I have 15 points left in my day for dinner, and I just rode my bike 10 miles, which eTools tracked as 5 AP. I wanted to eat a very light dinner, but I know I'm not supposed to leave more than a few points on the table. What do you do when you feel satisfied and have a lot of points to play with? I'm not interested in butter or cream or dessert or anything heavy. It's 86 degrees in L.A. today (which doesn't feel holiday-ish at all, by the way!). My plan was steamed fish and asparagus because that's what actually sounds good to me, and has since I woke up.

Never had this problem on the old plan. The joys of Points Plus!

Add a carb, or some milk (not non-fat), or drizzle a little oil on your food.

Have you met the good health guidelines for the day?

If it's just one day, don't worry about it. But if it gets to be a pattern try to figure it out.

I usually spread my points throughout the day, and plan my day in the morning so I'm not ending up with 15 points for dinner with no idea of how to use them, nor am I ending up with 3 points for dinner and wondering where the day went.

I do loosely plan, but if I try to set a menu in stone I will rebel and go off the rails. I don't have a problem with authority until I am the authority.

The only GHG I have trouble with is oil, which I don't like using. I can put it on my asparagus, I guess. Skim is the only milk I can drink. I guess I'm looking to sneak points in without knowing it. I'll try the oil. Thanks!

Instead of a concrete plan, you could do a menu plan of 7 meals for the week. Then you chose which one you want on which day, and work backwards to figure out how many points to eat at each meal. So basically you went shopping for 7 meals and you figure out which meal of those 7 you want to eat each morning.


Alternatively, you can do points off-set. Many people can't figure out their points to keep that many for dinner. So they start counting their points at dinner, and they continue through the next day until dinner again. Hope that makes sense.

How did you become 40 pounds overweight?

Just asking because I see so many people posting about how hard it is to eat enough to be on plan, and yet none of these people had any trouble eating way way way more than enough than was needed to maintain a significant weight gain.

So, I think somewhere in your brain exists something that can let you know how to add some more calories for the day, the key is to make those extra calories healthy, and not junk.

I was on strict bedrest for nearly three months with my last child, which is how I gained the weight. I think people ask about this because now that they've committed to a plan they have an awareness they maybe didn't before, and don't want to "mess up." So, the pendulum swings the other way for a lot of people. I don't eat junk or keep it in my house, and I'm not looking for a pass to get more calories in an unhealthy way. I was just wondering if other people occasionally found themselves in this situation, not wanting to stuff themselves or eat something heavy, and what are some tricks/tips to healthily get those calories in there for those instances when you find yourself with an abundance of points. I know exactly what to do on days I have 4P+ left.

It certainly was not my intention to upset or offend you with my question! Yes, somewhere in my brain exists the answers to a lot of questions. But I come to a message board like this to learn and interact with other people going through the same things. Clearly, if other people are asking similar questions they have encountered this situation before, too.

Mrs. Bonsai, thanks for the grouped menu planning idea. I hadn't thought of that. Its a great way to create structure while feeling like you still have options.

traceriffic, you don't have to explain how you gained the weight. There are certain posters in here to seem to think that they are the authority regarding this plan. Those of us KNOW how we gained the weight and that is EXACTLY why we don't like having this many points to use daily because regardless of WHAT we are eating to make up these points it is a lot of food and that is just how we got to this point, by eating large quantities of food. It doesn't make sense to have this many points to use because that isn't leading to good eating habits at all. I was given the same treatment in another thread that I started and I finally just went in and edited all of my posts because I came here for encouragement not to be put down. I've had enough of that in my life. Good luck you to.

I wanted to add that, just like tonight, I find myself with 12 points left for the day, and, yes, I ate HEALTHY today. But I am stuffed to the gills and I am just not going to go find myself something for 12 points to stuff in just because it says I need that many points. I am not going to bed feeling so stuffed. I've lost 3 lbs this week but I got started late because I didn't have my materials.

Our leader said if you feel satisfied at the end if the day and you've met your daily nutrition/good health guidelines, it is ok to have points left, do not stuff yourself. Its a daily points + target and sometimes we don't hit it. But we are to aim for it. Hope this helps

Well, I'm definitely not the type of person itching for a fight or even a heated debate. There are probably a million sites other than a weight loss board to let loose some anonymous ire (politics, anyone? )! I hope that if I irritate someone he or she could just avoid my threads and posts, and know that it's never my intention to cause upset.

With the new plan, I'm trying to just approach each new day positively and add to the dialogue here in a thoughtful way, though some days are harder than others, as I'm sure other folks here can attest. Let this serve as a warning that this won't be the last stupid question I ever post!

I calculated the calories for my points yesterday, just to see how I was doing - 29 points was just under 1300 calories. Maybe plug in the foods you've eaten into something like Sparkpeople to see how many calories you have eaten today? If it seems sufficient (like 1200 rather than 700) you should be fine. A point is only around 40 calories these days, not 100 like under the old plan.

Good luck!

I actually try to leave 13-15 pts for dinner so I can have some pasta as a side dish, lol.. it's been working great so far and I get a creamy pasta to go with my protein and veggie, I LOVE this plan! but yes if I had that many and I just wasn't hungry I wouldn't use them, no need to stuff yourself for sure, we are learning to be more in tune with our bodies needs and knowing when we are satisfied is a big part of that

Yes, I think as we go along it will be easier to begin to adjust to how to work this. Probably loading up more in the early hours, being able to eat more filling breakfasts than in the past is probably the answer, some snacks in between, and a pretty good lunch, and then leaving a normal amount for dinner so as not to feel like you are going to bed so full (maybe an old wives tale but I know that I do not sleep well if I go to bed on a full stomach), so I'm going to try and go more that way. I think in the past I had found that if I ate more in the AM that I ran out of points too early so we are structured that way. It will take some training to turn that around. Of course, if it works, then as I lose weight the points will go down so will have to re-structure, so I just don't want to get used to requiring that much food daily.