Hi everyone, first I must say thanks to all of you I really enjoy the information and support you share. I started WW flex on my own one week ago. I did a lot of research on WW and bought a points calculator on ebay.
I have been sticking to my minimum points (28) and exercising 60 minutes every day. In the first couple of days I lost 6 pounds (I weigh every day). Every day since then I have gained and now am only one pound below my starting weight. Does this make sense? I am a big girl (292), shouldn't the weight be coming off faster? Especially with the exercise? And what about gaining weight?
Does anyone have any answers or advice to offer, like I said I'm new at this. I don't want to start out discouraged. You guys are the best!! Good luck to you all!
I would say that yes, at your level, you should be showing a loss and not a gain. There must be other factors we are not aware of. Is it your PMS time? We often weigh more then. Don't get discouraged. Just try to figure out what the problem is, and deal with it.
What kind of exercise are you doing? If you're doing weight training you could be losing weight but gaining muscle so the scale is going to either go up or maintain. How do your clothes feel? Are they looser? Do you appear any thinner anywhere when you look in the mirror? The scale is but one measurement of how you're doing and some people hardly ever weigh in. On WW though, I know that is a weekly routine.
Are you sure you're eating proper portions? That's usually the #1 reason for surprise weight gain. In some cases (baked desserts are bad about this) a bite or two can be 100 calories or more, so are you tracking your food closely such as with a food diary? I've always been told to write down every single morsel I put in my mouth. I was suprised to see my "sampling" that I thought was harmless was 200 or 300 extra calories everyday. So if you aren't already, I would suggest a food diary to keep track of everything.
Keep us posted and good luck on your new journey! I'm sure you will reach your goals.
First of all, congratulations on sticking to your plan and exercising! That's something you should feel good about -- I know I feel great whenever I've had a successful week. And sometimes it's really discouraging (like this week) when I've done everything right and I still don't see a loss. But whatever you do -- DON'T GIVE UP. If you are doing everything you should be doing, you will lose the weight. Check your portion sizes and if you're still not seeing a loss after a couple more weeks, I would consider checking with a doctor. Just remember all the factors that are involved in losing weight. The scale doesn't always tell the whole story. One more thing -- don't forget to drink your water!! It makes a difference, trust me!
Thanks everyone for all your support! I have been making sure my portions are correct, keeping a journal, and drinking lots of water. I am experiencing PMS, so maybe that's what's going on. I just never realized how much of an affect it can have on my weight. I'm not going to give up. So far I love WW and the flexibility it provides. Hopefully I will see results soon. Thanks again!
Hi everyone, first I must say thanks to all of you I really enjoy the information and support you share. I started WW flex on my own one week ago. I did a lot of research on WW and bought a points calculator on ebay.
It is more than just counting your target points with W/W. There are 8 Great Health Guidelines as well as Points Pies to help you get healthy and stay satisified.
Quote:
Originally Posted by osugirl
I have been sticking to my minimum points (28) and exercising 60 minutes every day. In the first couple of days I lost 6 pounds (I weigh every day). Every day since then I have gained and now am only one pound below my starting weight. Does this make sense? I am a big girl (292), shouldn't the weight be coming off faster? Especially with the exercise? And what about gaining weight?
First off sticking just to your TargetPoints isn't always the best. You have a diet mentality that if I eat low then I will lose. Not always true this is why W/W plan has FlexPoints and ActivityPoints. Additionally, you shouldn't be weighting yourself daily as your weight can fluctuate hourly let alone daily. Have you read "Why the Scale Lies?" I'll post it next. Weight should be coming off at an average of .5-2 pounds a week after the intial water loss (which can be the first 1-3 weeks but usually just the first week).
We’ve been told over an over again that daily weighing is unnecessary, yet many of us can’t resist peeking at that number every morning. If you just can’t bring yourself to toss the scale in the trash, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the factors that influence it’s readings. From water retention to glycogen storage and changes in lean body mass, daily weight fluctuations are normal. They are not indicators of your success or failure. Once you understand how these mechanisms work, you can free yourself from the daily battle with the bathroom scale.
