I'm not having much luck with this plan (gross understatement) and I'm wondering if part of the problem could be that I'm not assigning accurate points+ values to foods that I eat occassionally.

For example, twice a week (usually) I bring a salad for lunch and like to have a cup of soup to go with it. There is a wonderful soup spot right next to my building. I try to make good choices (and almost always do) and pick vegetarian soups that are broth based. There is no nutritional information available for the soup so I try to match up similar soups on the weight watchers website to add to my tracker. I have learned from the owner that the vegetarian soups are sodium free!

Today, I splurged and had a cup of a cream based soup. It was a "beef stroganoff soup", little cubes of beef, bowtie pasta, and mushrooms. I'm not sure how many points to assign to this.

How do you handle situations like this?

Please don't tell me "stop eating stuff that you can't count". I'm not interested in hearing that answer, even if it is true. My life is fast paced and I can't always pack EVERYTHING I need for a day. A measured CUP of soup shouldn't be what KILLS this program.

Have you tried googling nutriotional facts for that kind of soup? That is what I do. I just typed beef stroganoff soup into google and this is what I got.
http://www.fitday.com/webfit/nutriti...nky_style.html
It would be around 6 PP per cup.

I had the same issue and this was the only way I could get an estimate.
Hope that helps

I overestimate on something that I don't really know what it is - say you figure there was about 1.5 cups in the "cup" serving ... (or whatever) how much was beef - 1/4-1/3 of a cup or more? was there 1/3-1/2 cup of cooked pasta? How much cream - thick/thin, etc. I try to add the individual ingredients' points up and then add a few for good measure - heck, it's not PERFFECT, but you've got bonus points, etc. and one serving isn't going to kill the program, as you say.

Enjoy!

Like you, I look online and see if there is something similar to it. In this case there is a Campbell's stroganoff soup that is 6 p+. I take into account that typical canned soup is not as hearty as what homemade soup is, so I would give it an extra point or two to account for extra noodles and meat and the possibility that it has cream or full fat milk in it. I think 8 points would be a good a guestimate.

Yay! Thank you ladies! I guesstimated about 7 PP+ values!

Also, how do you guys divide your points throughout the day? I am supposed to eat 42 points. My breakfasts are usually 7-9 points but this morning it was 11. Could that be part of my problem? Not spreading out my daily point allowance properly?

Hi! I have the same problem from time-to-time---I get soup from this one place at least once a week, and I generally estimate it to be around 7pp, although it might be less or more if there is cream, flour, etc. (although I tend to pick the broth-based instead). So I think you are doing the right thing! Also, I try to save at least a couple WP's and I never use my AP's, just in case I underestimated during the week. I'm losing about 1 to 1.5 on average a week, so I'm OK with it, although of course I wish it were faster!

Yes, I do think that eating all of your points later in the day could be part of your problem! If you think about your body, it is going to be able to burn through the most food if you eat the majority earlier in the day. If you eat the bulk of your food for dinner and then go to sleep a couple hours later, it had no time to burn any of it off, so most of it will be stored as extra energy. Do you eat small meals throughout the day? Or just a big lunch and dinner to get through your points? I tend to eat about 10 for B, 10 for L and 10 for dinner, although sometimes I eat a bigger lunch and then a tiny dinner (I only have 31 points). It couldn't hurt to try breaking up when you are eating your meals to try to space them out more during the day!

Also, are you working out? You could just be at a plateau in your weight loss (you lost 50lbs!), so you may need to 'mix things up' to get the scale moving again Eating more protein, exercising more (or trying different exercises), and eating smaller meals throughout the day are all good ways to do that.

At our meeting a couple weeks ago our leader was talking about how to spread your points out throughout the day. She gets 29, of course, and she said she aims to eat 10 at each meal and will adjust the next meal if she was over or under at the previous meal. This makes a lot of sense to me because generally I'll have 5 or 6 points for breakfast, maybe 7 for lunch and then have 20 points left for dinner (I get 34). So now I'm making an effort to have more real food throughout the day so I'm not tempted to use up a point surplus in unhealthy foods later.

