Hello, ladies---I hope there's room for another
I've been lurking, and Liz's post prompted me to come out of the woodwork. I've been on WW for over a year, with poor results---A lot of the experts have grown critical of WW over the past few years, because it has de-emphasized proper nutrition for the sake of simplicity. Points are emphasized and (in my experience) it is the rare leader who is really familiar with WW's "eating by the numbers" recommendations. (I was lucky to find one online, early on, so that I paid attention to distributing points from the beginning.) This year's Winning Points has addressed this a bit more comprehensively than the 123 Success program----
The Right Mix booklet describes, pretty well, how to distribute points across the food groups.
All that said, I was meticulously following the higher-protein recommendations and getting nowhere. About 3 weeks ago, I started incorporating Zone techniques with WW, and have had MUCH more success. I don't agree with some of the science behind Barry Sears' recommendations, but do believe that it makes great sense to create balance for every meal and snack. And it's working, which WW alone was not.
Before I started the combo Zone-WW thing, I was already being very careful with my carb choices. I was eating the same number of calories that I am now. My calories were distributed across the food groups in almost the same way (though some days leaned a little higher carb). The main difference is that I am balancing each meal and snack, rather than aiming for overall balance over the course of a day's time. I've also added a bit of fat back in. I thought it would drive me insane to try to figure out the correlation between points and Zone blocks, but the two programs are VERY compatible.
In terms of what you need to get going, Liz, visit
www.zoneperfect.com. There's a ton of information there. I have the original Zone book, but it is bogged down with dubious scientific explanations that make the whole thing seem MUCH more difficult that it really is.
Mastering the Zone is more manageable. I felt pretty strongly about hanging on to the most basic tenets of WW (and every other health-promoting agency's recommendations): at least 5 fruits/veggies a day (I've always leaned more heavily toward veggies), regular exercise, and plenty of water. I've taken away the wiggle room I used to have for junkier choices (WW leaves a LOT of room for that, even if you make sure that you're meeting all of your nutritional needs), and it has made a TREMENDOUS difference in how I feel. And the scale is actually moving (in the right direction
) I do not feel as though I've given anything up----I still have treats, but as with WW, I plan for them.
I have several journals...one for the WW higher protein recommendations, one for each of the other two WW plans (higher carb and balanced), and one that combines WW's higher protein plan with the Zone. It has room for recording what I eat, then two columns: one in which I check off boxes for the Zone blocks, and another where I check off the WW recommendations (fruits/veggies, higher protein choices, milk, waters, exercise, etc.) You are welcome to any/all of them (email me at
[email protected], and I'll send 'em to you)---though I have to say that now that I've gotten the hang of what I'm doing, I don't journal at all---I
know what each of my meals/snacks consist of, nutritionally, and don't feel the need to write it down.
Okay, so much for easing into the thread...nothing like leaping out of lurkdom and moving directly into novel-writing
I hope no one minds!