I understand that 29 is the lowest amount of dailies someone can have. Do you all who have 29 eat all of yours? Plus, do to feel guilty when you dip into your weeklies? I have been sick with a cold and thus extra hungry these past few days. My week ends on Saturday and I have 45 weeklies and 10 activity points left and for some reason I feel super guilty for dipping into it..

Is there an adverse affect if you consistently eat less that 29 pts a day? How do I get over the guilt when I dip into my weeklies?

Heck no! You are supposed to use your weeklys especially if you do any exercise or activity. If you do activity and you don't use your weeklys then you are "in the hole". That is exactly what my ww meeting leader told us last week. This means you are not getting enough food and therefore you probably won't loose weight very well because your body will go into starvation mode.

I use all my 29 daily and most not always all but most of my weeklys and I am loosing very sucessfully.

SweetyKins...your leader needs to go back to leader school. There is a science article on the WW page that explains that "starvation mode" is a myth.

The daily points target -- even if it is 29 -- is just that a target.

In the weekly materials given a few weeks ago (on p. 8) it said:

"Whether your daily PointsPlus Target is 29 or 71....Aim to meet your daily PointsPlus Target. It's okay to have a few PointsPlus values left over (don't overeat) if you feel satisfied."

It is also indicated not to eat so many 0 point fruits and veggies that you have no room for anything else and not to deprive your self.

Jayohwhy -- I am really working on listening to my body and not eating reflexively and limiting dining out. The two big factors to me in gaining weight were eating out too much and tending to always have a snack at hand during the evening. Many of the snacks weren't "bad" but just too much and I tended to eat mindlessly without really being all that hungry.

So if I'm not hungry and I've gotten good nutrition for that day (do check out the Good Health Guidelines) then I don't feel I have to eat just to eat to get to 29 points. I am often a couple of points below although it is not that common for me to be more than 5 points below.

I choose to eat my Activity Points before Weekly points. I am very conservative on counting them (I count virtually everything as low intensity even if I think it is higher) and have no guilt on eating them. I tend to eat them the day I earn them.

As for Weekly points I used to eat most of them but wasn't satisfied with my rate of loss. It is entirely up to you whether to use them or not. WW is perfectly fine with you using them or not using them. Some people are able to eat all or most of their WP and still lose at a rate they life. And that is great for them. Me? I can't do that.

I don't feel guilty when I use them. Part of that listening to my body. The other day it was toward the end of the day and I was still hungry. I had no activity points left but had all my weekly points. So....I ate something and used a few. No big deal. Or if I go out to eat I may use a few. For me, it is fine to do that a couple of days a week just not every day.

Koshka- the FAQ on etools says the following

"is it ok to eat fewer than my daily points value?
Not if you want to lose weight in a healthy way. Your daily PointsPlus Target helps you to create the energy deficit that’s important for weight loss. But it’s also carefully calculated to help ensure that you have enough room to get in the nutrients your body needs, and to feel satisfied as you lose weight. So, to cover the nutrient end of things, never eat fewer than 29 PointsPlus values in a day. And to make help yourself stay satisfied, try to just stick with your personalized daily PointsPlus Target – whether it’s 29 or higher. We’ve seen it again and again: Deprivation doesn’t work."

Tha's why I'm a little confused... What do you think?

I know it says that but then they put out the weekly book in the beginning of January which says it is OK to go under if satisfied. My understanding from leaders is that they are taught that the daily points target is a target and that if meeting the good health guidelines and satisfied it is OK to be a little under.

My take on it:

If you are hungry and not eating enough to get the nutrients you need and are eating under 29 points, particularly on a regular basis, then that isn't good. No one should aim to eat under 29 points. You should be planning to eat at least 29 points. You should eat enough that you have had a good, nutritional day and that you are satisfied and not starving and feeling deprived. If doing that means you eat Activity Points or Weekly Points then that is perfectly fine. It is also perfectly fine if you end up eating exactly 29 points.

On the other hand, if you have a good, nutritional day and it gets to be late at night and you've had 27 or 28 points and you aren't hungry then you don't need to just go eat something to get yourself exactly to 29 points. Or, let's say you want a snack and want you want is a zero piece of fruit? I don't think you have to put up the zero piece of fruit and then go get a 2 point snack instead.

Most of this is really common sense. Eat healthy. Aim to eat your daily points target. If you are truly hungry and you haven't gone over your weekly points and activity points, feel free to eat something. If you do all of that and you are sometimes a little below your daily target then don't worry about it.

