actually its not to young! My mom started menapause at 35 and every other woman in my family started before they turned 40 so It could be hormonal changes in the body! I hope the Dr can give you some results

Just to add - I was over at the Weight Watchers message boards and noticed a few people saying the same thing about the new program - they have either stalled in their weight loss, or gained.

I was just thinking - could zero points for fruit be not so accurate? I mean, if someone were to go gung ho on a bunch of fruit, it's still calories right? So say you were at your daily caloric limit that you can lose weight on, say... 1200 calories for example. Then you ate 300 more calories in fruit that was technically "zero" points. But you still went 300 calories over 1200, which makes 1500 calories. Maybe at 1500 calories your body doesn't drop the pounds.

*shrugs* I don't know. Thoughts anyone?

~BreathingSpace~

They take that into account. They mean for you to eat 300 calories of fruit. The base points without fruits and veggies are quite low, about 1100. But they also mean for you to eat it to satisfaction, not until you are stuffed.

its still scary. Some say eat it don't count it, BL says count it, then WW used to count it.

It feels like a crap shoot sort of. I don't get it and I guess there will always be some works for some and doesn't work for others.

I'm here looking over some BL stuff and trying to compare to see where the differences lay and so far, I can't find my WW food pyramid to see how it compares to the BL food pyrimid. If anyone knows where the WW pyrimid is please show so I can compare the two.

What is BL?

And what do you mean by WW food pyramid?

I would buy some hand weights and do some strength training exercises with those as will as some ab work outs and lunges.

I would also try no wine for a couple of weeks and see what the scale says.

BL is Biggeset Loosser.

the food pyrimids where they say have this on the first tier, that bottom biggest one.

Then it moves up into a pyrimd. Each food guru has one. I just wanted to see what was on the first tier of the Weight Watchers one. I know it's in one of these pamphlets ive received from them. but can't find which one

Thanks!

First of all, wait. I understand how it can come across but let me explain just a bit. I joined WW in 1999 and I reached my goal weight/ became lifetime in 2001. I lost 62lbs. Then I maintained that loss for about 3 years. 2004 proved to be a very bad year for me and I unfortunately had a breakdown which required me on anti-depressants. I also wasn't exactly taking care of myself and was not paying attention to what I was eating OR drinking that is for sure. In one year I gained around 50lbs, a combination of meds and eating badly. I switched meds in 2005 and gained more weight. In 2006 I attempted to get my crap together and went back to Weight Watchers several times though it seemed my head wasn't in the right place to really do anything yet about my weight. At this point at least I had the gaining under control but I had gained the weight back plus some. End of 2008 I started again, falsely and March 2009 I finally had my 'a ha' moment. So Since March 2009 I have been following the program and losing weight. Well all except for the year 2010.

In I spent a good year and a half just maintaing my "fat" weight, in 2009 lost about 40lbs and now yes, I'm on the last 20+ I do not consider myself a yo-yo'er and I have only been on one "diet" in my life and that is Weight Watchers.

I agree my metabolism may be slowing down, but I think my age may have more to do with it.

I don't believe in "restricting" - I need to follow something that is realistic and that can be done for the rest of my life. I also do not believe in going hungry, which is why I agree with your Point TWO and this is definitely something I am working on. I weight and measure about 80% of all my food, I know myself and what my brain thinks a portion size is.

I do interval training as well and I go to the gym (when I can make it) and do a strength training circuit. Sometimes I do classes (Zumba and I've tried spinning) and I bike everywhere as soon as it's warm enough. This summer I was running a lot because I was training for a few races. And I was STARVING. Like I could not eat enough.

I have a few DVD's that I do from time to time. I just don't enjoy it. I live in a really tiny apartment and to be honest I just don't have tons of room for it. I guess I also feel like I should enjoy what I'm doing you know?

I will definitely talk to my doctor about this. I don't bloat up though, I rarely eat out (it's a different culture here - I think we only eat out *maybe* twice a month if that) and I eat only FRESH foods, nothing processed! But you are right, there is no reason to not ask or try to reduce my salt intake. Thanks!

See this is what is difficult for me to know. My mom had a hysterectomy and I'm not really close enough to other ladies in my family to know when they started the change. I'll ask my mom what she knows. I know I have some kind of hormonal thing going on because I have acne in all the "right" places that indicate stress and hormones (around my mouth on my chin, real nice places NOT!)


