ok so ive been on WW for a week. i was given 20 points and i have been having trouble getting in those points. i have always eaten extremely healthy but for some reason i started gaining so i got on WW. i have never eaten much so these 20 are a lot to me i feel like im constantly eating or always full, but i have been getting in all my points a day. i have also been working out. i get vegetable, fruit, and milk servings that i need each day also. but i keep gaining! this is ridiculous ive popped on a few pounds in the past two days. and im not on my period so it isnt excess water weight or anything like that. what is the deal? am i eating too much?

20 points is a bare minimum to get in your nutritional requirement. Eating less than that will only serve to slow your metabolism down and cause stalling and even possibily gaining.

How long have you given it with these 'gains?' You need to give your body at least 3-4 weeks to adjust to anything. If you have been dieting, trying different weight loss programs/diet programs, and yo-yoing with weight your metabolism may actually be really off.

Additionally if you are exercising and not getting in your minimum your body thinks it is starving and thus holding onto each and every calorie that comes in so it can survive.

I suggest trying all your 20 points plus either some of your Flex or your Activity points for a minimum of 3 weeks but more like a whole month.

I also suggest you get a work up from your doctor if you haven't had one in a while.

While there are some who truly cannot use APs or FPs that is not the majority.

BTW 20 points is only about 1250-1400 calories so that really isn't a lot (this includes the 200-250 a day for free veggies) if my memory serves me correctly.

I actually found the calores = points scale:

20 = 1150
21 = 1200
22 = 1250
23 = 1300
24 = 1350
25 = 1400
26 = 1450
27 = 1500
28 = 1550
29 = 1600
30 = 1650
31 = 1700
32 = 1750
33 = 1800
34 = 1850
35 = 1900

in general terms (it can be a bit more or less depending on the fat and fiber intake) however these do not include the 200-250 a day that W/W built into the program for free veggies? As you can see for an even low active person 18 points a day (1050 + 200/250 = 1250-1300) is just very, very minimum. If you look at Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) many of us need to be much higher than that. My next part will be how to determine how much you burn. If you don't factor in activity that will be your BMR needed to just lay, breathe and have your heart pump your blood.

How may calories do you burn in a day?

It's important to know your metabolic rate so you can balance enger in (the food you eat) with the energy out (how active you are). Because of different activity levels, each person's metabolic rate is different. Follow these steps to calculate the the amount of caloires you burn in a day. Remmeber, if you eat more than the calculated amount of calories, those extra calories eventually get stored as fat.

1. Convert your weight from pounds to kilograms by dividing by 2.2 (2.2 pounds = 1 kilogram). So, a 130-pound woman would weight 59 kilograms.

2. Women: Multiply the results of Step 1 by .9 (59 x .9 = 53). Men: Skip this stpe and go directly to Step 3.

3. Multiply the results of STep 2 (or Step 1 if you are a man) by 24. This gives you the minimal number of calories you need to survive, or your RMR (resting metabolic rate) (53 x 24 - 1272 calories).

4. To calculate the extra calories you need in order to perform your normal activites, you must calcualte a certain percentage of the RMR. Then add it to the RMR for that day's calorie needs. For example, a relatively sedentary day--say, a lazy Sunday spent watching TV or laying around--would require only a 20 percent increase in caloire expenditure (1272 x .20 = 254 extra calories). So, 254 added to 1272 equales 1526 calories.

Activity levels vary depending on how vigorous an activity it is and how long you're active. Here is a general rule of thumb based on nutritionists recommendations for energy.

Sedentary (sitting, standing, watching TV) = 20-30 percent
Light activity (housecleaning, golfing, garage work) = 50-60 percent
Moderate activity (skiing, bicycling, dancing) = 60-70 percent
Heavy activity (football,s occer, basketball, jogging) = 90-100 percent.

Additionally, low calorie diets (under 1200 for women and 1400 for men) are not the way to go because you don't get enough folic acid, magnesium and zinc along with putting your body in a perpetual state of starvation.

Sorry I have studied this in numerous classes and will tell you that most Primary Care Physicians (PCP) have not clue as to nutritional needs. They are not required to take many courses if any (I work in a hospital and the residents said they had 2 nutritional classes that were required early in med school). Don't rely on a PCP for nutritional guidelines...get a referal to a nutritionist and/or Registered Dietician (RD).

From Page 16 of the Weight Watchers Getting Started Week 1 Booklet (verbatim):

"Keep in mind...Stick to your daily POINTS Target to keep your metabolism going, to carry out bsic bodily functions, and to lose weight at a safe and healthy rate. Eating below your daily POINTS Target on occasion is OK, but you should not go below a daily POINTS Target of 20."

And if you follow a Points Pie (I'll post in a minute) you find that if you are truly eating balanced there is not reason you should ever fall below 20. W/W revamped their program when a study about BMR revealed that 18/19 points a day was way too low to keep a person's metabolism from slowing down. You say you can get under 23 point a day (I'll post a story called Tale of 2 W/W Friends in a minute also) is because you have slowed your metabolism down by 'starving' (for lack of a better term) by eating such low points in an effort to lose.

