Unusual question...
 

Hi to all!

I'm following Weight Watcher Flex Plan for now to the end of the year. Trying to get down as low as the scale will allow me but eating healthy. I've lost 54.5 lbs. in 27 weeks so no complaints here at all.

My 49th birthday is Jan. 22, 2008. So next month is a biggie. My Mom who is 79 y/o says I should give myself my birthday off completely. Just eat what I want and enjoy my cake without counting points.

I want to ask 2 very important questions please...

the first one is this... do you all think that it's ok to take a whole day off and just eat what I want to and I mean have anything from fast food to my birthday cake slice and a dinner I enjoy?

second question is... I weigh 230 1/2 lbs. as of Tuesday. Figure 231 lbs. How many calories considering being sedentary can I eat and lose 1-2 lbs. in a week? My Mom keeps teling me the world still does calories not points. Calories are on virtually everything. Why not follow that starting in the new year? She has valid points.

Thanks for your response.

I think the first one is a tough question and you will get a lot of varied opinions. Read them and then think about what might happen to YOU if you do that -- what is your reaction likely to be.

Personally, I don't like to give myself license to just eat anything. I find it can be hard to turn that "off" when I need to. Also, I'm not just losing weight to get to a number, I am trying to be healthier because I deserve it. I don't want to just throw indiscriminant junk into my body.

Now, all that being said, I don't think there's anything wrong with giving yourself a treat on your birthday. Calorie counting (or weight watchers) doesn't mean inflexibility! Have a nice meal and a piece of cake. But my advice would be not to just take a day off and eat everything under the sun.

As I said, just my opinion.

As for your 2nd question... all the figures anyone will come up with are just estimates. If helps to know how many calories you're already eating and how much you're losing. Can't WW points be converted (roughly) to calories, though? I think so, and if so, then once you figure out how much you're eating (on average) and how much (on average) you're losing, you'll have your own answer!

I agree with Heather when it comes to your b-day. Allow yourself to have a piece of cake and a nice meal but try to eat healthy the rest of the day. Make sure to get in fruits and veggies. I'm coming up on the same problem. My b-day is sunday, then christmas eve monday, then christmas tuesday. My plan is to allow myself little bits of only the things I really like (not just eat something because it's there and I kind of like it) when I'm at family events but eat low calorie foods the rest of the day. Also I'm going to make sure I exercise as much as I can to make up for the extra calories I'll be eating. Good Luck!

Thank you for your reply. Very help and I thank you!

I went to that site called My Daily Plate. I did get an answer for a 2 lb. weight loss per week which is what I have been averaging. I played around with converting a rough estimate of 50 calories per point where I get 30 points per day and then I get 35 points extra per week as optional if I want this. It comes out to 1500 calories as a daily figure and if I average it all, 1750 calories/day including those optional points.

The My Daily Plate site says for a woman to do light activity like computer activity, I would need to eat 1601 calories per day to lose 2 lbs. per week. I understand exactly what this is all about now.

Anyways, I see I need a good calorie counter book if I want to do this instead of points. The hard part about points is finding the nutritional info as being complete for foods because you have to factor in fiber, fat and calories. It's hard to find all of that sometimes and so your calculations can be way off cheating yourself or being too off on guestimates.

Any advice as to books you use and also, I eat out a lot. Any books woth while looking at that would make it easier than I could keep in my purse for example?

NurseChef

I never give myself a complete day off. Remember that this is a lifestyle change not simple a diet that your stop and start at a specific time. I treat B-Days and Holidays pretty much the same. I know there are going to be extra food, deserts and alcohol that I am going to want to participate in. I basically plan the week so that I am extra watchful leading up to that day. I make sure that I stay consistent with my exercise and I make sure that although I may go over my typical calories count or fat% I still eat generally healthy. And for me I still log everything so I know the impact on my overall plan.

As for calorie counting vs. points. Well calorie counting just makes sense to me so I am a big fan. But there are 1,000's of people that are successful on Weight Watcher points so that is a matter of preference and figuring out what works best for you.

