Tabucheist - You're in! Start chatting away.

Autumn- We can help you figure this maintenance thing out. The lightheadedness is not good. I thought of a couple of things. First, you should keep very accurate food diaries and write down exactly how you feel each day after eating certain foods. Start with 1/2 a banana. Back in the day that was the equivalent to 1 fruit serving. See if that helps. Also have you thought about Coconut Water? It was just on Dr. Oz's show how coconut water has potassium and is low in calories. I remember a gal from work talking about how the Dr. told her to drink it because she didn't want to eat two bananas a day.

Koshka - thanks for the articles. Since the formula is patented and secret we will never know the entire truth. But, we do know how our own bodies react. Also WW cut the points down because some people were just not losing when given the range of points. My points are 26, the lowest allowed. When I started Jan 1 it was 28, then as I lost weight it decreased. But I know if I eat high sugar foods as points and an abundance of carbs I just won't lose. Even if I stick to my points. Everyone's metabolism is different so we have to figure out what works for us. But I do think everyone should eat the points because it keeps you from getting hungry and you don't want to feel miserable or you won't stick to the plan.

Have a great day everyone! My outing with Mom went well. I told the waiter to leave the potatoes off the plate, and to wrap up the cheesecake before he served it. Worked fantastic!

I use as needed, usually for weekends and/or TOM. I don't usually eat them all though unless I'm working out. I'm so sedentary aside from walking around on campus to classes and etc.

Yes, welcome!! Just start chatting away.

I tend to have all of my fruit for the day in a green smoothie. Usually it is 1/2 cup servings of frozen berries, 1/2 cup natural unsweetened applesauce or 1 small apple along with half of a (frozen) banana along with some carrots, spinach and water. I did the same thing when I was on PP+, I still counted fruit since I have had the same fears as yours so I decided to change back to momentum and try to follow the GHG as closely as I can. Hope that answered your question? Let me know.

You could still have the one banana a day and use it towards WP if that'd make you feel ok or you could just do it and see. If you gain, then back off or substitute something else so you can have your banana? I don't know, I've yet to reach maintenance. Serenity's recommendations are good also.

Very interesting! Thanks so much for sharing.

I agree with everything you said.Glad everything worked out with the outing with your mother! Have you ever tried coconut water? What does it taste like?
Have a great day as well!

Happy news all around, got As on my last 3 tests! I was so stressed out and worried I didn't do well. I think it helped tremendously that I got a better ASL interpreter who can actually understand me and translate properly. My participation grade should be better in Interpersonal Communications class from now on.

I've been enjoying the weather this week, it has been not having to zoom from building to building on the way to my classes so I can stay warm, LOL.

I hope everyone is having a good week so far on all fronts!

Serenity - Glad to see that the outing went well! That's wonderful. On the WW formula, the patent itself and the formula set forth in there is not secret. However, there are some parts of it that are, well, less than clear (they talk about that in the Wikipedia article). I remember when WW switched from the 29 minimum to the 26 minimum. In fact, my leader told me to do it a few months before it was officially released. It does bother me that the 26 minimum often will lead to less than a 1000 calories of food. Theoretically the plan is meant to have everyone eat at least 1000 calories, but I've occasionally eating 26 and been closer to 950. I really think that the 29 minimum was really better for healthy eating (that still is less than 1200 calories for many), but it did make losing slow for some (me included).

Amandie - Great on the tests!

Been having a rough couple of days. Believed something I read online about something being gluten-free, and BAM!! I've been glutened and hating life. It's almost to the point where I don't want to eat anything.

Say a prayer for me.

Serenity - thank you for your thoughtful response. I really appreciate your support during this phase and your offer to help me figure it out. Last night I felt like I was in a dark place and was really panicking.

I like your idea about the food diaries. I have the 3-month book type tracker from WW. I love it. I'll have to find room on each page to detail how I feel after each meal/snack.

Yesterday I did something different. I had a banana early in the day and did not count it. Of course then panick set it. However, my last snack of the day was 3 c. Of popcorn with gomaschio seasoning. I had it about 8:30pm at night. It was part of my plan and of course counted.

