My husband and I are just starting WW today at home. My name is Jaclyn. I'm 24 and have a beautiful, amazing 7 1/2 month old daughter. Both of us have let ourselves go a little (the pic in my profile is from my 21st birthday--how I wish I still looked like that). I didn't appreciate my body a few years back. At 17, I was 110 pounds and I ate anything I wanted. I could find my size clothes in any store. I'm trying to appreciate what I have now, but with the goal that I can get down to 120-130 lbs.

Before I got pregnant, I tried Atkins. Although it was working, I knew it wouldn't be working for long because although I loved the allowed food, I was getting bored (and I don't get bored eating the same thing over and over again; at any restaurant I always get the exact same thing every time). So, as soon as I found out I was pregnant (we weren't trying, but we weren't /not/ trying; we figured we wouldn't put that pressure on us to conceive), I quit Atkins and went back to my usual way of eating. I topped out at 178. Once she was born, I lost 21 lbs instantly. Since then, it's been creeping back on and I am up to 162. Now, I don't really expect to look like I did at 17 (that's pretty much an impossibility), but I'm going to try for it. (Oh, keep in mind--I'm 5'3").

My dh and I measured ourselves and took 'before photos'. If I hadn't been planning on WW before, after seeing those pics--I was horrified to say the least. Dh was also shocked. He set up the Total Gym for me (though it will soon be replaced with the treadmill because I need cardio right now and there is not room at the moment for both). I plan to use the TG or treadmill while the baby takes a nap.

We made a menu plan, but come Friday, I wonder what will happen. You see, for us, Friday night is pizza and a movie night. How many slices of a pepperoni and mushroom pizza could I eat? I plan to use my Flex Points for Friday Pizza Nights, but I would like an estimate of how many points there are per slice. Also, one other question--spaghetti and lasagna are two of our favorite meals, but they are very high in points. Will we ever be able to eat it again?

Oh, and a small side note about me--I'm not into sugar, but I LOVE greasy foods.

Jaclyn

It depends on where the pizza is from and the crust on how many points. In your materials there is some general information. However you can always check the restaurant section here and at couple other sites as well as www.dietfacts.com or www.calorieking.com to help out with points for each slice of pizza.

I eat spaghetti. Actually they are not that high in points. 1 cup of Barilla Plus or most Whole Wheat pastas are 3 points per cup. If you make your own sauce you can make a zero point sauce.

Lasagna I also eat about once a month and I plan for it. I make it so I knowt he points but the food companions have some generic info as well as the 2 sites above.

If you are dining out and can't find the nutritional info on their site or one of the sites mentioned above you can always find a place who does list it and use those figures and be close.

Why would you ever think you had to give up anything. All it takes is planning.

welcome! im on ww also. to answer your questions yes you can have the pasta but consider wheat pasta instead or the barilla plus white pasta. you can have 2 sl. pizza for like 12 points. you mentioned loving grease so i guess blotting it isnt an option.

Welcome!

My DH and I did WW together, too, and it was a great success to be working on it together. He reached goal a couple of weeks ago, and I am only a few pounds away.

We also love pizza, and eat it regularly. How many points depends on so much, such as thickness of crust, how much cheese is piled on, whether it's topped with meat or veggies, etc. I like to make my own, using LF cheese and loading on the veggies, so I can keep it down to about 4 points per medium slice. If we put meat on it, we use fat free ham or diced chicken breast. When we order out, we stay away from pan pizza!

We also love pasta. We switched to whole grain pasta, and love it. I modified my alfredo sauce recipe so that it's a lot lower in points, and make a marinara that's only 1 point per serving. We only eat pasta about 1 time per week, though. Making the dish myself lets me be in control of how many points go in.

Thank you for all the replies. I didn't even know there was anything on the grocery shelf for pasta other than what I usually get. I'm definitely going to have to watch myself with pizza, though. I can put away a ton.

Hint/Tip with the Pizza. Have a slices or 2 (and some can be as high as stated but some can be as low as 3-4 points per slice) and have a large salad and diet soda or unsweetened tea with it.....

That's a good idea. I have another question though--what do you do with the leftover pizza? I always eat it for breakfast or lunch the next day, and if I don't, it'll sit there waiting for me to eat it. Oh, the temptaion. But, I guess that's the whole point of WW, right? To learn to eat in moderation. As for diet soda, thank goodness I've always drank it. I always preferred it to sugary drinks or Coke, you know? Anything else you can suggest other than a salad? I will try the salad, but I have a problem of liking ranch dressing and drizzling a salad with it.

Jaclyn

Jaclyn-WELCOME! I usually order a medium pizza with either a thin crust (pizza hut's thin and crispy) or the one form the local place has a medium thickness crust. I skip the pepperoni and just order a little chese and mushrooms. It's 4 points per slice that way. If I know it's coming I save my points and eat my fill. I usually eat way more points for dinner anyway so it works out. I eat it for breakfast, but just one slice.

As far as salad try Light Done Right dressing (I think the one I have is called Three Cheese Ranch)you hardly notice it has half the points. I can't do FF ranch but the Light Done Right is Great. Pasta is very doable. Just measure and be aware of portions. Usually I eat around 4 points between the whole wheta pasta and sauce. Also, if you make your own lasagne you can control your ingredients. If you don't like FF cheese do half recgular and half FF, same thing with Riccota nd Cottage Cheese. Choose whole wheat pasta if you can find it. I like to add veggies like zucchini and eggplant to mine and less or no meat.

It's all about portion control. You can eat what you want, just count the points and stay within your limits! I think it's great you and DH are working together!

Hi Jaclyn
Your struggles with post-baby weight sound really similar to mine! Except my son just turned one, so calling it "baby weight" is really going to start sounding silly for me soon. I LOVE pizza too (and all things cheesy, carb-y and greasy!) and don't mind ordering extra to heat up the next day. This gets me into trouble though because if I start my day off with pizza, sure it's good (quick too, especially with the baby to tend to) but then I fall into the thinking that my day is already "shot" and the eating kind of goes downhill from there.
One trick for dealing with the leftovers is to try not to order too much extra, just order close to what you guys will consume on Friday night. If there are extras, wrap them up and freeze them right after dinner. At least that way if you want it the next day, it'll be a little more hassle than just standing in front of the open fridge door eating a cold slice or two (which I have been known to do on more than one occasion!)
Another idea is if there are any toppings you don't like, order rest of the pizza, besides what you plan to eat Friday night, with those toppings. For example, I don't like onions and don't eat meat. So I get my medium pizza, with one half green pepper (my half) and the rest onion. If my boyfriend wants to order anything more than that, he orders it with a meat topping. That way, I'm turned off from wanting to eat anything more than my allotted 4 slices of medium.
I've also heard the South Beach Diet pizzas are really good, filling and low points. I can't find them in my grocery store though, maybe you'd have better luck.
One last thing, if you like spaghetti you should cooking spaghetti squash sometime! If you top it with sauce and parm. cheese, it's pretty good (and the squash itself is zero points!)
Good luck!

I never have left over pizza around because it all gets eaten. we order only enough so it is gone when we are done.