.

Wishing you lots of luck!!!

Instead of going the fast food route, try the "full-strength" version of things you may be using in the light or fat free form (salad dressing, mayonnaise, etc)..also eat more lean protein or regular breads instead of reduced calorie. When you lose more weight and have fewer points, these are the areas that I think are the easiest to transition into (at that point you go low-fat, lite, etc) Just my opinion.

Thanks for the input guys. I think I may try putting some more meat back into my diet. This past week I didn't eat much of it because it tends to rack up the points. But coming from a low carb diet where I was mostly eating meat and cheese I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do it in moderation. So I may have limited myself too much.

I'm not a huge fan of chicken so rather than replacing my beef with chicken, I mostly just cut out the meat altogether. Eating just tiny amounts here and there. A roast beef sandwich sounds really good about now so I'll just have to keep in mind that I actually need to eat more points while I'm grocery shopping.

I'm also going to try and plan better like Ellie said earlier and maybe shoot for like 10 points per meal instead of eating a 4 point breakfast and a 6 point lunch and put the pressure of all the rest of those points on dinner and snacks. I have also decided to buy the cheaper yogurt that has 2 points instead of the expensive stuff I found that only has one. Will help me use up my points and save me some money!

Are you gettin in your 2 protein servings - 3 ounces each? One thing you could do is divide your daily points by 2. Use 1/2 for breakfast, lunch and a morning snack. Use the rest for dinner and other snacks. That way everything is spread out. Since you have 8 points right off the top (2 oil and 2 milk) and 6 protein points, that's 14 alredy and then you need 3 whole grains, 5 fruits and vegetables, etc. If you use real food instead of low and fat free and light, you won't have a problem getting all you points in.

Definitely avoid the fast food. It is just junk, at least most of it. I do like the wraps at Chick-fil-a, and of course Subway.

There are many foods that are healthier and will still up your points.

Peanut butter, cheese, reduced fat dairy instead of fat free. It should be easy to add a couple of points to your meals to help you make your point total. If you consistently eat below your daily allowance it can slow weight loss.

The other thing to keep in mind is that while eating fast food could technically be within your point range, it's so typically full of salt that you could be retaining a lot of water which would impede your weight loss.

I started at 313 and had a high number of points as well (I still do with 33 daily points). I find dividing them up pretty evenly between breakfast, lunch and dinner with a couple snacks uses them up without me having many days with points left over. Also, making sure to get in all the Good Healthy Guidelines will take up points, too. Like other said, until you start to drop points, use the higher calorie/fat versions of things like milk and yogurt. If you don't like chicken but want to minimize your beef intake, what about fish? Salmon, for instance, is really good for you and also a serving is 9 points. Many other fish are around 4 points per serving.

As someone else mentioned, planning is key. I plan out my meals for the week every Sunday, so I never have to wonder what I'm going to eat that day or find myself at the end of the day with a bunch of points leftover (or worse, have a large deficit because I underestimated the points on something).

If you're still having trouble, perhaps post a sample of your daily food intake and people can possibly spot further room for improvement.

Good luck! Pretty soon we'll be down in the 20s point-wise and probably wishing we had those 'extra' points!

I was kinda in a similar situation as you on in my first week.

I'd hoard my points all day and then by the end of the day I'd have a few left over. Now twenty mind you but a good 5 or 6.

Now that i'm kinda finding myself in all this WW stuff I've realized that the awesome thing about WW is that it's up to YOU to work the program. Meaning, you choose what you want to eat and when. Simple right? As simple as the concept is it is rather difficult - for me anyways. I'm learning every singe day.

Here are a few of my suggestions:

Instead of 1 pt snacks beef your snacks up with cheese. I eat cheese strings (2pts) as a snack and it eats up some of my extra points.

If your eating fruit as a snack maybe beef that up with some yogurt, peanut butter or even cool whip.

Add full fat dressing to your salads.

Cook with oil.

I was LIMITING all of this before. I was really cutting out EVERYTHING and so I was left with extra points. Now that I add a little cheese or PB or coolwhip here and there I'm not really left with extra points at the end of the day.

And as for the greasy food. Well, I think you kinda know the answer to this question. Personally, my goals was to cut ALL of that super fatty food out of my diet so I don't think i'd resort to eating fast food to up my pt intake for a day. Obviously, it's okay once and awhile but I def wouldn't do it twice in once week. Eat some cereal, yogurt, even a muffin or extra protein to gobble up your pts that are left over!

