Would you mind sharing with me how many points you are allowed per day (don't include flex/activity) and how many of those you spend on breakfast?
I am allowed 24 daily points and generally try to do 4 for breakfast, 6-8 for lunch, 10-12 on dinner, and about 2 on fresh fruit/veggie snacks. If I go on the low side for my meals, I splurge on a special treat.
I'm just wondering if I'm spending too little at breakfast, like if I should go 6 at breakfast and 6 at lunch. I get pretty hungry in the hour, sometimes two hours, before lunch but just wait it out. It works okay for me because I don't binge/overeat at lunch, but I'd just like to not feel that way.
I'm allowed to have 27 points and I ususally stay close to 6 at breakfast. My favorite breakfast is a toasted sandwhich thin with 1 Tbsp of low fat jiff pb and yoplait light yogurt. I mix up the yogurt flavors so I'm not eating the same thing everyday. That really keeps me full for a couple hours. Lunch varies as does dinner. Lunch is usually around 6 points or so and then what's leftover I use for dinner and a snack later. Oh and I try and have at least one snack in the middle of my day so I'm not over eating at dinner. My favorite snack right now is an apple. There are days I'll eat 2 apples.
i get 38 points and i use 5 on breakfast (i'm more of a night time eater) i have 1 whole egg and 1 egg white omelet style with 1/8 cup low fat shredded cheese in between a high fiber english muffin which is 4 points and 1 point for the creamer in my coffee
I get 20 points a day and usually use 5 on breakfast. Right now my favorite breakfast is a WW smoothie blended with a banana and a whole wheat english muffin with a tbsp. of Better Than Peanut Butter. I do 4-5 pts for lunch, 7-8 for dinner, and 2-3 for dessert.
Argh! I wish I liked yogurt! My 4 point breakfast is a protein shake made with soy milk after I workout. On days I don't workout, sometimes I will still have a protein shake and sometimes I will do a boiled egg and fruit thing.
I have 31 points and use 7 for breakfast. I'm still working this out. My usual breakfast is a yogurt smoothie that's 5 points (ready made, but with all good ingredients). I usually add a Fiber One bar (2 points) midmorning. Sometimes that lasts until lunch, but sometimes it doesn't.
It's taken me about four years to make breakfast a habit. I was a breakfast skipper for most of my life. I want to experiment to see what foods are the most filling. I've found in the past that having eggs in the morning is the only thing that really works for me, but I don't like cooking in the morning (to me, frying an egg is "cooking."). I've tried a variety of cereals, and most last two hours at most. I want to try oatmeal in the winter.
I am SO picky about breakfast! I don't like to cook for breakfast, either, Bloomer. Cereal is okay except I don't like milk. I don't like oatmeal (unless it comes in a cookie smothered in icing.) I don't like yogurt. I don't like anything hot (i.e. the cooking thing.) Protein shakes are working for me now, but in the winter they are vicious because I get SO cold. (I have even tried to boil a cup of water to sip on to warm up! HA!)
I have 32 points a day and for breakfast I usually eat as little as possible. I usually start out with a Fiber One bar, but I don't eat it in the morning until I absolutely have to, and then usually a couple hours later I am hungry again but a lot of times I can still make it to lunch...it's hard but I like getting to the end of the day and having a lot of points left to have a big dinner. Sometimes I actually have to eat twice at night!
@Bloomer: I consider anything that involves more than a paper plate and a microwave to be cooking, plus I can only eat eggs hard-boiled, deviled, or scrambled with more cheese than egg (I really don't like eggs much at all). What I will do sometimes is boil and peel a lot of them at once and just keep them in a baggy in the fridge so I can just grab one. It wouldn't be a hot breakfast but it would be a satisfying one.
EDIT: I am a recovering breakfast skipper as well. I find that if I don't eat breakfast I can last until lunch, but if I do eat breakfast I get hungry at 9:00 or 10:00 am. I hate this feeling and I would much rather just skip but I know only bad little pandas skip breakfast...
Last edited by melbellrocks; 07-28-2010 at 08:13 AM.
I usually use 5 for breakfast, i.e. bran cereal (2pts), fat free milk 1 cup (2pts), 1tbsp sliced almonds (1pts) or 1 egg (2pts), 1 bread (1pt) boca sausage links (2pts).
I don't consciously think about dividing mine up by meals that often. I generally eat as many as I need to feel satisfied. But I guess if I was going to do that I'd probably dedicate 6-7 per meal and a couple points toward snacks. Give or take.
This morning I ate 9 pts:
can of peaches - 4
2 whole grain english muffins - 2
2 tps butter - 2
1 tsp sugar + cinnamon - 1
The trick I've found to staying full is to eat A LOT of low point foods. Like before I ate a real meal last night, I ate a whole raw zucchini for 0. I try to fill with low point foods first, and then satisfy those cravings in the end with higher point foods. By the time I finish my small portions of yummy foods, I'm usually full. I kinda trick my body haha.
The trick I've found to staying full is to eat A LOT of low point foods. Like before I ate a real meal last night, I ate a whole raw zucchini for 0. I try to fill with low point foods first, and then satisfy those cravings in the end with higher point foods. By the time I finish my small portions of yummy foods, I'm usually full. I kinda trick my body haha.
I like that. That's kinda how I do my snacks at work, too. I will start if I'm hungry between meals getting something 0-1 points like applesauce or a fruit cup. And after 20 minutes if I'm still hungry I will move up and actually eat a sandwich or a fiber bar...something slightly higher in points but also higher in substance.
This is advice from my leader and for those of us who have incorporated it, it works well. Your points should be allocated roughly as follows:
Divide your daily points by 2. I have 18 so that's 9.
Use 1/2 for breakfast and lunch. I use 3 for breakfast, 1 for a WW yogurt for a snack, and 5 for lunch.
Use the other half for dinner and afternoon snacks. I use 8 points for dinner and 3 of my WAPs, giving me 4 for snacks.
It is not good to eat sparingly in the morning and at lunch so you have a ton of points for night. Your blood sugar levels need to be kep level. Eating too little during the day can lead to binging at night.
The other thing she told us that I find works amazingly well is to have protein for every meal and snack. I might have an apple and 1 T. of peanut butter, or a pear and a Laughing Cow Light cheese wedge, veggies and hummus for a snack. Protein is what keeps you feeling satisfied. Carbs, expecially the simple carbs simply do not fill you up for long.
Ooh I like the idea of eating protein at every meal and snack. Don't forget about that fat free cottage cheese, too. It's great protein and you can mix just about anything you like into it! I gotta go get some pears and I need to find those laughing cow cheese snacks too. Aw man I'm getting hungry!
Those who are counting points...
