ok So yesterday morning i go join our local weight watchers here. I didnt fell very informed on stuff but another lady there who was not the leader told me alot that helped. Acording to there scale i am now at 230.6.. My scale yesterday morning said i was 225 so that was sooooo Upseting..

They want me to eat like 32 points a day and then on top of my treadmill activity points it can range from another 4-12 points a day.. That is going to be the hard part for me because i am lucky if i can get down 20 points a day.
Today is actually my starting day since yesterday we were away i wanted to get out and get all i needed for the diet. I hope this works well.. I am starting to get a little concerned with all the food i am suppose to eat a day.
I just wanted to share with everyone that i joined and that i dont like there scale..LOL

Thanks all and have a nice weekend!!!

Good luck!! I'm at 32 points a day too but having been anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 calories a day prior, most days I have no trouble eating my points!!

I don't eat my activity points but my 35 weekly I tend to use for dinners out, special events, etc. Some weeks I use them all and could probably have used more, other weeks I have a bunch left over.

I definitely think it would help your weight loss to eat as many of your 32 as possible -- there are a lot of options for healthy, higher calorie/points foods if you find yourself not reaching your 32.

Are you sure you're calculating your points correctly, and that you're counting everything? Are you measuring your food?

When I joined, I made a lot of mistakes counting points (though I'm now doing core) because I assumed that zero-point foods were always zero points regardless of the portion. I also didn't realize that when you double portion sizes (like 1 cup of pasta instead of 1/2 cup) the points are not just doubled, but often double + 1. Sometimes I failed to fully count things like cooking oil, and I SEVERELY underestimated the points in food I bought in the cafeteria or in restaurants. Some things I thought were low food points were actually really, really high. If you're having trouble eating 20 points, you're probably not counting everything.

i am counting everything correctly.. i eat WW points foods and i eat the smart ones meals that are already counted. i drink my water and then i am not hungry at all so i dont eat. I do yogurt each day that is 1 point, i do 2 of the smartone meals ranging from 4-6 points each ( i try to keep it 5 and under on points there) and then at night once and a while i will eat the smartone desert that has the cookie and icecream for 3 points. or i will eat one of the WW Icecreams for 1 point.
I dont get in that many points and now forcing myself to do so is making me feel sick. That is another reason i dont understand why im not losing weight.
oH well we will see how this week goes!

Shannon - I am on week two of WW Flex and when I started, I was amazed at the amount of food that I was supposed to eat too! I basically thought "how in the world am I going to eat all of this food?" But, once I got started, it wasn't difficult at all. I did have a problem spreading out my points evenly though out the day, but this past week has been much better and I don't feel so overwhelmed with the amount of food that I have to eat. What will help you is to make sure you get your milk, oil and fruit in each day and keep in mind that there are healthy snacks (like almonds) that will up your points too. Be sure to drink all of your water as well - that will get easier over time too.

It has been very successful for me too. I have more energy and generally feel much better (sans the kidney stone issue LOL). I have lost a total of 9 lbs in a week and a half. I am sure that I will be leveling off soon to 1-2 lbs a week, but that is ok too... I will just establish my exercise (activity points) at more regular intervals.

As far as the scale.. well, I love my doctor's scale much better than my own. A lot more user friendly. But, since I don't go to the doctor's office every week, I am using 'old faithful' at home as that is what I started with. The total starting weight may be different, but it should figure the loss the same (depending on if you weigh nekkid or clothed )

My mindset is this. My weight when I started was a deciding factor for me to do something. However, I am concentrating on my goal and weight loss as I progress and not stressing on where I started. For me, if I do that, I can see it tripping me up.

You CAN do this. I can also say that the ladies on this forum will be behind you every step of the way. I have never seen such positive support as I have seen on these boards anywhere!

Hey Chey,
Thanks for the information. I thought i was calculating my points wrong at first because i thought OH MY i gotta eat 32 points and then for each mile i walk on the tread mill that is another 4 points. And when you normally do that 3x a day that is an extra 12 points!!! I have just got to find higher pointed foods i guess. I always thought i should be looking for the ones with less.( looks like i was wrong) I am going to do my best and tonight i told the Fiancee( soon to be hubby) that i am going to go get a few more items of higher points so i can get in what i have to each day.

Chey,
Do you find if you dont all your points in for a few days you dont lose weight?
Just wondering
Thanks so much

If you're eating that little your metabolism may be slowing down.

I haven't so far as I am just in my second week, so as far as that goes, I don't know. I don't intend to not eat all of my points, and if I see myself hitting a plateau then I will make adjustments. As others have said, WW won't give you the points to eat if it wouldn't work for you. If you don't eat all of your points on a regular basis, then your body won't like it and will adjust to fewer points and it will be more difficult to lose weight.

