Sugar Shakers - Combining WW & SB

I am currently attending WW and am having good results. I understand that some of you have had good luck combining both WOE. I would appreciate any and all advice you can give me. Do I need to buy a good Glycemic (sp?) index book to refer to? What type of foods do you eat so you don't rack up points quickly. It seems to me that all the healthy foods seem to have a high point value. I had been following Suzanne Somers WOE, but got tired of food combining. When I started WW I was like a "kid in a candy store" with all the carbs and processed food I could have. I want to get back to a healthier way of eating, and I remembered at one time my Dr. suggested that I look into SB. Thank you for your help.

Aleka

I am also new to SB. I have been following WW for years and have maintained my current weight for more than a year. I would like to lose 5-10 pounds. I have read SB book, and it makes so much sense to me. But I'm confused--if you combine WW and SB, do you still count points? i don't know how much of anything to eat on SB. I made it through one day and have been tothe store to stock up on SB food.
One more question. How many eggs do you eat a week in losing mode?

linworthlady, about food portions, I think in the SB book that they say to put enough food on your plate so that it fits nicely and doesn't overflow. Personally, I find it very hard to judge my food that way. So, I thought using the WW portions and counting points would work for me. I don't eat very many eggs because they are rather high in points...2 pt. for 1 egg, and I can't stomach Egg Beaters. So, I only have about 2 eggs a week, usually on a weekend, and the rest of the time I either have oatmeal or Shredded Wheat & Bran. That's great you only have 5-10 lb. to lose. Are you also counting points?


Take care. Aleka

Aleka-I'm not sure about counting points, Do you? I sort of did a rough count last night after I had finished eating for the day and I was around 25, which is my max. But when I had 2 tablespoons of olive oil at lunch yesterday it blew my mind :)

I'm still confused about how to combine the 2 programs. I've been counting points for so long now that it is hard to give it up.

linworthlady, my max for points is also 25. I think it's a shame that WW lumps the good fats in with the bad fats in their calculations. Hopefully someday they'll see the light. I know what you mean about the olive oil. Yesterday I used full fat salad dressing w/o sugar on my salad, a hard boiled egg, turkey, & low fat cheese, and I was amazed at how many points that salad cost me.:yikes: I'm so used to counting points that I don't know how to stop either, and since I go to meetings I am also afraid to stop:fr: Maybe we could just do the SB WOE, and use the WW portion sizes as guidelines and try to make sure whatever we do eat has a low point value? :?:

I guess I'm worried that by eating low point stuff that I will be hungry and tempted to binge. I'm still confused as to how much food the SB WOE really recommends. My Atkins friends seem to eat as much as they want of their very restricted foods, but I guess the SB WOE doesn't include eating as much as you want of "legal" foods.
I just had my first bowl of Uncle Sams cereal. I found it a little bland, but not too bad.
I have house guests who brought me 2 dozen gourmet cookies, M&M's, and other sweets are lying around. I have too much temptation :)

YUMMMMM...M & M's cookies. I guess you do have some temptations laying around. I used to Somersize, which is the same concept of SB, only you could eat all you wanted of "legal foods" until you were satisfied, and not overly stuffed. I got tired of the food combining, where you couldn't have fats with carbs, and trying to find the right foods, plus I had a very hard time losing weight. I haven't tried Uncle Sam's cereal. I had some McCann's Irish Oatmeal for breakfast with some cinnamon sprinkled in it, s/f maple syrup, and Da Vinci s/f caramel syrup. After reading the SB book again, I've decided to start eating my fruit by itself. One step at a time! :flow2:

I haven't seen McCann's Irish Oatmeal. Is it good?

I reread that part of the book about portion control so there is not much about specific amounts. I guess we use our own judgment.

After my company leaves on Monday I will have more time to journal and count up WW points--see how it all compares. Have a good Saturday.

LIN & ALEKA

HELLO for the MAIN WEEKLY SUPPORT BOARD here at SUGAR BUSTER!!!! :wave:

I am a member of WW's, but don't use their plan. I'm strictly SB and use the WW's meeting to weigh in.
My main problem is portion control as well, but am learning to
measure and get it right.
The SB plan really works, but it gets confusing when you try to
incorporate the points system.
For a breakfast change, pick up some UNCLE SAM'S cereal, or if you don't want to pay the $$$$ of
the IRISH OATMEAL , all you have to do is drop by your local health food store and get the bulk steel cut oats...I make mine in the microwave with milk and it's yummy.

Hope this helps..

BOB

You said that you only use the WW to weigh in. Do you have any idea if you are maxing out your points by eating the good fats? I am leaning towards what you are doing, just using WW meetings to get weighed, but I am really afraid if I stop counting points I either won't lose anymore weight, or regain what I've lost. Do you have any tips you can give me? Thank you, I would appreciate any help.

