I am so frustrated! (With myself, with the plan...)
I have a long diet history.
In 2009, I used SparkPeople to lose 60 pounds.
I gained about 30 back. In 2010, I used the old WW to lose that 30 before I moved to college.
I gained about 30 back (surprise!).
So this summer, this finals week, actually, I convinced my mother to let me join WW again (she pays).
I have done my best to stick to the new plan. I even went on a mini-vacation and still lost. Now, I can't lose anything. Last week was zero. This week was minus .5. I am grateful to finally lose half a pound but COME ON.
The last time, it was so much easier. I don't understand. I am sticking to the plan. Except once I went like, a bazillion (18) points over, and I weighed the next day and that was the day I had lost the half a pound. It's held steady since then.
I am measuring portions, drinking my water, not eating more fruit than is acceptable. I have no idea what's going on.
A couple of notes:
- Activity points: How many should I eat? I am sort of half-heartedly training for a bike ride in September, and sometimes I will use upwards of 16 a day. Also, I really like to hike and that gets usually between 4-6, an hour.
- I did WW once in high school and I had to eat a couple of points over every day in order to lose weight. I would stay exactly the same if I just ate to my target. I haven't really tried eating over yet.
- I work on my feet and the old Points system gave me 2 points a day for that, this one doesn't.
- I am doing WW completely at home, so it's not like I can write down my food and take it to a meeting leader and get their input.
My weight is 231.5, and my daily target is 39. Help. So frustrating.
You are too impatient. Weight loss is not a steady loss every week. I have a week I lose 2-3 pounds, next week nothing, next 0-.5 and then 1 pound. You are probably eating too much if you are eating 16 APs a day. WW has long stressed most people overestimate the APs. I never eat APs but I use about half my WPs. Are you getting in your 9 GHGs? That is mandatory.
You could post your menu here and we could critique it. The new program does take into account your daily activity. You don't get to see how because the calculation is different.
I eat at least half, maybe more of my weekly points every week and I've lost every week for 10 weeks. to the tune of 23 pounds. The most was 6.2 pounds (my first week) and the least was 0.8 pounds. I'm average 1.5 to 2 pounds a week. I started with 41 daily points, and I'm down to 37 daily points. I earn between 4 and 10 activity points per day, depending whether I go to the gym or just counting my pedometer steps / points. I never dip into my AP's.
You're going to have to play with what works for you. And you're going to have to be patient, as the above poster said.
We believe and act as if the frustration is inevitable, especially frustration with small-loss, no-loss or small-gain weeks.
But it's frustration that kills weight loss attempts. Frustration isn't about failing, it's believing that you're failing because the success you're experiencing isn't good enough to suit you. You feel that everyone else is losing it faster and more steadily than you (and you'd be wrong).
Frustration is about failure to meet expectations, and if your expectations are unrealistic, you're dooming yourself to frustration until giving up seems like the only logical choice.
A couple years ago, I was griping to my doctor that I was only losing 1 lb a month, and I said "at my size that's pitiful, I should be losing at least 2 lbs a week like a normal person."
My doctor said "where'd you hear that crap" (or words to that effect), and set me straight. He told me that even at my weight, even at only 1 lb a month or less, because I was keeping at it, I was doing far, far better than most folks (of any age or weight) do, because most folks give up. It made me realize (if weight loss were compared to a race) that I wasn't trailing at the end, in last place - I was actually in the lead - even with my "pitiful" weekly losses).
I do wonder how many people "at the head of the pack," think they're trailing in everyone else's dust, just because they see all the people in front of them and not the many more trailing behind them.
We only hear about the cheetahs, not the tortoises.
Do you realize that you're at the head of the pack? That most people aren't as successful as you? That losing inconsistently is normal?
My TOPS (taking off pounds sensibly, kind of like a not-for-profit version of Weight Watchers, only you can follow any diet) group runs a contest every month called the Apple Tree Contest. Everyone's name is on a paper apple, that is thumbtacked to a corkboard tree. To stay on the apple tree you have to attend every meeting and have no gain-weeks. At the end of the month, whoever is still left on the apple tree splits a $10 prize.
