You're going to get a myriad of differing opinions on this, but I do want you to know that you're not alone in your frustration with WWPP.
What I will tell you is that I took action to ease my own frustration and simply ate less. I started in my 9th week by deciding to eat 1200 daily calories, and track the difference between calorie consumption and PPs. I found that I always had "extra, uneaten daily points". I lost 3 pounds that week.
Week 10, I added a ceiling of 1400 calories daily, and still tracked the PP values and still had extra, uneaten daily points. I lost 2.2 pounds.
I don't touch Weeklies or AP.
I am in week 11, my third week of sticking with the 1200 target/1400 ceiling. I go to meetings and my leader was pleased with my success and had me share "my story" last week. I was reluctant because technically, I'm not "on plan" - so why on earth would she want me to speak out - but the response was so encouragingly positive!
In 10 weeks I've lost 9.8. 4 of those pounds were lost in the first 8 weeks following PP to the letter. 4 pounds in 8 weeks isn't stellar, is it? 5.2 in the last 2 weeks---amazingly satisfying. However, I did raise my daily calories because I don't want to harm myself either.
Clearly, you've stated you have not been following it 100% but are eating around your points. I don't know if you stopped at daily points or included weekly points, and don't know if you were hitting all of the suggested GHGs. You're going to get a load of comments just on that. Weed through and pick out the gems.
1200 daily calories is too little for you, so I don't suggest that. What I suggest tho is take my experience/advice with a grain of salt, and everyone else's advice the same. You're going to hear "eat more/eat less/drink more water/drink less water/intake less sodium/exercise more/eat less fruit/get your GHGs, etc., and the "you're cheating" finger may be raised, if not pointed.
I outlined what I did to make the weight loss kick in because ... it worked and I was explaining by example. I was following the plan to a T, and I got all of the above "advice" and in the end, I had to make my own decision. Especially when its said "you can't be following it right." You can't make someone believe you when you say "it isn't working for me" unless you find someone in the same boat. Also, you can't blame someone for defending a program that works for them, or those who are happy at slow (and steady?) losses. I have a gal in my group who hasn't LOST a pound since January. She loses it, gains it, loses it, gains it, and yet she's happy as a clam to work a program that doesn't work for her for the past 9 months. Go figure. It didn't take me long to question the lackluster results. I don't know how long you've been at it.
As to getting the GHGs to "make it work" - that's all fine and dandy but those are guidelines. I'm eating from all the food groups, and using olive oil on my weekly daily work salad lunch. I'm fine with that. Its a guide, not the law, but a good guide. The bottom line is: too much food is too much food, no matter what program you follow.
My 4 pound weight loss on 8 weeks of PP was, like you, 1 step forward, 2 steps back. It was extremely frustrating and mind numbing. Had I dropped .5 eight weeks in a row, it would not have had such a profound emotional effect on me. I'm already a frazzled ball of nerves--I don't need a diet program to further blow my mind by not working as marketed and to my expectations, especially for the effort in/results achieved. You, my friend, are not alone. Knowing that helps.
So you take the responses and weed through the best information in all of them. If you feel you need to tweak the program to be more satisfied with the overall weight loss results...do it. No one will fault you for it.
Last edited by 124chicksinger; 09-25-2011 at 12:32 PM.
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