OK. WW has options. We can choose. But I do wish people who don't choose the core plan would stop making it into a "restrictive, do and don't, not a life-style but a diet" monster that might scare some newcomers off. A lot of fuss was made about the no bread and 1 starch a day. Let's face it, how much bread do you really eat a day? If it wasn't for the 2 slices for 1 point bread, how many would have included it on the points plan? I doubt many of us would have spent a precious 4 or 5 points to have bread on a sandwich. No we would have eaten our tuna salad on lettuce. How many high point rolls are we eating on a daily basis? How many times a day did we eat a starchy vegetable on Points? Probably once at the evening meal. Would we have eaten potatoes and rice at the same meal? No, because it would have cost us too many points! Healthy eating tells you to have a protein, one starch, lots of green and yellow veggies and 1 serving of grain (bread) and fruit for dessert. This is what a dinner should consist of. So you have to use 1 or 2 flex points for the bread--you have 35 a week or 5 a day!
I suspect the woes about the plan is that it ELIMINATES the junk food that everyone has been incorporating into the points and flex plan. Yes, you can lose weight (calorie restriction) but if it is truly about a "way of eating for life" the junk food should be eliminated. That's where the extra weight and health problems comes from--not from eating all the veggies and fruits you want every day.
I for one welcome the chance to eat all the healthy food I want to, in reasonable portions, and still have the option to use fex points for a special occasion.
Just my feelings on the subject.

I have a Western Alternative for breakfast with my smoothie; I have a sandwich or another item such as a tortilla for lunch, I have bread with dinner usually as a side or for my hamburger or hotdog buns...all of this for about 3-4 points a day well within the carb allotment on the PointsPie. Actually for the most part I do not use DIET BREAD. I use real bread and do spend the points.

I tend to spend the points on some starchy veggies with rice or potatoes twice a day.

I use all my FPs each week as well as all my APs and still manage to eat all colors within my fruits and veggies in variety...green, yellow, red, blue/purple, white.

While I do make room for a snack (usually 1-2 points a day some sometimes those snacks are fruit) daily I do eat healthy and not waste points on junk.

I feel there are problems with both programs for example with FlexPlan it is many people waste points and junk and do not eat healthy this is where incorporating much of the Core Foods into the plan needs to be stressed and with CorePlan it is many people do not know that satisfied (even if there is a list of what satisified is) does not mean stuffed this is where the portion control of Flex needs to be stressed.

I for one could eat until satisified and still be way over in calories. I know many like that.

The point is to find a program that you yourself can be responisible for following and will keep you satisified.

I have never been hungry on Flex - ever - and completely satisified know I got in healthy foods (I don't even eat SmartOnes or LeanCuisines or the like very often --- like 1-2 times a year when I forget my lunch and I run to the store to get something) within my points.

I'm sorry wasting my FPs on bread is not my idea of a lifestyle change especially when I need points to eat out 3 or more times a week because of my lifestyle (can't make it back home to the country from the city on bowling nights <3 nights a week>).

I feel that the Core plan was made for ME! When I do the points I get too obsessed about the point value, or to get a higher amount of food. I make really unhealthy choices in order to stay within point ranges. Highly processed foods and sugars are a huge trigger for me. Pria bars and healthy snack bars have their place, and it's good that they are available. But, for me, they are major triggers. I want to stick with WW, and support them. I believe in WW's philosophy and stance on health.

I see the Core as being a tool for me that will help me focus on more "whole" foods, to make me really focus on not over-eating, and make me stop and think more closely about the "count-points" foods that I eat. The 35 flex points sound like not much, but as my leader pointed out last night, you could eat a sandwich 5 days a week for lunch, using the lower-cal bread, and have only used 5 points. If you eat a wrap (tortilla) 5 days a week, that's only 10 points...and so on.


At my meeting last night, when this program was explained, it was stressed OVER and OVER and OVER....the CORE is an alternative; if Flexpoints works, then there is no reason to change; it's not an "All you Can Eat Buffet"; and the CORE is not meant for everyone.

I really appreciated that my leader stressed these things...the responsibility is on me, as always, and it's up to me to make it work.

Shelle

Geez! Why is everyone getting so up in arms about this thing? I don't want to change to the Core program, and I'm not going to. It's not for me. I enjoy the Flex of the Flexpoints plan. If I am told I cannot eat certain foods, I get unruly. I have gotten mad before because I wanted ice cream and I couldn't have it because my brain said I was fat and wasn't supposed to! The end of that diet.

I have bread or pasta or a potato with most every meal, but I do not like the FP plan because I can just eat junk! Last night was salmon patties with pintos, cornbread, sliced tomato, and green onion. Tonight is pork loin, grean beans & mushrooms, and new potatoes. Nice, rounded low point meals that don't make me feel like I am limited.