We've got 30+ members, and about 25 who almost never miss a meeting.
So how many people do you think usually split the $10?
Usually 2.......Often 1.......Sometimes 3......... and 4 is so rare that it's worthy of a standing ovation.
This isn't a lazy group. Our chapter won recognition from the national organization for having one of the best and most consistent weight loss records in the state.
We don't talk about what is really normal. We only talk about 2 lbs a week, as if it were common, as if everyone were doing it.
Even on the Biggest Loser, some of the contestants having nothing but time and energy to put into weight loss, had no-loss and even gain-weeks (and the trainers would act as if they had no idea how that could have happened -as if it were a rare occurence in the real world, where it's the norm, not the exception).
Our culture lies about weight loss. We lie about how easy it is. We lie about how common it is. We lie about what good weight loss looks like.
We also judge ourselves by our best result. Twice in my life, I've lost 11 lbs in the first week of dieting, and for the rest of my life, I've judged myself by that 11 lb loss. Every time I have a small loss, I thought "it ain't no 11 lbs."
11 lbs was a fluke - hitting the weight loss lotto, I can't judge myself by that or any other single result.
I know I'm starting to get on a soap box here, but you need to realize how great you're doing. Remember a plateau isn't a week or two without a loss (that's a fluctuation). A plateau is 5-6 weeks without a loss (and for some folks even longer).
Don't judge yourself based on fiction. Realize that just staying in the game puts you ahead of most people. In this "race," there are more people looking at your backside with envy, than those leaving you in their dust.
You aren't a tortoise, you're not even a hare, you're a blasted cheetah!
Our culture lies about weight loss. We lie about how easy it is. We lie about how common it is. We lie about what good weight loss looks like.
Don't judge yourself based on fiction. Realize that just staying in the game puts you ahead of most people. In this "race," there are more people looking at your backside with envy, than those leaving you in their dust.
You aren't a tortoise, you're not even a hare, you're a blasted cheetah!
Amen! AAAAAAAMEN! And Hallelujah! So much good stuff in one post.
The new Points+ system is entirely different from the old one. So while it's easy to compare it to the old one because "Points" is still in the name, if we REALLY want to experiment with how well the new plan works we have to wipe the slate clean and start this plan fresh.
How many activity points should you eat... how should we know? I mean that in the most matter-of-fact way possible.
It's your body. You might be able to eat all of your activity points...or none. I can tell you that I do not eat my activity points back. I'll eat some weekly points, sure thing, but I don't eat the AP back.
It sounds like you're talking about a period of time over two weeks. One week you maintained which IS progress. The next week you lost half a pound which IS progress. Two weeks.... it's just not a lot of time to gauge weight loss. Most people have to look over their charts MONTHS at a time...if not YEARS to see patterns.
Even if you "only" lost half a pound a week, would it really matter? Losing it fast doesn't mean it stays off. We're not in a race to see who can get to goal weight the fastest... the "race" is to see who ends up maintaining the weight lost forever. That's a race we all want to win. That's a race everyone can win.
Take a breath. Follow the plan. Be patient with yourself as you add weekly points to your days to see if that helps. To watch what happens when you try different types of foods. Finding out what works is going to take a little time. And each step you take is a step towards being healthier.
I couldn't get back to this because real life got in the way..don't you just hate that?
I think a majority of my problem is that I never work "rewards" into the system. I never have a little ice cream or whatever, so I am just continuously frustrated with veggies. I'm trying!
You guys are right, I'm not giving it enough time, and to the poster who called me a cheetah,
I guess...It's just been a really bad week (found out my bike needs to be replaced, in the middle of training for a 100-mile century, NOT GOOD) and I just was really hoping to see big numbers to make me feel better.
Also, I should mention, I have the plan set to use my APs before my WPs, so I think that we had a little bit of confusion when I was talking about eating those.
I will stick with it, and eat filling foods, and try not to compare it to last time, and it will be okay.
I am so frustrated! (With myself, with the plan...)