BOB-
Thanks for your help. Aleka and I are still trying to figure all of this out so it will be nice to have someone a little more experienced to help us. How do you decide on what portions of food to eat? Have you lost a lot of weight?

Hi Aleka and Linworthlady!
I am not a member of WW, but I am very familiar with the program. Why don't you count your points, but follow the guidelines of SB, ie no white flour, no white sugar, only whole grains... then as you become familiar with it, you can decide if you want to continue counting the points, or dropping that. Counting points would be a great way to keep tabs on your portions.... SB recommends you stick mainly to lean meats, veggies, fruits, and whole grains, and try and keep your starchy carb servings to 2-3 a day.

If you have questions, come on over to the support thread, and join the gang. It is a helpful group!

Thanks Booger for your tips. Keeping the carbs to 2-3 servings is a good thing to keep in mind. I will try to count points for a while so I don't eat too much. One thing I'm proud of today is the family got Pizza and I quickly made myself a salad with turkey, cheese and an egg on it. It filled me up too. How did everyone else do?

linworthlady, I ate some of the pizza:o

monet, thank you for the tip and I think I will do just that, count my points, but follow the SB guidelines for now. I am paid at WW until Jan., then I will decide whether or not I want to continue counting points. I am used to this type of WOE because I used to Somersize, and her eating plan is basically the same as SB, only you have to combine your food differently.

I even bought a bread machine to make my own bread without using any sugar, not to mention the hydrogenated oils.

Ok..I have been asking the soame questions as you gals about WW since I am on it and have had success but wanted to limit my sugar. I thought SB migh give me a good guidline for this but I am so afraid of screwing it all up. ( I need to get the book I guess) Mentally I could never give up counting points..I do it before I eat anything now! Keep this thread going so I can see how you are coping with the combination of programs!:)

Candice, I am going to give both WW & SB a try this week. I went out and bought some cataloupe yesterday and cut it up to have with blueberries, 1/2 hr. before I have my oatmeal.

linworthlady, will be be trying both WOES? I can live with 2-3 starchy carbs a day. I think SB is a healthy way of eating. WW is too, up to a point. I don't agree with them about all the fat-free stuff they advocate.

I'm up 3 pounds today and I just don't know what to do. I want to do the SB WOE for health reasons. But I was so hungry yesterday and really craving sweets. So I had some M&M's and a cookie. I wonder how long it takes your body to get used to this new way of eating. I will try SB again today and see what happens.

Getting rid of sugar in your body so that you don't crave it, is different with each individual. It didn't take me that long because I'm not a big sweet eater, I crave salty snacks like crackers, which are made with white flour. When you are craving something, if you can wait 10 min. (I think it's 10 min.) and see if you still want it. I also need this WOE for health reasons. I have high cholesterol & triglycerides. When I was Somersizing, which is almost the same as SB, my bloodwork was excellent. You will get those 3 lb. off. I have my WW weigh in tomorrow.

I usually crave salty things too, that's why it was weird to be craving sweets yesterday. I am starving and it is only 10:30. I am ready to open a can of tuna :) I did just eat several pieces of celery which took the edge of my hunger.
I think I'm getting tired of thinking about food all the time. Journaling, counting points, watching sugar, ..., it is all exhausting. But I know the alternative is much worse--overweight and unhealthy. So I will keep trying,. Do you mind if I whine a little here?

linworthlady, nah, whine all you want:D What usually stays with me throughout the morning is if I have a protein & carb, like eggs and toast. If I eat cereal, I'm gnawing on the cabinets in 2 hrs.:lol: Tuna sounds really good, sometimes I just have a couple of spoonfuls of low fat cottage cheese and it takes the hunger away. Ya, I get tired too of thinking about food, journaling, and so on. So, we'll just keep plugging along.

I'm doing much better today. I am not starving all the time at least. I just had some whole wheat noodles with pesto sauce--it's pretty tasty. Plus some chicken and veggies. It's hard to think of what to eat all the time without bread, potatoes, rice, etc. They are so easy to fix. I'll just have to get used to cooking more.

Glad you're not starving all the time. It takes awhile for your stomach to adjust without a lot of food. I'm not looking forward to when I can't eat as many points as I can now. I went to my WW meeting this morning, and I only lost 2/10ths of a lb. I was not a very happy camper. Hopefully I'll do better this week.

I see you are from Charleston, SC. Did you get any heavy storms like they got in Tenn. and Ohio? We were very lucky up here in NH, we only got rain out of it. DH & I have been to Myrtle Beach a few times on our way to FL. We've driven through Charleston, and it's a fantastic city.

Take care and have a good evening.

I'm still lurking:)

We have had a lot of rain in Charleston, no tornadoes though. We did have an earthquake night before last. No damage from it, though.
Congratulations on your loss. Do you usually lose more each week? I'm finding it easier to count my points and do the SB WOE, are you? But my clothes feel tighter. So I hope I don't have a big gain.