I understand your mom is trying to be helpful in giving her advice but please remember that this is all about you and what works for you. Come to these sites and find out what others are doing and you will come up with your own plan. There is no one right answer and sometimes you will try something and it will fail and you just need to try something different.

Thank you Lori. I hear ya!

Could you also answer the above post I have ?

I agree with the others - absolutely enjoy your birthday. The beauty of calorie counting is that no food is off your plan. However, moderation is key. Try to stay as close to your calorie count for the day as you can. Maybe eat a couple hundred less calories for a day or two before and after your birthday. Cycling calories is popular and works for many people.
The problem with a day off is that it is a very slippery slope. No - one day off plan will not make a huge difference in the scheme of things. But - let's face it - there are way too many days that we could make exceptions for. Well, Amy doesn't bring in home-made cinnamon rolls except once a year, John will only be visiting for a week, the boss took us all out to dinner - what could I do? You get the picture. This is a lifestyle change - you need to be able to do this - no matter what excuse presents itself.

As far as the number of calories? It is such a personal thing. What works for one person will not necessarily work for another at the same weight. You really do need to try and see. 1800 sounds like a reasonable place to begin. I started with 1600 at 215 lbs. It was the right place for me.

As for books with nutrition for restaurants, I would recommend CalorieKing. You can also look up many restaurants on their website which you can also reach via your mobile phone.

I travel and eat out alot. With eating out you need to plan ahead. If you can identify the restaurant go to their website and look up the menu and nutrition in advance. If you can decide what you are having before time. Much of this stuff is downloaded in a PDF. You may need to search on nutrition when you get to the site. If it is a local place then you might find a national chain that has similar items.

Lori

Calories, points, exchanges - doesn't matter what the "world" is doing, do what you find easiest, most comfortable, most doable.... I like my exchange plan, because it is a reminder to eat a balanced diet, but some people find exchanges too structured, some people find it not structured enought. Do what you find most doable.

A lot of people do successfully make use of "anything they want as much as they want" days, this tends to backfire on me. You have to decide for yourself whether you can do this based on what you know about your personality. One thing that helps me, is that even on days I might decide I'm not going to beat myself up if I go "overbudget" so to speak, I do much better if I write everything down and it's exchange/calorie value anyway. I did this the other day on some chinese food I had. Even though I did overstep my goal a little, I knew it wasn't enough to cause the 2 lb increase the next day (yesterday). Sure enough today's weigh-in is back down those 2 lbs.

Use whatever tools you find helpful, and if you make a mistake don't beat yourself up, just pick yourself up and keep going. Persistance beats perfection everytime.

Did you know that we have an online calorie guide here? There are over 7000 foods in it. I use www.fitday.com to log my daily food, but the free online version doesn't always have the food I've eaten listed. I use the 3FC counter to input the nutritional values into fitday as a custom food if it's something I eat frequently.

Mel

I have to agree. The journey we are taking to a more healthy person isn't a diet. It is a way of eating that will last us a life time. There are always days to make exception for. Birthday, going to the in laws, vacations ect....

I have a very liberal amount of calories 1200 to 1400, fat 30 to 35 and carbs 180 to 210 a day. I plan what I am going to eat around a big treat ( piece of birthday cake ) if I am going to have one. No different than planning to make sure I can have a can of mountain dew lol. I am so use to eating this way I am never hungry ( break my food down into 6 meals ) and I really don't think much about it. I happen to use fit day. Easy to use and I put food in myself I don't use their amounts. They never seem to match what the packages say. I even have things like pot roast and carrots and potatoes in there. I found out what everything was and made up my own place for it. Now I just have to add that to my day if I have had it. So easy to keep track of what I take in. I never thought in a million years I would do this. Fit day makes it a breeze.

Most of us didn't get over weight because of one meal or one this or one that. It was the choices we made little by little. Be very careful of free days.