This morning I felt like my mind and body was renewed. Completely different. I don't know if it was the uncounted piece of fruit or if it was the late night snack or both. I did this again today. I'm terrified but I feel like I really need to experiment and see what works to maintain my weight. I felt my quality of life was greatly, greatly improved today.

I'll see tomorrow if I feel the same physically. I noticed today that increasing my point value for my post workout snack and deleting my extra afternoon snack really had a positive effect on my day at work.

Thank you for the info on coconut water! I'll have to look into it.

I am happy that your outing with your mom went well. I never thought of asking the waiter to leave an element of a dish off my plate; that's an idea right there!

Amandie - thank you for your clarification. Are you saying that you don't count the points for fruit in the smoothie but that you do count for fruit you may have later in the day?

My weigh in is tomorrow; if I've gained I think I will have to go back to counting fruit - even tho by then I will have "only" eaten three uncounted bananas and it may not be enough to tip the balance (although it may). Three bananas meaning one banana a day over three days.

Congrats on your good grades. That's excellent!

DrivenByAmbition - I will definitely pray for you. Feel better soon!

Autumn- Yes, that is correct. I count any additional fruit that I may have later in the day but I am not big on fruit, though so it is very rare for me to eat any fruit later in the day aside from the smoothie. That is kind of why I do it in smoothies because if I didn't, I'd forgo the whole fruit thing and some veggies too.

Thanks for the kudos on my grades, Autumn and Koshka!

DriveByAmbition- I hope you get to feeling better ASAP! So sorry you're feeling like this.

It is Friday, yay!!!! But some (totally unnecessary and childish, if I may mention) family drama happened last weekend so bit awkward and I'm not sure what's gonna happen this weekend. /sigh Have a great weekend, lovelies!

This week I lost 2 and a half pounds .

I am using this drink to lose weight. ------In a glass you put 3-tblspoons of lemon juice, then two slices of fresh ginger. and water and ice...
This drink takes out fat from the body.........let drink set for 15 mins.

then drink.

I hope some one will be helped with this.................

TGIF! Wow, this week has flown by. As you know I had this week off, so I had a little extra time to play on the computer. I found this awesome blog/fb page. It is written by a young woman who lost 200 lbs on WW using the Simply Filling plan. It is very inspiring, plus she is just a regular person like you and me. She is honest with her struggles yet inspiring. "From Fat to Fit Chick" is the title both on FB, and you can use google to find her blog. She also mentions that she was on 3FC.

Also, I don't know if any of you are on Pinterest, but I use it a lot, and there are tons and tons of recipes on there. The TV show "The Chew" had a contest for the new WW chef and there are a couple from him too. I hope he posts more.

I wish we all can just lose the weight without too much struggle and angst.

Sasyblond, thanks for that recipe. Yes it does work, maybe not all the time, but it definitely is worth doing, it can only help, not hurt. I'm going to drink it faithfully and see if I notice any difference.

Happy Saturday! Hang in there everyone!

4 pounds down my first week back on the old Momentum program! I know first week losses tend to be huge, but boy I'd be happy if I could keep these losses coming the next few weeks as well!

Great going, Beatrice!!! Enjoy it while you can!!!

Have a great weekend, all!

Yum!!! To make up for my overindulgence last night (I'm in the red points-wise), I'm taking it easy today with a small green smoothie, one large salad greens with a bit of black bean and corn sort of salsa mixture then I had asparagus wrapped with a 1/3 slice of bacon along with some mushroom/bell pepper kabobs, also a little bit of bacon stuffed in the kabob-ed mushrooms. So good and satisfying!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. I got my wedding dress today.

So when I got married the first time, I wore a size 22. My wedding dress I bought today, size 14. Would have not been possible without the help of weight watchers! Such a happy day.

Hello Everyone,

I will definitely take the time to respond to everyone's updates/thoughts but to start, I thought I would give my own update.

I ended up losing three pounds this week. So I am adding two extra points per day I guess, per the receptionist's suggestion. I am happy I didn't gain but for whatever reason I'm still not happy.