I've usually been losing about 1 to 1 1/2 lb. a week. I know what went wrong the past two weeks where one week I stayed the same, and this week only lost a little. I bought some f/f s/f ice cream, Walmart's Blue Bunny brand. I cut that out, I am back to s/f Jello for my snack at night. We also went out to eat a few times, and I did not always make the right choices, and ate way..way too much. I too am finding it much easier to count points along with SB. I have the SB Shopping Guide Booklet that gives you an extensive list of foods that you can and cannot have. It's great to take to the supermkt. with you so you know what and what not to buy.

WOW, an earthquake! We've had a few of them ourselves without any damage.

Your clothes will start feeling looser pretty soon.

I've heard a lot about Blue Bunny brand from fellow Weight Watchers. I never had it though. Where did you get your Shopping Guide? That sounds cool.

I got the Shopping Guide at one of the book stores in the mall. It was either Lauriets or Walden Books, I'm not sure. You also could try Barnes & Noble or Border Books if you have any of those in your area. In the book store it was with all the diet books. I also saw it at my local Rite Aid Pharmacy, near where they carry their diet stuff. It's rather small, and I think it cost around $4.00. If you ever order anything online, you could also check Amazon.

I've been pretty good today. 2 chicken breasts though. I ate one I found on this board with mayo and parmesan "painted" on it, It was good. Then I had another one at lunch. My jeans feel so tight and I'm afraid to get on the scale. Do you think it is possible that his WOE will cause me to gain weight after doing
Weight 'Watchers for years? I sure hope not because it makes so much sense.

I suppose it's possible that you did gain weight from switching from WW to SB. I know when I was doing Suzanne Somers WOE, a few people gained weight before they started losing. She explained that your body was starting to heal itself from all the sugars and chemicals that were put in your body from all the processed foods. Are you watching your portion sizes?
On the SB Weekly Support Board, I found a site that seemed interesting. It's a SB page, and if you look to the left there are all sorts of stuff to click onto. There is a page for menu suggestions. I copied this also just to get some ideas. www.prettyimpressivestuff.com/sugarbusters/

I find SB somewhat confusing because I'm used to guidelines when dieting, as to how many servings, and serving sizes. I think I'm getting the hang of it, but I'm not very sure.

I hope these sites help you. Aleka

www.ma-wired.com/ntrition.html This has serving size for the different food groups. I copied the serving size for the carbs because we are allowed 2-3 starchy carbs a day, each serving is 15 gm.

Thanks so much for the 2 websites. I had seen the first one and found it helpful. The nutrition site was helpful to me, for example, because it said a serving was 1/2 c. of cereal, where on the box a serving is 1 cup. So I may have been eating too many starchy carbs. I have been eating more meat, but I've been counting the WW points and coming in less than 25. As you can see, I"m still sort of confused. I'm still afraid to get on the scales and will probably wait until next Wed.

I am glad that I copied the carb list. Because the portion for a sweet potato in WW is 8 oz. cooked, and actually it should be 4 oz. For cereal to stay with me I have to have 2 carb. servings. If I only had 1/2 cup, I'd be starving in about 1/2 hr. Maybe if we take it one step at a time, eventually it will all come together. That's good to know that the way you are eating, you are keeping it under 25 pt. Do you eat nuts? I know they are very high in points. I don't understand their way of thinking sometimes. Nuts are healthy for you, but they put low points on fat-free stuff that is unhealthy for you:soap:

I just ate another big ole chicken breast because I was starving. Plus a salad, too. I had 2 carb servings and peanut butter for breakfast but I was starved by 11:00.
About nuts, I eat peanut butter, and I bought some walnuts in the shell that I've been slowly eating.
I've been lurking on the Support Board and saw where you posted how you plan to eat. I guess the only thing to watch is the # of carb servings. It feels more like a diet to me than a WOE--hopefully it will become second nature.

The chicken & salad sound good. What if you melt some reduced fat cheese on your chicken breast? Maybe that would give you a little something extra. I had 2 carbs also for breakfast along with some peanutbutter and some all fruit jelly. That seemed to stay with me until lunch. I wasn't very hungry at lunch, so I had some vegetable, 0 point soup that I make, some whole-wheat crackers, and reduced fat cheese. I've planned to have the right amt. of servings of starchy carbs, and watch my sugar intake. That's about all I can absorb right now. After I get the hang of this WOE I will concentrate on the other stuff like trying to get enough fiber and the right percentage of carbs, protein, & fat. I am comfortable with the points system, so I definitely will stick with that.

My chicken at lunch had the mayo/parmesan mixture on top (leftovers from last night). It filled me up, but now I'm wanting an afternoon snack. Nothing sounds too good though. I might just have some coffee. My usual snack foods are starchy carbs like crackers or pretzels but they're not "legal." Here's hoping I make it until dinner.