Points Pies

Balanced (under 250 pounds)

Complex Carbs/Grain Based Foods – 8-9 points a day
Protein-rich Foods – 6-7 points a day
Fruits and Veggies – 0-3 points a day
Fats, added sugars – 2-3 points a day
Milk and Milk Products – 4-6 points a day

20-28 points a day

Higher Protein (under 250 pounds)

Complex Carbs/Grain Based Foods – 5-6 points a day
Protein-rich Foods – 9-11 points a day
Fruits and Veggies – 0-1 points a day
Fats, added sugars – 2-4 points a day
Milk and Milk Products – 4-6 points a day

20-28 points a day

Higher Carb (under 250 pounds)

Complex Carbs/Grain Based Foods – 9-10 points a day
Protein-rich Foods – 5-7 points a day
Fruits and Veggies – 1-3 points a day
Fats, added sugars – 1-2 points a day
Milk and Milk Products – 4-6 points a day

20-28 points a day

-----

Balanced (over 250 pounds)

Complex Carbs/Grain Based Foods – 11 points a day
Protein-rich Foods – 10 points a day
Fruits and Veggies – 3-4 points a day
Fats, added sugars – 2-3 points a day
Milk and Milk Products – 4-6 points a day

30-34 points a day

Higher Protein (over 250 pounds)

Complex Carbs/Grain Based Foods – 8 points a day
Protein-rich Foods – 12 points a day
Fruits and Veggies – 2-3 points a day
Fats, added sugars – 4-5 points a day
Milk and Milk Products – 4-6 points a day

30-34 points a day

Higher Carb (over 250 pounds)

Complex Carbs/Grain Based Foods – 13 points a day
Protein-rich Foods – 8 points a day
Fruits and Veggies – 2-4 points a day
Fats, added sugars – 3 points a day
Milk and Milk Products – 4-6 points a day

30-34 points a day

A Tale of 2 W/W Friends (to show why eating less isn't always the best):

I have 2 close friends who started W/W back many years ago and followed 2 different views to the program.

My first friend ate only 18 point a day (keep in mind they started back with ranges with 1-2-3 Success) and only 18 points a day. She one thought it would be easier for her to follow a smaller number (even though she should have started in the 26-33 point range) and thought she couldn't eat anything above her MINIMUM a day in points. She made goal and when she tried to start adding points she could only eat a maximum of 20 points a day to maintain. Anything above that (including APs) seemed to make her gain. She eventually had to use a doctor, nutritionist, registered dietican and much help from her leader to deal with the gains while she started to add points back in. It has been over a year and she is now up to about (as of today 2/13/05) 28 points a day after many months of only 26 points a day.

My second friend ate 1 range higher than she was told to (for example when she was supposed to be 26-33 points she ate 28-35 points), she always ate all her points and any APs she earned. When she hit maintenance her MINIMUM points a day became between 35-40 plus all the 35 FPs/WPAs we have. She also at first thought she couldn't eat above her minimum for the day because she had a minor gain, maintain and then a small loss but after that she started losing.

The second friend had to adjust her metabolism and did it while she was losing and the first friend has to do the adjusting now and it is harder for both her body and her psyche.

Don't be afraid to adjust your body with your losses using your WPAs/FPs and APs by giving it a minimum of 2-3 weeks....a month is better.

Also make sure you are following the 8 Great Health Guidelines (including and especially the healthy fat requirement):

For onlines here is how to get to them:

You may visit the Web site and read 8 Great Health Guidelines. After you log in, it can be found in the Select a Resource dropdown menu located in the Shortcuts toolbar on the left hand side of the page. Click on Weight Loss Topics of the Week in the My Plan section of the dropdown menu. On the next page you will see the View Topics Archive link in the box on the upper right side of the page. Click the link to be brought to the topics archive. 8 Great Health Guidelines is the first first link on the archive list.

For e-tools and meeting people it is page 34 in your Week 1 booklet.

but there could be a few reasons why..but it would be great if u could give us maybe an idea of your daily menu ?!..

i'll try to help u out and try and find out what's causing you to gain even though you seem to be doing fine

u hang in there !

((hugs))

I'm on 20 points too, and I have no trouble getting them all in. In fact, I run out at the end of the day. If you post a day or two's menus, we will be more able to see what you are talking about.

breakfast
weight control oatmeal
special k bar or light n fit yogure

lunch
35 calorie bread
with fat free bologna and turkey
light n fit yogurt
green beans
pear
WW small one point cake slive

snack
oat bran bar (2 points)

dinner
lean cuisine dinner
broccoli

snack
WW ice cream cone

oh yea ill occasionally eat a few teddy grahms or suger free jelly beans

I agree with Thinfor5Minutes. I've been at 20 points since day 1 of the program. I have no trouble getting in my 20 points and I usually end up adding in a few flex points.

I'm always busy at work and I eat very little points during the day. But since I'm bored in the evenings, I use my remaining points to snack.

Perhaps you could eat foods with slightly higher point values?

This is why weight watcher's didn't work for me exactly...there's too much rounding up or rounding down to get an idea of a point value.

Just an idea, you may be opposed to it, but try counting calories as well as points for a week. If you use a program like fitday you can see how many calories you burned in a day vs. how many you consumed which is the only way to lose weight. Are you incorporating exercise into your plan? This is probably a big issue. Also, it sounds like you may have actually increased your calories if you are eating way more than you used to so that could be the reason for the gain, or you may be calculating them incorrectly.

If you want to keep counting points instead of calories rather than using the book's point values figure them out yourself, the formula is calories divided by 50 then fat divided by 12 added together then you subtract fibre divided by 5 up to 4 grams (so the most you can subtract is .8 of a point) I hope I haven't confused you here. Oh and you're not gaining weight because you're not eating enough calories, yes it may slow your metabolism a bit but you can't gain weight from a lack of calories that is a scientific impossibility unless you are retaining water.