I think you definitely have to watch your f&v intake. I don't think the point is to go hog wild, but more to encourage to eat those things rather than processed foods, junk, 100 calorie packs. So yeah, it's not zero if you eat a whole net full of mandarin oranges for example. I try to limit myself to 3, 1 banana, 30g cranberries, 50 blueberries, 1 kiwi, 1 apple, 5 carrot sticks (chopped in half to make 10). I *used* to eat more and cut back a little in case it was adding calories.



I do that stuff at the gym and can at home but again, the living in a shoebox thing...

no wine is going to be the very last resort!!! and ONLY if my doctor says. I have made a lot of positive changes, 7 units of alcohol for women is totally acceptable and I go under that. I love my wine and not going to give it up yet.

I just wanted to say that I have similar problems with my weight within the past two years - nothing seems to be helping that much and I've seen nutritionists, doctors, etc, and I seem to hover around the same weight at all times.
However, back when I was running, I did get to a pretty small size and weight and was consistent about that and weight training. Unfortunately with age and pregnancy, I did gain a lot, then got down to 8lbs over my lowest weight.

I hired a personal trainer this past summer and I have NEVER, EVER worked out for so short with such intensity. I highly recommend it. I quickly started toning and felt great (after the original muscle soreness) almost immediately.

It could help.

Munchy- I like your username.

Munchy, I wish I could, but honestly, I don't think I can afford it. I will enquire at my gym. I have done it before, back when I was maintaining my WL 2001 - 2004 and even went under my goal weight.

my biggest issue is TIME - I don't get home until 7pm. There is only so much time to make dinner/eat, prep+plan for the next day and work exercise into the mix. I have no social life during the week and i'm exhausted at weekends and sleep in a bit. My gym has stupid hours to be honest. Weekdays til 10pm, Sat and Sun 9 - 1pm. It's the best gym I'm found though since I lived here.

I would love to have a personal trainer

Are you getting enough sleep? Not getting enough sleep can cause real issues with your metabolism.

Stress may also be a factor.

If you are spending 4 hours a day (2 each way)commuting----that is very stressful and (IMO) a serious quality of life issue.

Would it be possible for you to move to cut down your commute?

Ha! Back in college people would make fun of my height, calling me a munchkin. It later got shortened to Munchy, and elongated sometimes to Queen of the Munchkins or Queen of the Munchies.

Trainers are pretty pricey. I am lucky enough to have several friends who are active trainers (and even pseudo-trainers) who are willing to help with either advice or a few sessions here and there.

Time is ridiculous for me too. I'm a single mom and work full time. What I typically try to do is prep as much food as I can during the weekends, and then it's not so hard for me to eat. For example, I usually make one to two pots of soup which last me for lunch all week and are dinner in a pinch, and always have homemade tomato sauce on hand (I make five jars at a time and keep in the freezer). I have been known to cook two servings of Puerto Rican style beans (for rice and beans) and serve with instant brown rice when I'm ready to eat it or a crockpot meal is always great.
Other things I freeze are homemade veggie burgers, homemade turkey meatballs, and I currently have about 6 individually frozen veggie lasagna servings.
Time shortcuts are "baking" sweet or regular potatoes in the microwave, frozen vegetables (though I prefer fresh roasted which takes less than 20 mins), and even using store bought prepared foods is sometimes an easy fix.

In terms of exercise, I try hard to do at least 3 miles a day, but on days where I can get childcare - thank God for grandparents and "sometimes daddies" - I try for 5 or 6 miles right after work and before picking up my daughter. I work through lunch in order to have enough time to do this and pick up my child before daycare closes.
My daughter and I arrive home around 6, I start preheating ovens, getting dinner ready and at the same time, I get both of our lunches and snacks packed for the next day. I typically don't sit down until 6:30 to eat, then my daughter and I have about an hour (or less if it's bath night) before her bedtime at 8pm.

Can you sleep in (until 9 or 10) and still get to the gym for a bit on the weekends? I have to say that could, I'd definitely go to gym every morning instead of after work. It's a jump start to an entire day.

It's EXHAUSTING, but do-able if you just modify your time to when you do have a little bit on the weekends. It also takes practice to get all of this down, but after a while, it's second nature.

I don't like the new program. I've been on it for a couple of weeks, and my weight isn't really moving. I plugged what I ate into spark people today, and I ate WAY more calories than I thought I was consuming. I thought I was eating maybe 1300-1400, but it was actually a little over 1800! Wow! There's too much stuff that's "free" now... too much room for abuse. I hate that the formula isn't based off calories anymore.

My favorite leader is gone too, I suspect she doesn't like the new program though she left while I was on hiatus from WW so I can't know for sure. I'm sad to say it, but I might quit Weight Watchers and just start calorie counting.