Best of luck!

I think I may try putting some more meat back into my diet. This past week I didn't eat much of it because it tends to rack up the points.

I think this statement, really clarifies your dilemma - it sounds like you are avoiding all but the lowest point foods. By trying to avoid an extreme (eating too much meat and cheese), you chose another extreme (eating only the lowest point foods).

As you try to "eat in the middle" more, rather than from the extremes, I think you'll find the right balance for you.

I really don't get this idea that WW offers a ton of points. I get 29, and that is barely doable. When I had 35 before it was more doable, and a few times perhaps I was under. But I read on here about people who find it hard to eat all their points, and I think well what were you doing before? Kwim? (Not directed to you OP, you probably get a decent amount of points at your size? But also towards other people, like the poster who said 25-26 points is a ton of food. IMO it's really not).

I think it all just depends on what you are eating BEFORE you start and what you are used to. See TYPICALLY a person who weighs what I weigh, got that heavy because of overeating and big portions. I didn't. I got that way from eating greasy nasty stuff, and never exercising.

WW is all about portion control and teaching yourself to not only eat healthier, but eat less. So once I get down to 25 points I'll be missing all these points that I'm having trouble eating now. But I can already tell that after my next weigh in I'm going to lose one of my points because I'm gonna drop into the 290 range *yay yay yay*

Anyway, right now I just made myself a pizza and it looks so good. Got a big tortilla and some pizza sauce and cheese and pepperoni's. Haven't figured up the points on it yet but I'm guessing it's going to be about 6 and I have to stop typing now because it smells so good and I just walked 2.5 miles and worked up a big appetite!! :)

Mel, I make myself use the majority of my points for my breakfast and lunch meals. I COULD make it on less and feel fine, and I'd actually love to save them up and just eat a large dinner, but I know that wouldn't work for me. Even if someone stayed within their legal limit of points, I don't think they could lose weight if most were consumed at night. That's what I THINK. Not an expert, so couldn't say for sure.

If you must use up those points, I'd be doing that in the morning and at lunch. I can have 22 per day, and it's just about right. There are some days, like yesterday, when I feel truly stuffed. I had made some oven-fried okra and I couldn't eat it all!

Well I'm very glad to say that I'm doing something right! We are doing a Biggest Loser contest at work and yesterday's weigh in was the first weigh in that I was on weight watcher's for the entire week and I lost 8 pounds!!!!

I can't wait for my official WW weigh in on thursday night!!

My leader told us that we can eat fewer points than we are allotted, but you should eat a minimum of 20 per day.

For the others that don't feel like 29 (or 25 or 26) is enough, make sure you eat the filling foods- I am always full after broccoli or carrots, etc. And lots of water!

The other thing to keep in mind is that while eating fast food could technically be within your point range, it's so typically full of salt that you could be retaining a lot of water which would impede your weight loss.

ITA with this. In theory, it shouldn't matter if you eat 30 points of hamburger and fries, or 30 points of fruits, veggies, high fiber cereal, yogurt, milk, chicken, and lean steak. But in reality, at least for me, it makes a huge difference. The sodium and fat will really keep the weight on, and lean foods and loads of water will really take it off.

My advice is to plan ahead each night what you will eat the next day. Not down to the exact point, but a rough overview so you can space out your points throughout the day.

Tomorrow I'm going to try eating a whole 10 points or so at breakfast. Then I have a 9 point Subway sandwich (yum) that I will eat for lunch along with an apple or something and then another 10 points at dinner. That leaves me 6 points for snacks throughout the day and then maybe a glass of milk before bed or something.

I find that just eating an english muffin in the morning makes me hungry all morning and then after lunch I usually don't get hungry at all until night time. It's weird. But I have never in my 27 years on this earth actually listened to my body and paid attention to what it's telling me I need. I'm quickly learning that if I really pay attention to what I'm FEELING (appetite wise, not emotion wise) then I can tell exactly what I need and how much.

So I'm thinking bigger breakfast smaller dinner might be what's going to work. The beauty of this diet is that I can try different approaches without really hindering my weight loss, as long as I stay within my points.

I will also be drinking a lot of water tomorrow to clean out all the salt from the dinner I just ate which was 12 points and I'm not going to tell you what it was!! :o Let's just say it was way too yummy to be healthy!! :devil:

I also find that just an english muffin, makes me crazy hungry by mid-morning - more hungry than if I had skipped breakfast entirely. Even a piece of fruit will do much the same, though not quite as badly - and it's the carbohydrates.