Water makes up about 60% of total body mass. Normal fluctuations in the body’s water content can send scale-watchers into a tailspin if they don’t understand what’s happening. Two factors influencing water retention are water consumption and salt intake. Strange as it sounds, the less water you drink, the more of it your body retains. If you are even slightly dehydrated your body will hang onto it’s water supplies with a vengeance, possibly causing the number on the scale to inch upward. The solution is to drink plenty of water.
Excess salt (sodium) can also play a big role in water retention. A single teaspoon of salt contains over 2,000 mg of sodium. Generally, we should only eat between 1,000 and 3,000 mg of sodium a day, so it’s easy to go overboard. Sodium is a sneaky substance. You would expect it to be most highly concentrated in salty chips, nuts, and crackers. However, a food doesn’t have to taste salty to be loaded with sodium. A half cup of instant pudding actually contains nearly four times as much sodium as an ounce of salted nuts, 460 mg in the pudding versus 123 mg in the nuts. The more highly processed a food is, the more likely it is to have a high sodium content. That’s why, when it comes to eating, it’s wise to stick mainly to the basics: fruits, vegetables, lean meat, beans, and whole grains. Be sure to read the labels on canned foods, boxed mixes, and frozen dinners.
Women may also retain several pounds of water prior to menstruation. This is very common and the weight will likely disappear as quickly as it arrives. Pre-menstrual water-weight gain can be minimized by drinking plenty of water, maintaining an exercise program, and keeping high-sodium processed foods to a minimum.
Another factor that can influence the scale is glycogen. Think of glycogen as a fuel tank full of stored carbohydrate. Some glycogen is stored in the liver and some is stored the muscles themselves. This energy reserve weighs more than a pound and it’s packaged with 3-4 pounds of water when it’s stored. Your glycogen supply will shrink during the day if you fail to take in enough carbohydrates. As the glycogen supply shrinks you will experience a small imperceptible increase in appetite and your body will restore this fuel reserve along with it’s associated water. It’s normal to experience glycogen and water weight shifts of up to 2 pounds per day even with no changes in your calorie intake or activity level. These fluctuations have nothing to do with fat loss, although they can make for some unnecessarily dramatic weigh-ins if you’re prone to obsessing over the number on the scale.
Otherwise rational people also tend to forget about the actual weight of the food they eat. For this reason, it’s wise to weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you’ve had anything to eat or drink. Swallowing a bunch of food before you step on the scale is no different than putting a bunch of rocks in your pocket. The 5 pounds that you gain right after a huge dinner is not fat. It’s the actual weight of everything you’ve had to eat and drink. The added weight of the meal will be gone several hours later when you’ve finished digesting it.
Exercise physiologists tell us that in order to store one pound of fat, you need to eat 3,500 calories more than your body is able to burn. In other words, to actually store the above dinner as 5 pounds of fat, it would have to contain a whopping 17,500 calories. This is not likely, in fact it’s not humanly possible. So when the scale goes up 3 or 4 pounds overnight, rest easy, it’s likely to be water, glycogen, and the weight of your dinner. Keep in mind that the 3,500 calorie rule works in reverse also. In order to lose one pound of fat you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in. Generally, it’s only possible to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week. When you follow a very low calorie diet that causes your weight to drop 10 pounds in 7 days, it’s physically impossible for all of that to be fat. What you’re really losing is water, glycogen, and muscle.
This brings us to the scale’s sneakiest attribute. It doesn’t just weigh fat. It weighs muscle, bone, water, internal organs and all. When you lose "weight," that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve lost fat. In fact, the scale has no way of telling you what you’ve lost (or gained). Losing muscle is nothing to celebrate. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you have the more calories your body burns, even when you’re just sitting around. That’s one reason why a fit, active person is able to eat considerably more food than the dieter who is unwittingly destroying muscle tissue.