I'm totally confused but still reading your posts!:lol:

LINWORTH, if you like pretzels there are two that I know are SB LEGAL. One is SNYDERS OF HANOVER ORGANIC OAT BRAN PRETZELS and the other is a Sourdough pretzel from FRESH MARKET, both kinds are carried at FM, at least down in FL. The key of course is MODERATION.

As for crackers, BARABARA'S WHEATINES are a new one I just found, but there are quite a few other SB LEGAL crackers around out there, you just have to read the labels and find something you like.

Why lurk on the support board? Come join us-I promise, we don't bite!:D

Good luck!

Debbie

I will join you guys on the other board, but I did want to thank you for the pretzel ideas. My problem is I'm trying to limit starchy carbs so I can lose weight. 2-3 a day is such a small amount for me right now. Debelli-I liked your chicken parmesan. It was easy, tasted so good, and looked so pretty too.

Debelli, you mentioned FRESH MARKET in FL. Are they all over FL, or just in your area? If we get to Ft Myers in March I would like to look one up. I do believe we have Snyders in our local supermkt. But, I will have to check if they have the organic Oat Bran pretzels. We used to have Barbara's crackers in our area, but for some reason the supermkt. stopped carrying them. They now have Haines and Healthy Valley. I get the Healthy Valley Whole Wheat, and they are very good. I don't use the Triscuits very much because they have hydrogenated oils in them, and I am trying to get away from that. You mentioned reading the label on the cracker box. It should be made with whole-wheat flour, and less than 3 gm of sugar, and look at the amt. of carbs. Do I have it right?

linworthlady, I post on the support board and they all have been so very patient with me, with all my questions. I have gotten some very good advice. It's going to take some time to get used to limiting starchy carbs., especially being on WW where it seems you can have as much as you want, as long as you stay within your point range. I think I overdid it on the starchy carbs. yesterday.

Aleka

It's so easy to overdo the carbs, don't you think? Are legumes legal? I want to make chili but don't know if I should count the beans as starchy carbs? I looked in the SB book but could't find them in the list for acceptable or nonacceptable foods.

I looked in the SB Shoppers Guide, and beans are listed as acceptable. Here is the acceptable list: BLACK BEANS....BLACKEYE PEAS....BUTTER BEANS....CANNELLI (WHITE KIDNEY BEANS)....CHICKPEAS (GARBANZO)....GREEN SPLIT PEAS....KIDNEY BEANS....LENTILS....NAVY BEANS....PINK BEANS....SOYBEANS....WAX BEANS

Unacceptable:BAKED BEANS....PORK AND BEANS

The only thing the shopping guide doesn't say is whether or not beans are a starchy carb. Some WOES consider beans a carb, some consider it a protein. I don't know in which category SB considers beans. I am sure any one of the people that have been doing this WOE for a long time can answer your question.

Yes, I find that I overdue carbs. I think what I may have to do is write down how many carb serv. I've eaten along with the WW points. That way I can keep better track of them than in my head. Yesterday I overdid it with carbs. A GF & I went to Olive Garden for lunch, and I just had to have 1 of their breadsticks! Actually, I could just sit there and make a meal of their breadsticks!

Have a great Sat.

Aleka

What is GF? I didn't lose any weight after a week of SB--I stayed the same, maybe up 1 pound. I will give it a little while longer but I am discouraged.

Hi,
GF is girlfriend. Sorry about not losing weight. Were you having good luck with just WW, or were you just staying the same with that too? At my last WW meeting, our leader suggested to mix things up a bit when you hit a plateau. Have supper for breakfast, that sort of thing. What I'm trying to do is one day eat to my max of 25, then eat between 20-23 pts. I'm not always successful of eat the max because I like to bank points for when I go out to eat.

I was maintaining with WW too. But I almost always eat my max. I'm just a hungry person I guess. I know this shouldn't be all about losing weight, but I sure don't want to gain.
I have been sooo hungry with SB and staying at 25 points or under. I have some chicken baking in the oven and it's only 11:00. I'm ready to eat now.
Thanks for the info on the beans. I did have one bowl of chili for dinner, no crackers or anything else.

If you ate a lot of 0 point veggies, would that help with your hunger? I usually pile my plate with them, then add 1 Tablesp. reduced fat salad dressing or the full fat. Another thing you could try is making the WW 0 point soup and have that as an appetizer before you eat your meal. That 0 point soup is my main staple, as I can eat tons of it. How about raw veggies and dip, or salsa? I don't seem to get hungry that often, or maybe my stomach is used to being hungry.:shrug:

I do eat a lot of veggies, although I'm a bit burned out on the 0 point soup. I will keep pluggin along. Thanks for the tips.