Okay, I have tried to do WW for almost a year. Never really doing well. I promised myself that I would start counting calories. I have begun today. I worked out, I had a good breakfast and lunch. I just had 150 calories worth of cookies. I'm kicking myself. I suppose I have the all or nothing notion.

My point?? I guess I would like to hear what everyone else's experience has been. Granted, I know the more healthy selections I make, the better but can I lose if I do have some treats? As long as I stay in my calorie limits? Which by the way is 1400-1600.

Any advice would be appreciated.

It's the total calories that count. If you eat treats in moderation, you will still lose weight if you reduce your total calorie/fat intake.

It is actually good to allow yourself to eat small portions of your favorite desserts once in a while. If you cut them out completely from your diet, you will feel deprived and are more likely to lose control one day and eat the whole cake by yourself :-) Remember, with the treats the keyword is "small portions" and "moderation".

Hi! I saw your post and after lurking for several months, decided to register so I can respond.

I've had great success with something called the 90/10 Plan. It is presented in a book by Joy Bauer, who is a nutritionist. The plan is basically a calorie counting plan, but there are meals that you follow so you don't have to do the counting. After being on it for awhile you get the feel for it and don't have to follow it so closely, just have an awareness of portion sizes and calories.

The best part is that no matter which plan you follow (either 1600, 1400, or 1200 calories) you are allowed to have a "Fun Food" each day. My favorite fun food is a Hershey Bar. There is a 250 calorie limit on the fun food each day, but the rest of the day is planned so that the treat is not cheating. It has really helped to keep me on track. I've lost 13 lbs in the last 6 weeks.

If you're interested, you can ask me some questions. Maybe we can even get a 90/10 Plan thread started!

Good luck.

Amy

Amy-
The only problem with me is that I never, ever stick with a plan that tells me what to eat. Many times, the thought of having someone map it out seems welcome. I like the concept though. Have you found it easy to stick to?

I have truly come to the conclusion that dieting doesn't work for me. Sometimes, I feel like saying that is a cop out. But it is so true. I am trying to just listen to my body and make healthy choices when I'm hungry. I'm hoping that I can make some progress with that. I suppose in some way its similiar to the 90/10 plan.

If you have the time post a few menu suggestions. I'd love to see how my 'diet' compares.


Thanks
Cheryl

Hi Cheryl,

I totally understand how you feel about following a planned out diet plan, but I really have found this easy to stick to. There are two weeks of meals, plus some additional meals that you can add in for variety. The thing is that I don't like about half of the meals, but every breakfast, lunch, and dinner has the same amount of calories so they're all pretty interchangeable. I have mostly the same breakfasts and lunches every day. I live alone so I usually cook one of the dinners and have leftovers throughout the week.

Here is what I'm eating today. This is typical of the 1600 calorie plan but I'm probably closer to the 1400 calorie plan because I tend to cut things, like cheese on sandwiches:

Breakfast: Cup of cheerios, skim milk, coffee with skim milk and equal.

Snack: Banana (should be a half banana with breakfast and half with the snack later, but I just have a whole one as its own small snack).

Lunch: Turkey and cheese sandwich (low calorie wheat bread; I don't eat the cheese); Large pickle; Orange.

Snack: 100 calorie fat-free pudding cup.

Dinner: Hmmm.... I can have about 550 calories for dinner on the 1600 calorie plan. I have had things like turkey burgers on English muffins with green beans. There is also a spinach lasagna recipe from the book. I cut the lasagna into 12 sections and froze them separately. I have a piece with a salad and light dressing.

Fun Food: Hershey Bar! Or, a bottle and a half of light beer or a couple glasses of wine...There are hundreds listed.

The breakdown if I followed the plan correctly would be 250 calories for breakfast, 400 calories for lunch, 150 calories for a snack, 550 calories for dinner, and 250 caloried for the fun food. The 1400 calorie plan (I believe) cuts 100 calories each from lunch and dinner. But at this point, I have mostly learned portion control and generally know how to cut back the calories, which is the best thing that came of using this plan.

Good luck!
Amy

I started about six months ago with what I call my "grazing" diet. It has worked very well for me. I've lost 32 pounds so far and I'm never hungy I divided my day into six units, and I eat no more than 200 calories at any one time. That totals 1200 calories a day. You can obviously bump it up if you wanted to. I mostly buy prepackaged things like fruits, raisins, frozen meals, crackers, or whatever you like. That way, the calorie count is already on it. Obviously, I eat fruits and vegetables, too, but I know the calories in them and include it. This pretty much allows you to eat what you want, as long as you control the calories. I know this wouldn't work for some people because there are a lot of people who like to sit down to a "meal", but for some people's lifestyles, this would work really well. I plan to keep on it, along with exercising, until I reach my goal. Once I get to goal (13 more pounds, thank you very much!) I'll assess whether I want to just keep up the exercise and eat in moderation, or try for another 10 pounds. I'm at the age where I feel I have to be realistic and not expect to weigh 110 lbs.!