However, others need more structure. Yippee! Go for it! Don't mess with my carbs and I won't mess with yours!

Different programs work for different people, that is what makes us each unique. I need structure, and found when I was on flex, I DID waste my points on Taco Bell or snacks a lot. I lost weight, but was not focusing on healthier eating like I should have. The CORE plan is made for me, if I know what I can and can't have, there is no guessing and I'm fine with it. The 35 weekly flex points give me the option of having a splurge meal if I want, but it limits me to once a week and not everyday if I saved points.

I used to eat a lot of junk foods on WW, but in recent times, I have learned one sugary granola bar turns into two. One lf cookie turns into many (I had binge eating disorder and have hypoglycemia), one rice cake turns into seven. So although I am sticking with flex, I generally only have a starchy carb at a meal and with a protien now. I gave up most processed carbs too (save for a little cereal and some 100% Whole Wheat non-diet bread), but no cereal bars, rice cakes, crackers, low fat cookies <I'l occasionally have a fresh baked cookie>) or pirate's booty. I snack on fruit and yogurt. I think for now I do better without a list of foods and just the points due to emergency fixes (re: a lean cuisine on a day I forget my lunch or the very rare muffin at a breakfast meeting). I guess what I am trying to say is that on flex I have discovered where to use my points (on good, nutritionally rich foods) and which foods make me feel fuller etc.

I wonder if their next plan will be a hybrid of both plans?

Basically the plan or combination of plans that work for you is the best one for you imho! Good luck to everyone!

Cheers!

Ali

I chose CORE because the foods listed (and there are more than one person could eat in a year!) are basically the ones I was eating on winning points. The problem I see with counting and journaling is that it is hard to keep up once the "high" is gone from seeing the scale go down every week. When you are trying to maintain it gets to be too much of a bother so you start slipping. I know because I have reached goal 3 times in the last five years. Two years is the longest I have keep it all off. I hope with CORE that I can just continue to eat the Core foods in sensible portions and save the extra's for special occasions. That is my plan for wish me luck that it works!

I just got the core demo last night, and it is interesting. I like that it stresses more whole, unprocessed foods than flexpoints. With the points plans, it seemed like it didn't matter that x product had all these chemicals, preservatives, fake fats, etc in it. All that mattered is that it was 1pt per serving. It was hard to attend meetings because everyone would be swapping points for convenience foods, and I was hoping to find low point ideas on preparing tofu or grains.

I bought a recipe book for the core plan, and I'm looking forward to making a lot of the recipes in it. It'll also be cool to attend meetings and listen to people swapping ideas on on how to cook barley or beans better/faster. It's such a change to see, especially since about 5 years ago asking about tofu or being a vegetarian on weight watchers made staff look at you like you were crazy.

I don't know if I'll be able to do core or not, because I really like being able to have english muffins, tortillas, and whole grain breads.

I agree that Flex needed more of the CoreFoods concept and that is the biggest flaw and that everyone was looking for the 'treats' and 'convenience' but that is part of the busy lifestyles most of us lead now. I do incorporate a lot of the Core values into my Flex.

Also take another look at Core...they stress use of FAT FREE products...cheese, salad dressings, sour cream, milk, etc. If you want lowfat or full fat you HAVE to use your points.

Breads is the major reason followed by dining out (Applebee's new entrees are not even considered Core) that my lifestyle doesn't work with Core.

The lack of full fat cheeses on the core is a big downer for me. Bread I can live without, but I am a full-on cheese snob.

I'm also concerned that they still tout sugar-free/fat-free processed things on the core.

I am going to a meeting either tonight or tomorrow, I have got to get to the core of this.

lala

Lala, I am a cheese snob too. LOL!

Ha! Ha! Ha! Cheese snob! I am one too!

The proof is in the pudding as they say so we will know in a couple of weeks if the plan works or not. I too like the idea that I can nibble all day, thus keeping my blood sugar level, and not have to worry about using all my points by lunch time. I am eating lots of lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, bananas, strawberries, grapes, bell peppers, beans, boiled eggs and milk. Those happen to be the foods I like. I also have used a few points on non-core foods that either went with the meal or I wanted for a snack. I will venture out next week after I have had a chance to go shopping with the Core list in hand. Gotta go--the printer is humming--the cat did something and I gotta figure out what.
Janette

The reason they didn't put bread on there is because they tried to eliminate the foods people tend to binge on. Also the reason for the plain non-fat yougurt over the flavored ones. You can spend your points if you want the bread. No big deal. You can have whole grains, corn, peas other starchy veggies during the day - as much as you need without spending points. It is only the potatoes/whole wheat pasta/brown rice that is limited to one a day - again foods people tend to eat way too much of. I posted an article under the general WW thread on the reasons behind the Core Plan. Its very interesting.