I'm not saying that you have to go on a low-carb or carb-controlled diet, but pairing a carbohydrate with a healthy fat and some protein may make a big difference in how long it satisfies.

but pairing a carbohydrate with a healthy fat and some protein may make a big difference in how long it satisfies.

hehe, I actually eat it with a turkey sausage patty and a piece of cheese lol. I eat that at 6am and I ALWAYS end up eating my cereal by 8:30 or 9. I may add some grapes and a glass (or two) of skim milk in the morning. Milk always helps me feel full. Mmmm...that sounds like a good breakfast :)

Hey Melbell!!

I just wanted to check in on how you are doing so far and how your first weigh in went. I started just about 2 weeks ago and I weigh in on Thursday nights. I lost 4.2 lbs my first week, but am nervous about this week as I have the same issue as you. For my weight I get 37 points and I feel like I am just eating WAY too much. I said something about this to my leader at my first weigh in, but then I lost the 4.2 pounds (after 5 days on the plan) and thought . . . well I guess this must be working. I have tried adding things into my diet like cottage cheese with my dinner and adding bananas into my cereal in the morning and packing extra snacks for during work, but I feel like I am STUFFING myself with food. I asked my leader about eating less points and she said that it is not recommended as weight watchers is supposed to be a slow weight loss, which I understand and is why I joined in the first place.

Then at the same time when I think about why I failed in my other attempts, and think it could have been that I was restricting myself too much and that because of that, the weight watchers philosophy is exactly what I need.

I have never joined WW but adhere to many of their principles. I have done a ton or reading about the program, have several friends on the program, and have even been to a meeting.

There are days I am naturally *hungrier* than other days. If I have a day that is unnaturally low calorie, I don't stress about it. The days when I am in the mood to eat more, even the low ones out. I definitely would not consider fast food meals and candy bars as any key to weightloss efforts. Those foods are what made me obese in the first place! I think if you begin journaling your foods you will begin to establish what foods work for you and which ones don't. For me, it has greatly aided me in finding specifics that are both doable and sustainable.

I know it isn't easy and I know we all have to tweak our own plans to make them acceptable for us individually. I just wanted to share these thoughts with you. --Wishing you the best in your efforts. :)

I really don't get this idea that WW offers a ton of points. I get 29, and that is barely doable. When I had 35 before it was more doable, and a few times perhaps I was under. But I read on here about people who find it hard to eat all their points, and I think well what were you doing before? Kwim? (Not directed to you OP, you probably get a decent amount of points at your size? But also towards other people, like the poster who said 25-26 points is a ton of food. IMO it's really not).

Hi, new here, but decided to jump in. I have 25 points and I'm not finding it to be a ton of food. Maybe this has to do with what I'm eating.

At my first weigh in I lost 1 pound and at the second weigh in I lost 2.4

Not great but better than a kick in the pants.

That is good Melbell! Better than gainining!! It is hard sometimes when I look ahead and realize just how long it is going to take to lose all of this weight . . . . What makes it harder is that I was talking to my husband and said, "Ok, if i stick OP and can lose 2 pounds a week, I can lose 24 pounds by my birthday" and I was pretty excited by that. To that I get this reply: "well, thats just the minimum amount right?"

GRRRRRRR, just when I am starting to feel good about it and thinking, yes I CAN do this, I get Mr. Unsupportive opening his big mouth. He just doesn't understand though because as he says, he can lost 20 pounds in a month. And to that I reply (in my head of course) . . Then why don't you?? hahaha

It's not just better than gaining it IS great - really, really great.

Because every once in a while I could lose 5 to 7 lbs a week, most of my dieting life, I thought I SHOULD be losing 5 to 7 lbs a week.

1% of your body weight a week is an extraordinary (not just an ok) loss, so half of that is still awesome. We're brainwashed by society (mostly through misleading and inaccurate information courtesy of women's magazines and dieting books) to think that 1 to 2 lbs is the minimum that anyone (even with only a few pounds to lose) should accept and that anyone over 190 lbs should be losing "Biggest Loser" style 5 to 10 lbs a week.

