I love reading all your posts. What a great thing to have when attempting something as PAINful and aggravating as losing weight!
So I'm new here...just witnessed my boyfriend's sister on WW...an amazing sight. I've decided that NOW is the time for me to start, and really stick to it. You really have to be ready, or you just won't do it. I'm hoping now is the time...I've been unhappy with my weight since grade school.
Anyway...I'm not going to meetings, but I have all the literature...I weigh 140, so my points range is between 18-23...and I'm in AGONY...I never thought I ate a lot, but I guess my portions have been huge! My tally yesterday was 20.5 (give or take a point) and tonight I'm up to 12 points...with dinner still to go! Am I doing this right? I'm going out to meet my friend for a mexican dinner, and all I can afford to eat are like two weenie tacos for five points each? I'd usually eat a chicken burrito with sour cream and pico da gallo and a margarita! ( i didn't THINK that was a lot...)
I'm desperate for guidance...what are FlexPoints? Are they points you just award yourself randomly throughout the week with? Or are they points you've stored over weeks of eating in the low part of your range.
Nice to meet you all...I hope to have a success story to share! As for now...
well we no longer have ranges what we have for our minimum is called TargetPoints which is actually 2 points higher then the low end of the old ranges. So at 140 you would be at 20 minimum a day.
FlexPoints are the points you would/could have banked from the old program that are given to you up front (the range had a 5 point spread x 7 days = 35 FlexPoints) an you can use or not use them at your discretion. Most of us find we lose better eating them. You can use them all in 1 day or spread them out over the week but once they are gone they are gone. It makes the program more liveable as you don't have to wait until you put points in your bank to use them like before.
You can also earn ActivityPoints for exercise that you can use only the day you earn them.
You use your TPs first (getting to this for a minimum) and then if you choose use your APs and then dip into your FPs if you choose.
Like the poster above said, instead of a range every day you will have a set number (like for me I eat 24 points a day, no more no less) and then each week you have an additional 35 points on top of that. You can eaither use them here or there during the week (some people like to have 5 pts a day extra) or save them all for a one day splurge (I like to save mine for saturdays, so for saturdays I have my normal 24 points PLUS 35 on top of that for the day--59 points in one day!!). But once the week is up, your points are gone. I will copy and past the info in a post right below this one that will explain things better than this.
Anyways, make sure you are eating lots of free veggies and high fiber foods to stay full. I literally could not do it if I didn't stay full on fiber and lean protein. You can do lots of things with veggies to make them taste good yet stay 0 points (I like to stir fry them in some garlic, roast them in the oven with garlic and seasonings, etc). For the mexican resturaunt I would choose the chicken fajitas and limit or bring my own low pt tortillas (La Tortilla Factory are I think 0.5 pts each) and use a bit of sour cream because I love it (1 pt per T) and use lots of yummy salsa and the grilled onions, etc that come with them.
The first column is your weight right now. The second column is your POINTS Target. Your POINTS Target is the minimum numbers of points you should each every single day.
FlexPoints
In addition to eating all of your Target Points each day and optionally eating some or all of your Activity Points each day, you’ll begin each week with 35 FlexPoints. Use them any way you please. Don’t use them at all, use some, divide them evenly over the week, or spend them all on a weekend splurge. Once the week is up, they’re gone. Keep track of them in your QuikTrak System.
Thanks Kelly...thanks skinnimini...i appreciate you taking the time to answer my question so throroughly...the mexican restaurant wasn't as hard as i thought it would be...i had a big bean and rice burrito and a light beer, and ate no chips and salsa!! my only fear, is that since i'm not going to meetings, i'm totally overestimating the worth in points of each meal. for example - i counted the burrito as 8 or 9 (it had sour cream in it) and the beer as 2.
its so interesting...how so much of dieting is 'mental'...i'm probably eating what i would normally, it just feels like less because i'm paranoid about what goes in my mouth...
thanks again guys! (oh interesting idea about saving your flexpoints for the weekend...) tomorrow's friday yayayayay
oh, skinnimini...what sort of vegetables do you usually season with garlic? i'm looking for a stellar veggie combination to use as a side dish on most of my meals. do you have any suggestions as to how to incorporate protein into daily snacks? i'm determined to become a good cook out of this whole thing, lol.
You can do points manually by using the following formula:
POINTS = (calories/50) + (fat grams/12) - (fiber grams <remembering the max on fiber is 4 grams>/5)
You can manually figure activity points by using the following formulas:
Light Activity (you can talk and sing):
Weight X Minutes X .000232 = Activity Points
Moderate Activity (you can talk but no sing):
Weight X Minutes X .000327 = Activity Points
High Activity (you need deep breaths to talk):
Weight X Minutes X .0008077 = Activity Points
It is better to over estimate than under....the above sites will help. www.dwlz.com has over 300 restaurants with items and points listed. Also 99% of the fast food places on their website have nutritional information.
dwlz is such a great resource...i wish i had printed out all that stuff before i went last night.
how long have you studied nutrition? or been on the WW circuit? from your posts all over this site, you are a valuable source of reference. thanks for sharing.
I like all sorts of veggies but tonight for dinner we had thin cut grilled pork chops, 2 small red potatoes and some broccoli, here is how I cooked the broccoli and it was GOOD!!
1 package of frozen broccoli florets
dump into microwave safe bowl with lid
sprinkled with garlic salt and lite soy sauce and some garlic cloves (ok as you can see I like garlic...lol), oviously suit to your taste
nuke until heated through and it was YUMMY!!
Veggies are so eay to make really. One of my other favorite veggie dishes is to take any frozen/fresh mixed veggies (mushrooms, onions, zuccini, broccoli, carrot, whatever you like) and mix it all with a package of onion soup mix, cover and bake at 350 until done and kinda carmalize. Oh, don't forget to spray them with Pam butter spray off and on so they don't burn...everyones oven is different so you will have to experiement to see what works for you. One good thing to add if you have extra points is to toss them in some olive oil and then with the onion soup mix....that is to die for but adds extra points.
Fresh grilled corn is wonderful too. Summertime you can grill just about anything and they are fantastic that way--eggplant, squashes, mushrooms, corn, etc
i totally understand. i don tknow if its the same for you, but sometimes it seems cheaper to eat day to day instead of building your groceries..you really need to go grocery shopping regularly if you want to eat right. sometimes if funds get low its easier to pay 3-5 bucks for a sandwich for dinner than it is to go spend $100 on groceries.
i dont know. thats my situation at least. but im trying to stick to groceries for now...esp now since this job is 9-5 and breakfast, lunch, dinner is regular every day.
skinnimini that carmelized veggie combo, in the onion soup sounds just deLISH. is the whole thing zero points? or does the onion mix add some.
thanks TONS. my tummy will thank you
I count it all as 0 points I don't think any of the dry onion soup mixes should have any points. It is something I make even if I don't have any weight to lose just because it IS good, I usually add olive oil if I am not counting points.
My HEAD is spinning!!
(oh interesting idea about saving your flexpoints for the weekend...) tomorrow's friday yayayayay
yum!
