[mercuryblue]

Hi Guys,

So i started WW a month or so ago and have lost 8.5lbs so far. My boyfriend is also working on eating what i am eating at home and i have an amazing WW buddy who has decided to join with me and he is also doing very well! However, i feel like i am completely obsessed with points and counting points. Is this normal? do people attack this more casually? I am so nervous to eat out and i feel guilty for eating anything a little out of the ordinary... thinking i have totally screwed up my entire week.

I hope that this anxiety passes over time!! I feel like i see points dancing around in my head as i am trying to sleep as i am adding up what points would make a meal i enjoy or if i mis-calculated something i ate and it should have worked out to more points than i wrote in my planner. Am i going nuts? sheeesh

[amandie]

First off, congrats on your weight loss so far!

Nope, you're not nuts You'll get used to it with some more time and it'll become second nature. However, you should not feel guilty AT ALL about eating anything out of ordinary nor should you worry about screwing up a week. That is why the WPA was created, remember? Even if you do really screw up, just get back on track. I totally hate when I miscalculate but I take it out of the AP or WPA and move on. You can do it! GL

Personally, I like counting points way better than counting calories- for some reason, it seems more simplified and I still lose using my WPA so no more guilt for me!

[JenB77]

Totally normal lol! I still have moments when I find myself doing it

Congrats on your progress so far! Keep up the good work!!

[BlueEyes83]

Congrats on your weight loss!!

I am also obsessed with the counting.... I feel like if I do not count every little thing that I will not lose weight. I also talk about how many points things are to my friends and I think they are getting annoyed by it .

I do find this a little harder then counting calories but it is getting easier. I use the online food tracker and it saves all my favorite foods and makes life so much easier .

[mmel3283]

If I'm not 100% sure if I'm counting something right...I'll always up the points on it by 1 or 2 (obvi depending on what it is) just to be safe. Some times...certain things it is hard to tell...esp if you don't have a scale or measuring cups.


But you're doing something right if you're loosing about 2 lbs per week! Go you!

[Koshka]

I do spend a lot of time trying to count my points as exactly as possible. However, sometimes you can't be that exact and it is important not to stress over that. Last night I went to a restaurant that I didn't have nutritional info on. I did my best to count points (looking up generic items) but I still have over 30 WPs left so if I'm off by 5 points it isn't a big deal (since I won't eat any/many WP for the rest of the week).

That said:

I am so nervous to eat out and i feel guilty for eating anything a little out of the ordinary... thinking i have totally screwed up my entire week.

You need to not have that thought. If you screw up a meal by eating too much or not counting points correctly you screwed up that meal. There is no reason to then go off program for the rest of the week. If you think you've screwed up the whole week, it is very easy to then think it doesn't matter what you eat for the rest of the week and then go off program.

At a meeting a couple of weeks, that was part of the topic. The example given by the leader was something like this:

I was carrying a couple of eggs in the kitchen and dropped them and broke them. So I went over and picked up the carton of eggs remaining and walked over and threw them all on the floor.

When she said that everyone really laughed because it was so absurd. It is just as absurd to think that one bad meal or food choice somehow means you need to ruin the entire rest of the week.

[mercuryblue]

Thank you so much for the advice. It really does make me feel better. Exactly what was said.... i feel like i am annoying people when i talk about the WW and the points and stuff. Everyone keeps asking me "Can you eat that?", "Can you eat this?". I know i can eat all stuff, but in moderation. Just afraid if i go over somehow accidently ive messed it up. WW to me is like a last resort... or thats how it feels. If i mess it up here, i have nothing left to help me, and i am stuck in this body for ever.

I do have to say though, i really love WW and the support here on these forums. I read them all the time when i am at work. Its fantastic.

[josey]

I spend a lot of time on points too. The whole weight loss topic is huge in my daily life right now. And this forum is a good place to talk about it without annoying other people ;-) Well, my bf is in on it (and is counting points too now) but everybody else doesn't know!

I am so excited about my weight going down!! I even got a ticker now to show it off ;-) Geez, I sound like a teenager in love!

[KimberlyP]

I think many of us are strict when counting our points, I know I am! I track carefully everyday and even have a spreadsheet where I enter my food and points.

In the beginning I felt bad about certain foods I'd eat or if I went out to eat and couldn't find or calculate the points for a certain dish I'd be hard on myself after. Now I eat whatever I want and if I decided to have a piece of cake or something along those lines, I make sure to track that particular food and the guilt is gone!

[mercuryblue]

A spread sheet would be better. At the last meeting i was going to buy that Ultimate 3 Month Planner, but didnt end up since i didnt have cash on me. This week has been hard for me... very hard, but i am really giving it a good try. Weigh in is in 2 days and i feel like ive been a BAD girl! ugh. Last night i ended up baking some pita triangles and had them with cheese and salsa... but omg they were awesome! Ohh... how i love you cheese!