hi there everyone!!

i finally bit the bullet and signed up for weight watchers. i'd been muddling thorugh on my own trying to do FLEX but it just wasn't working for me. once i got the booklet i read about CORE and saw all the fantastic foods that you can eat and i've decided to give it a go!

1. they said journalling is optional, but do many of you still do it?

2. i looked and looked in the store but i could not find fat-free cottage cheese, all i could find was 1% cottage cheese. i started to think that 1% cottage cheese was like skim milk, i guess not. any help on this? i love cottage cheese and don't want to have to give it up.

3. if i were to eat this 1% cottage cheese is it going to throw the whole thing off? or should count it as the weekly points allowance?

4. soy cheese. this is a CORE food? does it matter what kind? i love cheese and would be interested in trying soy cheese as a replacement to the regular cheese.

5. any other tips for a newbie? i'm totally new to CORE and just barely understand the points.

thanks in advance ladies!

HEY, canadian*girl, I,m JULIE from downunder, I also follqw the ww,s points plan, and I also love cottage cheese here ww,s have their own brand in supermarkets, one serve counts as 1 and a half points maybe if you ask your group leader she,ll be able to help , also 1% fat has about the same points value, hope this helps, BYE FOR NOW....JULS

P.S. I was confused as well at first, trying to work out just how many calories I was eating, on the 20 points a day plan it is on an average 1000cals and 1200cals, bye again...juls

Hey Carrie! Welcome to Core. I think you'll love it. We have two Canadian ladies here as part of our Core family. I understand that some FF food is harder to find in Canada than in the states. Froufy and Saundra may be able to help you later today when they visit the board. I know that Deans makes FF cottage cheese. Yes, there is such a thing. If you use the 1%, technically you should count points for it. I wouldn't want to advise "tweaking" the program at this point. If you don't eat alot of it then you might be able to get away with not counting points. I think you'll just have to see how it goes if you can't find the FF.

Any kind of soy cheese is Core. I've tried some and it's not bad. Actually, it might even be better than some of the other cheese. I tried a blend of parmesan, mozarella, and romano in a Core lasagna that I made and it was pretty darn terrific.

I've been doing Core for 18 months and believe that I can live this way for the rest of my life. I chose Core though I have done Flex many times but none too sucessfully. I always made bad food choices on Flex and was, therefore, hungry all the time. I lost 45 pounds on Core in the first year. I'd still be losing gangbusters if it hadn't been for my medicial situation. I'm happy to report that without exercise and continuing to eat Core, I've managed to maintain. I don't journal my individual meals but I do track what is suggested on the journal booklet. I keep track of my oil, milk, water, and fruits and vegetables.

I think it is worthwhile to journal individual meals for a short while in the beginning. Learning the comfort zone takes alot of getting used to. It can be scary to have so much freedom. Obviously, most of us ate too much and that's why we have to lose weight. If I stop losing, sometimes I weigh, measure, count my Core food just to see if my portion sizes are getting out of control. I do this rarely though because a big part of what I love about Core is the freedom from journaling. I think this is a real person call.

BTW, we have a profile thread where we've given information about ourselves. You could read about us and maybe even post your own profile there. We hang out daily on our Core Support Board thread. We're on number 40 there. Stop on by for some good old-fashioned support!

thanks!

this is all a learning experience for me. next time i'll know not to get the 1% cottage cheese. and i cannot wait to get soy cheese. i used to eat soy swiss cheese b/c i liked how it tasted. yummy.

can you order weight watcher food (ie. cottage cheese) from them online? or place an order at a meeting or something?

any help the canadians can give me is greatly appreciated.

Hi there,

Canuck here and I can only agree that the availability of fat free products here is lacking.

As for cottage cheese - I believe that President's choice (loblaw's) may have a fat free variety or at least carry a brand that does (cuz I remember buying some there).

Also Scotsburn cottage cheese (brookfield dairy) and dairyland (http://www.dairyland.ca/cottage_ch.htm) also carry one? So if you know of a store that carries this brand you should be able to find some or maybe get the manager to order you some if they don't regulary stock it?

I know there are also some dry/pressed cottage cheese which are fat free - but not quite the same as the wet cottage cheese in the tubs.

Good luck!

Frouf