shrinkinglizzy~ Congratulations!!!

Hey ladies! I've been on WW since May and since then I have lost about 52 pounds on Core. I'm roughly 23 pounds away from my goal weight and I want to switch to Flex for a week or two to kickstart my metabolism again & add more variety. It seems like on Core I've been eating the same food and I'm getting bored. What do you find works best for yourself on Flex? What do you eat more of? Thanks in advance!

Sonja - CONGRATS! I am so happy for you!!

Sammi - When I'm on Flex I eat a lot of the same foods I was eating on Core, except now I get nuts and nut butters and bread Vegetables and legumes and whole grains are still the center of my diet (when I am paying attention), but portions are controlled. I hope you see success with the change!

Well... I guess I'm back. Core treated me well for a while, but over the past 3-4 weeks I've seen consistent gains, even when I feel I am "hard Core" (I am invariably lying to myself in this, if I am gaining). Flex makes it harder to fool myself when I have numbers to count. I still *hate* the counting, and I suspect I will go through phases with it alternately bothering me and not bothering me - but I need it.

I was looking at the menu I just posted and found it rather comforting. Everything adds up in the right way. I can feel confident that if I eat what I have planned, and make similar solidly structured plans for the rest of the week, I will have success.

Oh, one thing - Anybody here have eTools? I can't get the dang thing to update my goal weight. It says my goal weight is my 10% weight (195), which I am obviously past now and don't intend to stop yet. It's just a minor inconvenience, really, but I sure would like to figure out how to reset it to my actual goal.

I used to have it, but canceled when I found out I was pregnant. I think you can update it in your profile.... ? Good luck coming back to flex. I haven't journaled since August! It seems so long ago. I have the level 2 and gender ultrasound tomorrow... CAN'T WAIT!!!!

I have eTools, I'm doing WW Online. Ummm, let me think for a minute, it took me a while to figure it out, it wouldn't let me update my goal weight either. After my 1st 10% it seemed to think I was in maintenance.

Here you go, let me know if you can't see this page for some reason:
http://www.weightwatchers.com/help/i...pageid=1023111

Mod - how exciting!

Kestrel - Ah yes, thanks for that! Here is the problem:
If you are on maintenance you will need to delete the weight entries from the Weight Tracker that are at or below your weight goal. Doing this will bring you out of maintenance and allow you to adjust your weight goal. Once you have made the adjustment re-enter the deleted weights into the Weight Tracker.

So the thing thinks I am in maintenance and won't let me edit my goal without me deleting weights lower than my 10%. So silly. Doesn't seem to be the most efficient way of designing a system. Oh well - Thanks!

Shrinkinglizzy: CONGRATULATIONS! that is awesome! and it sounds like things are looking up for you in other areas of your life, which is awesome!

mod: you find out the gender??? fantastic! that IS exciting! A friend of mine is pregnant and due in a little less than a month!

Suite: GREAT to have you back!!

~ As for me, I am not losing (again). I gained almost 3 pounds from Thanksgiving, which I am sure is mostly water weight. My problem is that I don't workout, so I don't lose. I am just always too tired and cold after work to go jog around the park!

One more question.. I work out everyday, so if I need 23 points a day on Flex, do I just add in/replace the points I burn through working out to get back up to the 23 points?

sammi: there are "activity points"...for example, with me, when I workout at moderate level for 1/2 hour, I earn 2 AP's. If you earned 2 AP's, you could eat your regular 23, and then an extra 2

I lost one pound last week!!! Yet here I am, having a hard time sticking to WW again. I didn't count on Thanksgiving, and that was my downfall. I really haven't counted since (but have tried to keep it light)...and I just can seem to get jump started to count again. Any ideas? What do you do when you get off track and need to get back on again? I feel like I've done so well, and I don't want the success to end!

Oh, I'm here and lurking. We're in dead week this week, so I've been hiding in group study rooms in my building.

Finals start Friday and go to next Friday with Sunday off before break, glorious break.

vday - I gained from Thanksgiving too - even though I was mindful of what I ate, and went running the day before and after - apparently that wasn't enough. It's mostly about eating, you know, though exercise does play a role. Can you do some things in your apartment, like lunges, squats, arm stuff with handweights? A little strength stuff wouldn't hurt.

