Newbie to LAWL
 

Hello All!
I am just getting started on LAWL. I have lost 45 pounds on WW in the past but wanted to try something new after I regained all the weight back due to emotional eating.
I joined on Dec 29 and according to the scale at the center I am down 7 pounds. On my scale at home I am up 1 pound.
My question is that I want to know if I am consuming too much food? I weigh 195 lbs, 5'6" and I work out less than 5 hours per week. They put me on plan 4 with on lites. 3 1/2 proteins, 4 fruits and veggies, 2 fats, 3 dairy, 5 starches per day. I tracked my WW points one day and I consumed 33 points worth of food, even though on WW I could have 24 plus 35 weekly points (a range of 22 to 27 points).
What is going on? I think I have gained, they say I've lost. Yet I weighed myself on 2 scales.
Another thing I am worried about is the cost. I paid for a year upfront but I chose not to buy any supplements, lites, or food. I want to lose the weight eating real food, not by "cheating". Now they want me to do the Fast forward drink every 14 days. I cannot afford to buy the drink that much until I lose the 58 pounds, which might take me at least 7 months.
Thanks for any input.

Congrats on your weight lost so far, the plan really does work.

I'm not familiar with the numbered plans so i'm no help there. Its good that you didnt get pressured into buying the lites and all those supplements, i wish i had done that.

Anyway you dont have to do takeoff/fast forward every 2w. You do it when you can and there are a bunch of different juices you can use instead of paying close to $30 for their juice. You can use Knudsen's Morning Blend, grapefruit, oranges or cantaloupe. Ive also used the hollywood diet drink (i think thats what its called) found at walgreens or cvs the same way you do the LAWL juice.

Also when you just want to get rid of some water weight and dont want to do takeoff or fast forward you can have some warm lemon water and that should help.

Read this page, it should answer some questions.
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70537

Jewel- Welcome aboard. The main thing is that although the 2 programs may be similar. LAWL is a different program than WW and you have to think portions and not points. If you are not doing the lites, then it sounds like you are on the right program. Next, quit weighing yourself on 2 different scales, you will drive yourself crazy, there are so many variables, did you eat or drink anything, did you need to pee, etc. etc.

You can do the TO every two weeks, but I personally would not recommend it if you are losing steadily. I didn't do a TO for the first 5 months I was on the program. Sometimes just being perfectly on plan (POP) no cheats whatsoever will do just as good as a TO.

I have to echo what the Debs have said so far... Take Off can be accomplished easily using oranges and cantalope.. Also, i've found that if it's done too often, it's results are lessened..

The hardest part about this diet, beyond getting past your cravings, is wrapping your mind around the fact that you have to eat to lose... You may find yourself unconciously (or conciously) skimping on your portions because you think you need to be eating less.. DON'T... By eating the right combinations of the right kind of food, your body will lose weight...

If you skimp your portions, or skip them all together, your body can go into starvation mode and the weight loss will slow down.

You MUST stick to the menu plan to the letter. If you allow yourself to cheat even a little early on in the diet, it won't work...

You can do it!

Welcome Jewel! These guys have given so some great advice. I also wanted to add that my home scale always weighs me 4 lbs heavier than the scale at my center.

Thanks to you all
 

I feel a bit better and I will follow your advice, especially about the weighing myself -it did drive me crazy. I think I can stick to this plan because I am not hungry at all. Besides with all the support here, I should be fine.

Welcome Jewel!

I am not on the numbered plans, but I know a lot of people initially gained a pound or two while their bodies were adjusting to all of the food throughout the day. But they went on to lose weight steadily!

Like the others have said-DO NOT invent your own program. This program will only work if you follow it exactly as written! Believe me....

Good luck and welcome!

Jewel, you are fine. Everyday is filled with small details that bog down the big picture (your goal). Bottom line is you need to change, FOR LIFE, how you eat. LAWL is not better than WW just a different way to relearn bad habits. Each has strong points. What matters is that you take time to learn that your body needs only so much food to live and the rest is sabotage.
I like to weigh at home (my COD closed so now I have to) so I adjusted my home scale to match the COD scale. I weighed in and rushed home and set the same weight (no snacks or water in between).

How did you do this?
 

How did you reset your scale at home? I have a WW scale by Conair.

Jewel, some scales have adjustments, some don't. The scales that they have at the COD are very expensive scales. I believe they told me that the scale there cost 600$ so it is a very accurate scale. So if you saw a loss on there, you probably had a loss. I believe they may soon drop you to a lower plan. I believe I got dropped to a lower plan at around 190, so you should appreciate the plan 4 while you can! The day of eating a little less are probably not far away for you. Give the plan a couple of more weeks and I'm sure your home scale will start showing a loss too. If it is driving you crazy, well then don't weigh at home, since you don't need to discourage yourself. If you weigh at home do it at exactly the same time of the day, generally first thing in the morning while you are bare naked is good. Then you will not be seeing variations due to what you already ate... you can gain 5 pounds from morning to night, and probably do every day. The weight of your clothes can cause you to weigh more... I never wear jeans to the COD since they are about 2-3 extra pounds, and who needs that!

Thanks Barbara
 

You nailed it when you discussed what varies in weight loss: time of day, what has been eaten, and the clothes I wear. As of today, I am down by 9.6 pounds and I started on Dec 30!!! YEAHH!!!

One of my co-workers got me to signup at LAWL, and Friday of last week she went to weigh in and the scale registered that she was up a few ounces. So, she stripped off her jeans (it was casual Friday), and weighed again. This time the scale registered 1.4 lbs less than the first time. Her hubby and I both had the same thought--just subtract 1.4 lbs from the registered amount on the scale. :D

Congrats on the loss Jewel!!! That's awesome news!

Jewel:

Welcome to the board. You will find a lot of good advice here from people who have been there and done that. My only two cents to add about using the alternatives that are mentioned here is if you have signed a contract with some type of money back guarantee these alternates will void that (they do work just as well). I didn't notice that in your information, but just so you know.

Good Luck and congrats on your weight loss.