On the other hand, if you are consistently eating well below your daily target then talk to your leader, maybe go over what you've been eating and see why you are always below.

Thanks so much for your input.. I think i like the idea of losing steadily at a good pace... what is the rate in which you lost?

My leader also said use them. She said people who use them are more likely to stay on plan. One member even said during the meeting (and I agree w/her) that she uses her weeklies because even if she was to lose 1 lb a week instead of 2 because of using her weeklies at least she is happy and it is easier to stay focused.

I think it just depends. You can't really have a specific rule. The other day I ate 26 points. I ate when I was hungry, didn't deprive myself and even had a late night snack. And it all worked out to 26 points.

On another day this week I ate 34 points. I went to lunch at Red Lobster, had what I wanted (yes I paid attention to points particularly on the salad dressing and sides) but was very happy with my meal. That day I ate 29 daily points, 4 activity points, and 1 weekly point (I use AP first).

Two other days this week I ate exactly 29 points. Again it just worked out that way.

I am very happy, focused, don't feel deprived. If it was late at night and I was hungry and had already eaten 29 point I would surely eat more of my weekly points. If I went out to eat and had a nice meal and it was dinner time later and I had only 4 daily points left...I would eat weekly points.

I totally was feeling guilty about using my WP's. I hardly ever use my AP's. This week, I used all my WP's and 1/3 of my AP's. I don't think I am going to lose weight this week (at least according to my home scale). So yeah, it is about finding out what works for your body. A lot of members can't eat their AP's AND their WP's, but many eat one or the other (at least from what I've read and witnessed in my meetings). I was going to try to eat both this week, but I don't think it is going to allow me to lose weight at the rate I want to (or cause a gain), so next week, I will eat less WP's than I did this week.

Also, the person who said 'starvation mode' is a myth---can you post that link? I've read every fitness/diet book magazine published (Ok, well not all, but a lot), and I've read over and over that if you eat under 1200 calories, your body goes into starvation mode and burns muscle over fat. It is hard for me to believe this isn't true. One time, i went on a VLCD (500 cal a day), it worked like a charm, but I had no energy at all and although i lost weight rapidly, I felt completely out of control once I stopped that diet because my body craved the nutrients so much. Anyway, I'd like to know your source.

I believe 29 points is slightly less than 1200 calories as it is (I calculated that 1 point is somewhere between 30 and 40 calories, depending on the food), so I don't think it is healthy to eat less than 29 points on a regular basis---unless you are eating a lot of fruits and vegetables; fruits have quite a few calories, at least.

In 3 months, there has only been 1 day I didn't eat all my dailies and it was because I was ill. I must eat at least my 29 points.

I use all 29 dailies. I also decided to start using all (or most) of my weeklies. I find I stay OP more consistently by doing this. They are my safety net most weeks.

Sure. Here is the link

http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/a...of+Weight+Loss

That is the link to the WW article. In the article itself at the end are links to the studies cited.

By the way, if you don't do strength training and work on building muscle anyone can lose muscle regardless of calories eaten. I don't believe that depends on whether you eat more or less than 1200 calories.

BTW, I'm not advocating super low calorie diets. I think those are hard to stick with and hard to be nutritionally adequate. I just think that it isn't a big deal to sometimes not quite meet your daily target. That is, if I eat 26 points one day I don't think that is a big deal if I ate healthy and was satisfied. If I eat 14 points that's a big deal.

If you think about the starvation thing you can see that there isn't much logic in those who say that if eat less than X calories that your body will go into starvation mode and you won't lose weight. People who really do starve to death do lose weight. They don't, well, die fat.

I think as you lose weight your metabolism may slow somewhat and there are studies who indicate that people who have lost weight have permanently slower metabolisms. But that is not the same as saying that they go into starvation mode and can't lose weight.

I am just now restarting WW. The points plus didn't initially work for me because I went from18 points (old system) to 29 points. I gained 45 lbs in 3 months trying to eat 29 points! I ate more bread, etc, and started binging and using all of my points, then all of my points and my husband's....I restarted a few days ago and this time I am counting fruit as points and not as 0. Athe fruit free for all didn't do me any favors.

I would limit my fruit intake if that is the case. Don't overindulge. I wouldn't eat more than 2-3 fruits a day.

29 is not the lowest amount of daily points you can have. I'm only allowed 27