Sammi - it works pretty much the same with Flex as it does with Core. You earn those APs, which you are then allowed to eat in extra flex points - but you don't *have* to eat them. Gauge how you are feeling and if you are hungry, eat them! So you get 23 regardless, then you can choose whether to eat the APs you earn or not.

healtheeme - WTG on the pound! There really is no magic trick to getting back on track. You just have to make the decision to do it.

ZP - Good luck with finals!


Well last night ended with a bad decision. You know that no pudge brownie mix you can get in the store? And how it has single-serving directions? You add 2 tbsp of mix with 1 tbsp of ff yogurt and microwave for a minute, then voila, brownie in the proper portion! Well... somehow I just kept scooping out of the bag and ended up with 4 servings in my little bowl, which I then proceeded to cook and eat. It wasn't an absurd amount of brownie (the servings are small), it was just 4x what I should have eaten. Gah.

Oh well - today's a new day and all. I have my day planned out pretty well and things should go smoothly! Still no exercise here though as my foot and knee are still kind of screwed up (messed them up on Friday). Hopefully things go back to normal eventually, I can't stand not being able to move around properly.

sammi861~ Welcome!
suitejudyblueeyes~ Welcome Back!!! You're allowed the occasional slip up, just as you said, the key is getting right back OP the next day

Well no problem with points yesterday as TOM decided to plague me all night. I barely ate anything because I felt like crap. Seriously, if TOM makes me gain weight I will be PISSED especially since I haven't been eating much over the last couple days because of TOM making me feel icky.

One of my co-workers made some honey mustard dressing for me last night from djon and regular mustard and honey. It was only about 2 TBSP. so I guessed it at about 2 points... think that was accurate? I only ate half the salad, so I probably didn't really eat the full 2...

I did get my butt out of bed this morning to do Turbo Jam, but mainly just because I couldn’t fall back asleep. This seems to be becoming a fairly regular issue which is actually working in my favor for working out. Hopefully it happens again Friday so I can do the 20 minute Jam again. I think it might be getting too easy, so I may switch to a longer Turbo Jam workout next week, like one of the cardio workouts… who knows… I get 2 AP points for 20 mins. because I rough it between moderate and hard, since I am sweating almost instantly. Sound about right?

I have been eating oatmeal for the last couple mornings and am starting to be okay with it. The texture used to make me gag, but I’m starting to get used to it and really do like the taste of a couple of them. My favorites right now are Maple & Brown Sugar and Honey Nut... anyone else have any other flavor suggestions?

Big weigh in tonight… wish me luck!!!

healtheeme: One thing that I found that works to getting back on track is buying a LOT of healthy food (fruits, veggies, whole wheat, odwalla drinks). Then I just start eating healthily. So for breakfast, I might have an egg-white veggie omelette with some fruit, lunch I would have soup with some fruit. Basically, I eat REALLY healthy. Limited amount of carbs, no processed sugar (like ice cream, cereal, donuts, etc.), and only low fat items. If you just have one day without all that crap, then it allows your body to get used to eating healthy again.

suite: I always wanted to try those no-pudge brownies. Don't feel bad! About a month ago, I ate almost half a box of REAL FAT brownies.

KimL: That dressing sounds really good! I would guess that it was less than 2 points, but I never really look at mustard info, so I don't know. I really like banana nut oatmeal and strawberries and cream, or blueberries and cream.

~~ As for me, I had a mini binge last night. I told my boyfriend out loud "I want to binge right now". Thankfully I didn't go too crazy. I just had a couple bites of his mac and cheese, and a little bowl of ice cream. I feel kinda dumb about it though because this is the first time I have gone over my points during the week in over a month. I usually stick strictly to my points during the week, and then have a free day on saturday. Now I will have to count points on saturday too to balance out. So that sucks! I had about 4 flex points last night.

I put my Christmas tree up yesterday. It's a little 4.5 feet fake one, and my cat DESTROYED the one I had last year. He literally tried to jump and climb it. He knocked it completely over a couple of time, and would rip all the ornaments off. I had to put it up on a pedastool so he couldn't reach it, as well as weigh it down so he couldn't pull it over. Now he is HUGE, so even if I put it up on something, he can still reach it. I did still weigh it down though so he can't pull it completely over. There were broken glass balls everywhere last year! HE has already started messing with the ornaments though. I came out this morning and there was an ornament on the ground. Any cat tips???

Well ladies the ultrasound went well this morning and the baby is healthy. We are having a girl!