From my understanding, 1 point roughly equals 50 calories. I have to eat 28 points a day and that equals around 1400 calories. Before, when I wasn't watching what I ate, I am pretty sure that I ate many more calories per day than that. Naturally a reduction of calories from what your body is used to will result in weight loss. If you go to far under your recommended points for your program, then your body will go what I call ''starvation mode'' and will store the calories rather than burn them off. That is why, after a time, those diets that I call starvation diets don't work.

So, if you are having difficulty eating all of your points, pick foods like almonds to get to your points, or use salad dressing that is higher in points, etc to start off with and then gradually move into lower points foods as you lose weight and have to adjust your points. You can eat veggies that have points in them as well... and remember - 5 freebies or 0 point foods equal 1 point.

I am not counting my Activity Points at all yet. I exercise more for toning/muscle, but not as much or as regularly as you, although I will be working in more AP points in overtime as I am sure I will need it.

Keep up the exercising as that is important, but I personally wouldn't worry about the AP until I got a handle on my daily points first.

I want to add to that last post. I do not count calories, I just count points. I only figured out the daily calorie intake because I was curious and diets that I have been on before had me counting calories all the time.

BW (before weight watchers), I would hazard to guess that I was eating at least 3000 calories a day and probably closer to 4000 because I was a Mountain Dew drinker (3 big bottles each day - which is almost 1000 calories of empty non-nutritional intake a day!) <pick me up off the floor> I just only looked at that! YIKES!

You may want to ask your leader, but when I was a WW member, using the activity points was optional - you didn't have to eat any of them if you weren't hungry.

Also, most frozen dinners, and definitely the Smart Ones (unless they've changed them since I've had them) are very high in sodium. You could very easily be retaining water. This can slow weight loss and contribute to a bloated feeling. Also, you don't mention fruits and vegetables - not eating them can well, to be indelicate "back you up" which also might explain a bloated feeling or explain why you're not hungry and feeling sick if you try to eat more, as well as the lack of weight loss (this is gross, but I saw on a documentary that a person's intestines can contain many pounds of undigested food).

32 points is roughly about 1600 calories, give or take 100. It's very unlikely that you were eating less than this before, but if you were, you probably have a metabolic problem and should see a doctor. You'll need a fasting glucose tolerance test to test for insulin resistance and a blood test to test for low thyroid.

It's crazy, but for weight loss, you have to be a bit of the scientist. To understand how your body works can take a bit of research.

I just wanted to thank everyone for there imput on this,
I appreciate it all and i take everything everyone says and put it to good use for me..
I will let you all know how i make out today, tomorrow and i think i might try the scale here tomorrow to see if there is a difference..
Thank you all again

Activity points are optional. You do not have to eat them at all, and the max you are supposed to count are 4 per day (and you cannot "bank" them). So, no matter how much exercise you do, you never earn more than 4 a day.
I almost never eat my AP and that helps me to lose more quickly (I am now past my WW goal and am maintaining).
Good luck! I love the program! You may want to buy some of their cookbooks (or get recipes online)-- I love cooking healthy and delicious meals.

Another point I'd like to make, is when you start with a point target that high (mine was 34 when I started and 32 now), you don't need to eat "diet food". Of course it is wonderful to make healthy choices, but you don't *have* to eat only WW packaged items.

Stonyfield Farm makes a fat-free yogurt that is between 2-3 points, depending on flavor. That may be an option other than a WW 1 point yogurt. (And since it's made with sugar, and not an artificial sweetner, it tastes better)

And while WW SmartOnes are easy and convenient options, it is, as someone said, a lot of sodium to be eating each day. It can be nearly as easy to put together a nice salad with tasty fixings or even some cut up cheese, turkey pepperoni, and a few Wheat Thins for a quick lunch/snack.

Sometimes, it's a matter of training your body to eat differently, as well. I used to be able to polish off an entire medium pizza in one sitting. Now, I can barely tolerate pizza grease, and the idea of eating that much food at one time makes me ill.

I'm curious to know what you actual food journal looks like, per day and how you're figuring out your APs. I know for me to "earn" 12 APs, I need to do over an hour's exercise at high intensity.

Staja,
With my AP i walk a mile in 17 minutes(i usually do it in less time with a higher MPH but hurt my leg right now) at 3.5MPH with an incline of 3.0. i usually do that three times a day.
And according to my Leader she said i am to count each time which for me is 4 points for each time i do it. so that is 12 points. She never told me only to count 4 points. So i dont know i am not going to use them till i talk to her this coming friday so i know what is what!!

In my meetings we were never told to only count 4 AP, either. I'm just curious where the 4 points for 17 minutes comes in. At 230lbs, 17 minutes of a high intensity workout is only 3 AP according to the calculator on eTools. Maybe I'm just confused by the math, though. I'll be the first to admit it was never my strongest subject!

I don't really bother to track how many AP I earn, as I never really use them.