I'm using 22 points and today already I feel so full.

B - Lite & Fit yogurt & celery w/ natural no sugar no salt pnut butter (3)
S - 1/4 c 2% cottage cheese & 1 c mixed cantelope & strawberries (2)
L - London broil slices with raw mushroon slices & 1/2 Whole Grain Pita (4)

I should be having another snack at maybe, oh, 2:30 but just like yesterday I had to force the pear & orange and Laughing Cow wedge. I just wasn't hungry.

Dinner will probably be roasted peppers, brussel sprouts with some leftover london broil so that won't add up to many points.

What if you are feeling full and not quite reaching your points? I don't do this every day, but every so often I am satisfied at a certain level.

Maybe 3 days out of the week I don't quite reach my points.

Do I HAVE to? Plus, each day I walk 1.5 miles right after work & before I go home for supper. I also drink plenty of water.

Since January 5th I've only lost 6 lbs. Seems I need to bump something, I just don't know what.

Can anyone give me advice please? Thanks....

Try to meet your 8 healthy guidelines. If you fit in your 2 servings of oil, that will get you up 2 points. Also, if you had a glass of milk to meet your dairy, that would up you 2 points as well. You can also try foods for which small portions have higher point values (ex: 1 serving = 1 oz of most nuts is 4 points).

Doh! You're right Mod. I usually fry the brussel sprouts & beans in 2 tbl of EVOO & they get nice and toasted so that helps my points out. I also have my soy milk then, too.

BUT, if I am not hungry, do I force myself to eat?

I second what modkitten said.... The healthy fats are a very easy way to get your points up without adding bulk to your diet. You do appear to be getting your dairy already, so that's good. Can you add some avocado to a sandwich, maybe? 1/4 of an avocado is 2 pts and covers both your fats (I think -- isn't 1/8 avocado 1 fat serving?). Then at dinner sautee your veggies in EVOO?

Also instead of Light n Fit yogurt you could go with low-fat (1%-2%) yogurt. That will up your points without giving you more food. I think yogurt just tastes better with fat in it; I budget the extra point the not-ff kind adds to my day but I think it's far more worth it for taste.

Nuts are also a lifesaver in a similar manner. A serving of nuts (one ounce) has 4 pts as modkitten mentioned, and nuts don't have the bulk that will fill you up. A handful of nuts as a snack will go very far to helping you get all your points in.

And yes, it is important that you at least meet your daily target level. Do your best to get there EVERY day. If it means you end up eating fewer foods but more high-calorie ones, so be it, as long as they're healthy.

Oh, and if you're not hungry, don't force yourself to eat, no. You'll make yourself miserable. Focus on meeting your points allotment during mealtimes when you *are* hungry. Don't just keep stuffing yourself because you have to get to your target... find a way to get there that doesn't require you do something you don't want to do. That will only make you want to quit.

Thank you both - judyblueeyes, the sun is peeking through & I finally understand what you mean.

If I bulk up my points when I AM hungry - more almonds,etc. I will reach my points easier than if I have to eat when NOT hungry.

Sometimes, this ol' brain takes a few shocks before it can fully understand what it is trying to absorb...

Ha! Thanks & I hope I will lose more than I have been. This sure takes a lot longer than I thought. Must be my age - youngsters here at work eat those prepared frozen "smart ones" dinners every single day and they are losing at a fast pace. 10 lbs a month is average for them.

I eat "real" food and it sure is a lot slower.......... blah... I just hope I can stay on track without losing as much as I would like.......

Thanks again!

Not so fast on that one Cottage cheese is not a good source of calcium. You may think it is (hey made from milk, right?), but it is not! In order for something to count as a serving of dairy, it must have at least 30% daily value of calcium. The same goes for the yogurt. Some yogurts only have 20% and not 30%!

I agree though. If you aren't hungry don't force it. When you are hungry, eat the more points-rich foods. Just make sure you are following those 8 healthy guidelines!

I'm probably what you would call a "youngin'" and I don't eat the SmartOnes meals. I don't eat frozen dinners at all. About 90% of the food I eat is whole foods. I make tons of recipes and freeze individual portions. If you are staying on plan on not losing, I would make sure that your portions are measured correctly and that you are writing down absolutely everything you are eating. Good luck!

Huh, interesting about cottage cheese. I always just assumed.

So what about things like turnip greens? I'd easily eat 2c of those at a time, and that's over 200mg of calcium. If you go by the rule of needing 800mg in a day, that's 40% of your daily calcium intake. Do I count that as "dairy"? Or is my memory of how much calcium you need in a day off?

I like Mod, try to eat real food, when I was a "youngin" I ate those frozen dinners and such and lost weight, but lo' and behold, here I am losing it again, so that didn't work. Fast weight loss doesn't stay off, the tendency is to go back to the way you used to eat when you get to goal, if you lose slowly, eating "real" food and the amounts you are supposed to, you learn to change your lifestyle, which will equal long term weight loss (or weight management, if you will)

I would relook the points for what you are eating as well. Are you weighing your london broil? I don't mean to pick at your post, but it seems to me that london broil and 1/2 pita would be more than 4 pts, 3 oz. of 90% lean beef is 3 pts, without any sauce or marinade.

Also, when you are figuring your points, go by the label information first, rather than your books, sometimes it's surprising what the points difference between brands can be, that's why I get my points finder out in the grocery and look things up there, then I don't have something at home that I feel I have to eat, or cut in half because it has too many pts.

I wish I had your problem, I do feel satisfied with less food than I did in the past and actually like that pleasantly full, rather than eyes bulging out stuffed feeling I never have a problem with points left over, usually panicking the other way

lots of luck to you!