Robin Landis, author of "Body Fueling," compares fat and muscles to feathers and gold. One pound of fat is like a big fluffy, lumpy bunch of feathers, and one pound of muscle is small and valuable like a piece of gold. Obviously, you want to lose the dumpy, bulky feathers and keep the sleek beautiful gold. The problem with the scale is that it doesn’t differentiate between the two. It can’t tell you how much of your total body weight is lean tissue and how much is fat. There are several other measuring techniques that can accomplish this, although they vary in convenience, accuracy, and cost. Skin-fold calipers pinch and measure fat folds at various locations on the body, hydrostatic (or underwater) weighing involves exhaling all of the air from your lungs before being lowered into a tank of water, and bioelectrical impedance measures the degree to which your body fat impedes a mild electrical current.
If the thought of being pinched, dunked, or gently zapped just doesn’t appeal to you, don’t worry. The best measurement tool of all turns out to be your very own eyes. How do you look? How do you feel? How do your clothes fit? Are your rings looser? Do your muscles feel firmer? These are the true measurements of success. If you are exercising and eating right, don’t be discouraged by a small gain on the scale. Fluctuations are perfectly normal. Expect them to happen and take them in stride. It’s a matter of mind over scale.
1) Where in your points are you eating? Most people find they lose better when eating above their TPs by using APs and FPs to give a higher or moderate day. Especially if you are exercising you need to eat toward the high end and not the low end. The reason is because your body thinks it is starving and slows down your metabolism and holds on to the calories you intake.
2) What are you spending your points on? Review POINTS PIES Also make sure you get in some REAL fat (preferably in healthy fats but also butter, margarine, mayo, real salad dressing, etc). I had subconsciously removed almost all fat from my diet and had plateaued for SIX (count them 6) months. Make sure you get in some fat.
3) Are you drinking your water?
4) Are you eating alot of processed foods (canned, frozen, etc.) which contain alot of sodium which causes water retention. What about diet sodas? They can cause bloating and water rentention.
5) Are you exercising? Have you taken your measurements to see if you are building muscle while losing? Remember muscle weighs 2.2 times more than fat for the same amount of space (that does not mean muscle weighs more than fat pound for pound but volume for volume it will be heavier) however remember it takes many months to build muscle. If you just started exercise or have made a major change to your routine you can be retaining water. If you are exercising remember to eat high in your point range.
6) Are you journaling? This includes every BLT (bite, lick and taste). Those BLTs can add up in 'hidden' points.
7) Are you calculating points correctly? Ninety percent of new members don't count points correctly. I have a favorite muffin and until last week (I've been on program for almost 2 years) I just realized my 3 point muffin is really 6 points because it is 2 servings. Make sure you use the nutritional information rather than the 'generic' list W/W puts out. You'll find alot of differences.
Once you have analyzed these things then you need to start playing with the program to adapt it to you and your body. Like reducing the carbs and increasing the protien and stuff like that.
Complex Carbs/Grain Based Foods – 8-9 points a day
Protein-rich Foods – 6-7 points a day
Fruits and Veggies – 0-3 points a day
Fats, added sugars – 2-3 points a day
Milk and Milk Products – 4-6 points a day
20-28 points a day
Higher Protein (under 250 pounds)
Complex Carbs/Grain Based Foods – 5-6 points a day
Protein-rich Foods – 9-11 points a day
Fruits and Veggies – 0-1 points a day
Fats, added sugars – 2-4 points a day
Milk and Milk Products – 4-6 points a day
20-28 points a day
Higher Carb (under 250 pounds)
Complex Carbs/Grain Based Foods – 9-10 points a day
Protein-rich Foods – 5-7 points a day
Fruits and Veggies – 1-3 points a day
Fats, added sugars – 1-2 points a day
Milk and Milk Products – 4-6 points a day
20-28 points a day
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Balanced (over 250 pounds)
Complex Carbs/Grain Based Foods – 11 points a day
Protein-rich Foods – 10 points a day
Fruits and Veggies – 3-4 points a day
Fats, added sugars – 2-3 points a day
Milk and Milk Products – 4-6 points a day
30-34 points a day
Higher Protein (over 250 pounds)
Complex Carbs/Grain Based Foods – 8 points a day
Protein-rich Foods – 12 points a day
Fruits and Veggies – 2-3 points a day
Fats, added sugars – 4-5 points a day
Milk and Milk Products – 4-6 points a day
30-34 points a day
Higher Carb (over 250 pounds)
Complex Carbs/Grain Based Foods – 13 points a day
Protein-rich Foods – 8 points a day
Fruits and Veggies – 2-4 points a day
Fats, added sugars – 3 points a day
Milk and Milk Products – 4-6 points a day
You may visit the Web site and read 8 Great Health Guidelines. After you log in, it can be found in the Select a Resource dropdown menu located in the Shortcuts toolbar on the left hand side of the page. Click on Weight Loss Topics of the Week in the My Plan section of the dropdown menu. On the next page you will see the View Topics Archive link in the box on the upper right side of the page. Click the link to be brought to the topics archive. 8 Great Health Guidelines is the first first link on the archive list.