I was fine yesterday; I had made a resolve before my weigh in as to how I was going to deal with a big loss or a big gain. I didn't want to let it affect my day and I always try to keep in mind that since I'm in it for life, that I have to approach weigh ins differently now.

I think what triggered my sad/negative/hopeless mood is a conversation with a close friend after my meeting. She has been supportive the entire way. However, she will give you her honest opinion even if you haven't asked for it. She is not by any means rude but will state her observations. Sometimes it has taken me a while to realize that what she has observed has truth to it and it has helped me progress emotionally with the program. Well yesterday I merely mentioned that I was going to have to take some time today to figure out my new daily and weekly points. Because I had to figure out exactly what I did last week and add the extra points. She texted me back and said she felt I was too obsessive, that my life has become all about points and that I needed to just eat according to how my body felt. She kind of left the conversation after that (this topic was a brief moment in a larger conversation about weekend plans).

I will say, her comment stung even tho I know she was not ill-intentioned. At the same time, I don't know that she would be bothered if she knew it hurt my feelings. She is very caring and gets excited about people's milestones and accomplishments, but will very occasionally make an observation (very polite and said lovingly) and as I said wouldn't be bothered if someone took it the wrong way. She would feel sad that the person was troubled by the statement but would stand by the statement.

So that is a little background. She has "observed" in the past that I'm "obsessed" with exercise. I hardly think that 1 hour a day five days a week is obsessive. It's not like I'm scheduling my life or work around the gym. It's not like I ever even talk about the gym - because I intentionally don't. I also don't talk about nutrition or food with people, unless they engage me specifically on that topic.

So I'm confused how trying to figure out a game plan points-wise for the week is obsessive. And to be honest I'm feeling very hurt. As a Christian, I know I need to swiftly forgive and forget and not take offense. And to not fret over comments people make.

But lately I'm feeling judged and unsupported by my friend. And dealing with comments from people on a daily basis - being told I should be fed a Big Mac, being told I'm too thin, that I'm skeletal. It's laughable because as discussed I'm at the top of my weight range. If I was skeletal or obsessive wouldn't you think I would still be in "losing" mode? It's just frustrating.

I think I definitely need to forgive and forget. And I think just accept that my friend cannot be the person I want or feel that I need her to be for me. And I think when she engages me in conversations about diet and exercise I'm just going to be honest with her and tell her that I'm not wanting to discuss it with her because when she brings up the subject her comments kind of sting and she will often shortly leave the conversation. So, not to punish her but not to keep on expecting her to change how she feels about my weight loss.

Frustrating because I've been very very quiet about exercise and food and weight loss since I started; I was intentional because I didn't want to draw attention and didn't want to be preachy to other people.

And - yesterday I dealt with intense feelings to overeat. I'm proud of myself that I limited myself to air popped popcorn (I had already had a big treat earlier) and tea and therefore staved off a huge binge.

Sorry for the long story. I'm feeling good and emotional. I'm just dealing with a lot in terms of my best friend, with another friend who may be more than a friend/not sure what I want there and dealing with alternating feelings of being hungry when I shouldn't be and the urge to binge eat.

My plan for today is just to do what I have to do (chores) and stay to my daily 33 points. I have like 12 weekly points to last me until Friday. I'm really upset today over my two friend situations and I'm really trying to resist the urge to either over eat or go on a major (unaffordable) shopping spree

I will comment later on everyone's news. As always I'm cheering you all on!

Happy Sunday!, the sun is shining, the ice is melted and I'm going out for a walk.

Yesterday was a little off course. Darling husband decided to invite a crowd over for dinner at the last minute. I cooked the only thing I know how to cook for a crowd on short notice, baked ziti, with sides of meatballs and sausage. The good news is that I made the ziti with whole wheat pasta and the sausage was chicken sausage. The bad news is that I did go over my points but am still within my weekly points.

Lots of good news reported by y'all

Autumn, sorry you are having a hard week. But I think if you lose three pounds on maintenance you need to have a long chat with your leader. She is trained to help. Get healthy and you will be happy.

ttfn