There is no such thing as foods we can't have. I don't do without a thing. I eat what I want. Portion size and keeping within the bounds we allow ourself is the answer.

To answer your questions lol.

First, no it is not ok to have a day off. Just watch what you eat. Portion sizes are the answer not doing without and not eating what ever we want.

Second, You can start with 1800 and go from there. Lower it a couple of hundred every week until you are still losing weight and getting the required amounts of the four basic food groups in. Sometimes that means, I can't have this today because I am having that instead. I looked at what was allowed for 2000 calories and broke it down to allow myself what I do. Must have guessed pretty good lol. The doc and dietitian/nutritionist said what I am doing is pretty much what they would have suggested. They also said I am not to eat less than 1200 calories a day. From time to time I am way under that.

You said why not start in the new year, Hmmmm. Why not start after the 1st, why not wait and start after valentines day, you know all that yummm candy we get at that time of year, hey why not start after the 4th of July, don't forget the bbq's that go on that day. We start TODAY. 2 months, 4 months, 6 months from now. We aren't saying to ourself, I wish I had started this months ago.

You will find tons of support here. All of us know there are days we are a bit over or a bit under what we allow our selfs ( I sure find this ). That is ok, we aren't perfect and this isn't a test or a game or a DIET. This is life, our life. We make the choices we want to live with. With those choices we also reap the rewards of a thinner more healthy body.

Here is a formula that is pretty interesting. I always wondered why I couldn't lose more than 1lb a week. I plugged in my age and height and so forth. Came up with an answer. I am taking in almost exactly what the formula says I should ( the lower end of what I allow myself ) to lose 1lb a week. Fit day tells me I average 1195 calories, 27 fat and 170 carbs. Heck if I wanted to lose 2lbs a week. I would have to eat under 700 calories a day and that just isn't going to happen. lol

( Weight x 4.5 ) + ( Height x 15.88 ) - ( age x 5 ) - 161 = Total 1

Total 1 x % below = Total 2

Sedentary 20%
Lightly Active 30%
Moderately Active 40%
Very Active 50 %

Total 1 + Total 2 = Daily Calories
Subtract 500 Calories from Daily calories to lose 1lb per week

Thank you all so much for all of your help. I see that the concensus is for me to consider 1800 calories per day vs. 1601 calories per day to lose 2 lbs. per week.

I have to consider that. I was thinking that I'll have to purchase a good calorie counting book for my purse as well as a more broad based one for my home to work out a strategy for myself. Years ago, I did go on a calorie diet Program and lost extremely well. It worked very nice. I think I have to consider it so that I get a good comparison with that vs. points and what I'm doing now. There are lots of advantages with calories and that is, it's easy. It's so much easier than any other way to lose weight. No doubt about it.

I think taking the day off and eating what you want on your birthday is a great idea. I take 1 day off each and every month to eat what I want. Sometimes is a holiday, sometime its just a dinner with friends. I believe I'm doing this for life and when life happens I want to be the one having the most fun. :)

A break or relaxed day is fine, so long as 'eating what you want' doesn't find you camped out on the couch with a giant bag of chips, a box of cookies and an extra-large pizza. Even on a 'day off' you shouldn't eat over your maintenance calories unless you've built up an extra deficit over the preceding days. Don't forget, the point here is to make permanent changes to the way you eat so that once the weight is off, it stays off.

I'm a strict calorie counter, but don't have any calorie counting books. I use Daily Plate for just about everything, though from time to time I have to find a food on another website and add it to their database (I find it's especially lacking in alcohol, and I tend to drink complicated mixed drinks, though I'm trying to switch to drinks with less sugar/calories). I don't necessarily plan my whole day, but I do tend to look things up before if I know I'm going to be having them. If I'm going out to eat, I always look up the menu online first to get some sense of what I'm getting myself into by eating there, and figure out some sensible choices. I've only been calorie counting for about 1.5 months, but I've learned calories pretty well and have gotten good at guessing how many calories something has if I'm about to eat it but haven't looked it up yet.