For e-tools and meeting people it is page 34 in your Week 1 booklet. However they center around:
1) Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day
2) Choosing whole-grain foods such as brown rice, oats whenever possible over simple carbs like white rice, white pasta and white bread, frozen foods.
3) Include 2 servings of milk products or 3 servings if you are a teen or over 50.
4) 2 servings of healthy oils
5) Getting enough protein
6) Limiting use of sugar and alcohol which are empty calories
7) Drinking sufficient water at least 6 glasses
8) Take a multi-vitamin to supplement what may be missing daily in your diet
Thanks Kelly S! All of that information is really useful! I especially enjoyed reading the article about why the scale lies. I have been trying to follow the points pie, but I will try to be more exact. I have symptoms of OCD so I try to be exact when calculating points and following the plan correctly. My salt intake could definitely be a problem. I love salt! I also should drink more water. Thanks again for your help.
... I have symptoms of OCD so I try to be exact when calculating points and following the plan correctly. ....
This is where you need to learn to be a little bit easier on yourself too. In the beginning no because you are learning but as you go if you go to a place that doesn't have nutritional info for their foods you need to use something similiar and not be afraid. One meal (or even one day) slightly over/under isn't going to kill your weight loss program.
Hi! I am just starting my third week using flex points, but I have done weight watchers before. The first week I started this time around I actually gained a pound and a few ounces. I couldn't believe it! Every other time I had done this I always lost weight, usually my biggest amount in the first week! I decided to stay with it though because I know other people have had the same kind of things happen in the beginning. The second week though I decided to try and eat more of my flex points (the first week I only used a couple) and I ended up losing 3.8 pounds! I have a really hard time with using the flex points, I really have to make myself because as someone mentioned earlier, I have the mindset that the less I eat the more weight I will lose. We will see if my weight loss success continues, but I have been mentally preparing myself for a very slow weight loss so I don't get disappointed if I only lose a couple ounces a week.
I just wanted to add, some peoples bodies can take a little while to start losing weight. I know when I start exercising, I don't usually start seeing and feeling a difference until I have been doing it consistently for a month. The same can be for eating, it can take longer for some people to get the results they are looking for. Don't give up. Do it for at least a month and see what happens. Good luck!
Oh yah, I wanted to say, I know how you feel about the OCD and keeping track of points. I am not as compulsive as I used to be, but there are some things that I just can't drop. The points I have slowly gotten myself to relax a little, but I am pretty exact about almost all of it. If I don't feel like I am extremely close to the points amount for food I try not to eat it so I don't feel guilty. I might have a little more freedom when I have gotten my weight off, but for now I don't want to let myself cheat when I am still getting used to being on the program.
Thanks everyone for all your support! I have been making sure my portions are correct, keeping a journal, and drinking lots of water. I am experiencing PMS, so maybe that's what's going on. I just never realized how much of an affect it can have on my weight. I'm not going to give up. So far I love WW and the flexibility it provides. Hopefully I will see results soon. Thanks again!
Ahhh... sweetie ... I think THAT just might be the culprit ! I know that for myself, I seem to always gain a little bit for actually 2 weeks ... and then I'm down again ~ I try to stick to plan during that time but I have serious cravings for salty things.
I'm glad to see you're journaling & drinking your water.
Newbie about to throw scale! Help!!