Thanks for the advice guys! With my 42 points, I usually have a 7-10 point breakfast, 8-11 point lunch, and an 8-11 point dinner. I have two snacks a day (both around 2 points each) in between breakfast and lunch and lunch and dinner and usually a post-workout snack that's about 2 points. I'm easily getting in all 42 points, I just wasn't sure if there was a recommended breakdown of where those points go. Dinner's are usually my lightest meal reserved for lean protein and veggies. I might have a whole grain carb but if I do, it's usually a Vitatop Cornmuffin or a very super small baked potato. Once a week I'll have whole wheat pasta...measured of course with light Ragu red sauce. I add baby bellas to my pasta or fat free motzarella to give it a kick.

I've never been more conscious of the food I am eating. I feel like I make really good choices but once again, I had a gain last night and it was horrific. 4 pounds I'm nearly back to my starting weight, 9 WEEKS AGO. I went to the meeting and shed a few tears in front of the entire group and finally voiced my frustration with this program. I'm not sure the leader appreciated that but I felt I needed to be heard. She finally asked me to detail everything I eat and do and we're going to look at it next week together.

Sfree, I exercise. A lot. I have personal training on Monday's and Wednesdays, I do Zumba on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and a Step Aerobic/Body Sculpt class on Thursday nights. My off days are Friday and Sunday. I need those days off. I can't simply fit anything else into my schedule.

I always eat my WP's but never my AP's. I asked my leader at the meeting yesterday if that could be the problem and she said it wasn't. I then told her that I know some people that have switched back to Momentum because they were having trouble like me and she laughed.

Really? Is it not possible that this program simply does not work for EVERY person because EVERYBODY is different?

I am not giving up....I had to run from my meeting last night to personal training and I hardly had any time to eat. I stopped at Sheetz and went up to the MTO counter...began pressing the buttons on the screen about to make HORRIFIC decisions and I literally stopped myself, walked out of the store and went home and made myself a healthy, on-point dinner in the 10 free minutes I had before training.

I am making HUGE NSV steps that I am so proud of, but it is absolutely heart wrenching that the scale just refuses to cooperate.

I'm sorry, Toni. I can see how frustrated you are. I hope you and your leader are able to figure something out.
You are making good choices and getting in a lot of exercise and you are healthier for that, even if the scale isn't cooperating right now. But I hope it does soon.
Good for you for passing up MTO. Used to go there at 2 am, drunk, and order breakfast sandwiches. Ah, good times.

Whenever I get myself in a situation where I am not entirely sure, I either look up something similar or (more often) just kind of guess based on what's in whatever I am eating.

Kudos for the non-scale victories!! I know you want to see results on the scale, but just think of how much more in control you are! Not to mention, healthier.

The only thing I can suggest is to be sure that you are drinking enough water. I know that for me, regardless of eating and exercising, if I don't drink enough, I just won't lose.

Other than that, stick with it! You can do it!!!

How much water is enough water? That is the one thing I really struggle with. Today I drank 80 oz of water and I think that's a personal best.

I use MyPlate and livestrong and search for things that I eat that I don't have nutritional info on. I then try to find what is closest to what I ate and use that. In my case, I don't eat most of my WP so I figure I have some room for error there. Also I really try to limit eating things without nutritional info to only once or twice a week.

spooky: i dont even drink water! when i was pregnant, i forced it down, but im not thirsty so i dont drink... T_T i'll make a cup of tea in the morning and still be drinking it 6 hours later (and i love tea)

I search online for something as close as possible to what I am eating, and then I over estimate just to be on the safe side. I am not sure if this is the right way, but it works for me and then I feel confident that my points are where they should be for the day. I also use websites like Spark People which has a recipe deconstructor. If you can guess as to what is in the soup or whatever you are eating you can enter in all the info into the online calculator and it will display a nutritional guide then you can use your calculator and find out the points per serving.

You've already gotten great advice on the point counting, so I won't add to that, but I just wanted to say I came across this part and thought that was so impressive! Good for you for walking out of there and making a healthy choice. That took real strength and control.

I hope you and your leader can figure out what the issue is and get it fixed.