When I think of how many times I beat myself up over "only" losing 1 lb (or 2 or 3 or even 4), I feel like the biggest idiot on the planet - but it's what "everyone else" seemed to be doing, so I jumped on the "never good enough" bandwagon with everybody else.

1 lb is an awesome loss - it really is, because most people no matter how much they have to lose - don't do it, at least not consistently. And losing 1 lb consistently or even 1/2 lb consistently is an accomplishment that (even if you have more than 200 lbs to lose like I do) most people just don't do.

I think we tend to think of weight loss as a race, and place ourselves someplace at the back of the pack - but in reality just being in the race every week puts us in the lead.

Don't sell that 1 lb short, it's a praise-worthy accomplishment.

great plan! :)



Tomorrow I'm going to try eating a whole 10 points or so at breakfast. Then I have a 9 point Subway sandwich (yum) that I will eat for lunch along with an apple or something and then another 10 points at dinner. That leaves me 6 points for snacks throughout the day and then maybe a glass of milk before bed or something.

I find that just eating an english muffin in the morning makes me hungry all morning and then after lunch I usually don't get hungry at all until night time. It's weird. But I have never in my 27 years on this earth actually listened to my body and paid attention to what it's telling me I need. I'm quickly learning that if I really pay attention to what I'm FEELING (appetite wise, not emotion wise) then I can tell exactly what I need and how much.

So I'm thinking bigger breakfast smaller dinner might be what's going to work. The beauty of this diet is that I can try different approaches without really hindering my weight loss, as long as I stay within my points.

I will also be drinking a lot of water tomorrow to clean out all the salt from the dinner I just ate which was 12 points and I'm not going to tell you what it was!! :o Let's just say it was way too yummy to be healthy!! :devil:

My weigh in this Thursday night bummed me out because I only lost .8.

My husband keeps telling me that it's because of my exercising and how I never did it so even just walking is putting on muscle. I hope he's right!!!

Ladies, ladies, please don't get sucked into the 'you must lose weight at an inhuman rate' bull that's out there.

Let me put it this way - I've ONLY lost 1.38 pounds a week... but, oh yeah, that's added up to 137 pounds over the last 99 and a bit weeks. I admit that I'm not a fan of The Biggest Loser, but honestly, the longer it's on the less I think it does for people who want to lose weight. It's not a good thing when you feel like a failure for losing weight.

melbellrocks
It's unlikely that you're packing on muscles just walking, however, there are tons of reasons why some weeks you don't lose as much weight as you think you should. For women especially - water retention is a huge issue. If walking is new to you, and your legs are sore, then you're likely retaining water. Also, your monthly period will affect water gain/loss. In my case, I can do everything right the week before my period and I'll still gain weight. The first few days of it I drop pretty much two pounds. If you're not consistent with your water intake you body is going to hold water for a day or two after a day when you don't drink much.

So just stick to your plan (ie. don't eat too little / don't eat too much) and start moving around a little more. Hey, I know what it's like to want it all gone (like now)... but slow and steady wins the race most of the time.

Wow Anne, what motivation. Thanks for the reality check! I have been off plan for 3 days now, and am so down on myself, but I am just going to get back on plan and even if i gain this week, it will all even out in the long and it WILL be worth if in the end. Even if it is 1 pound a week, life will eventually get easier as the weight comes off, slowly but surely.

I agree with you about biggest loser. I used to HATE watching it because I can't lose weight like them and would think, well then I just won't do anything. Now I can watch it and realize that that is just not realistic with my life or MOST people's lives. This is a lifestyle change, not a diet. I am working on rewiring my brain.

I saw on someone's signature the other day something like "If hunger isn't the problem, dont use food as the solution." That has been resonating in my head and I think I might just put that on my cupboards and my fridge as a reminder.

Thanks Megan,

I think the point is that I've had weeks where I've lost weight, weeks where I haven't lost weight, weeks when I've gained weight (some kind of on purpose, some not). In the long run it's just important that you find a better way to live, which I think (hope) will make maintaining the loss easier.

My brain is the enemy at times. I've never been an emotional eater. I eat because I'm hungry. I've decided that I've simply got screwed up hunger signals, so I'm working on minimizing them (eating more often) and then just ignoring them. Some days it seems like I'm winning, but not always. It's just important to keep trying. In the grand scheme of things a couple of days off plan isn't a big deal... just decide that today you'll be back on plan. That's not so hard - one day of good eating. The tomorrow you just repeat it. Good luck. :)