Taking the Week "off"- (results)
 

Hey everyone!
I've been doing WW since 12/31/07--and have had tremendous success so far! The only downside was HORRIBLE constipation... I'm only assuming that the cause of this was more fiber in my system than I was used to, and not enough water to help flush it out...

So I took this week "off"--in the sense that I am tracking what I'm eating, but not necessarily what points it equals out to be... (nor do I really care this week..) But the weirdest thing: my system is completely back to normal! (hm..)
(see the blog as to why I took the week off... I promise, it's reasonable--but far too long to put into my post!)

It almost seems that I inherently do the right things for my body when I'm not counting points (except for the fact that I do eat quite a few more sweets...or was that Valentine's Day talking?) I guess I just do it in excess, and that's why I gained weight.

I tried the Wendie Plan last week, thinking that the shifts in points would help with constipation-- and I plateaued, and was still constipated...
I'm pretty sure I'm out of Weekly Points this week-- and I'll try to "do right" for the next two days so that any gain that may have happened won't be completely out of control! :p

Any ideas?

I think I'm psyching myself into thinking I need to eat "Weight Watcher-y" instead of normal food, just less (if I eat certain things). hm. Again :P Any ideas?

~Kat

How's your fat intake when you're "on plan"? If you're drinking enough water to help with the increased fiber and still constipated, and then you eat "normal" for a week and constipation goes away, perhaps the difference is in the amount of fat you're ingesting. A certain level of healthy fat will help keep things moving; a lot of dieters take out as much fat as they can from their diet because it's "expensive" points-wise (less bang for your calorie buck), they end up with dry skin, brittle nails, and constipation. So take a look back at your healthy fat intake and make sure you're getting at least 2 servings per day.... That'd be my suggestion..

But congrats on your progress so far, 10lbs lost is awesome!!!

Hm... that's a good thought. I know that I ate basically the same as I did before the first week, just less, and then I wanted to "eat more" so I ate tons of little "nonfat" stuff....
I'll try fixing things this next week when I get back on plan-- maybe sticking with the "real is better" system will work better for me!
Thanks for the advice!
~Kat

I think you're on the right track with not enough water helping with the constipation, I'm not sure if too much fiber would do that, though. I would think it would be another prob.

If you kept track but just didn't figure pts. I think I would take a sample of one or two of those days and figure out the pts. Maybe you're not being as bad as you think, or maybe you do need to eat a "wee" bit more.

I try to eat as much "regular" food as possible, processed foods have lots of preservatives, salt, etc. Suite has good advice, too, with the healthy fats. We need fat (just like water) for our bodies to work properly. Many people think "no-fat" is WW, but it's really not. We just need to control the fats we're taking in.

Did you compare the things you were eating that were different in your off week to your on weeks? I would say your key is definitely in there. I wonder, too, if stress is a factor, by stress I mean are you worrying too much about every little bite when you're "on"? That could also factor in on the constipation.

Best of luck :sunny:

are you getting in your 8 gh's every day? it doesnt sound like you are. i am on core and thats moe fiber than flex&i also have ibsc and i no longer have constipation probs.

i had issues with constipation too

Hi All :)
Yes, this week I am back on plan--and I'm going to try the same route when I started (and I lost massive amounts of weight each week..). I'll keep track of my fats, waters, and fruits/veggies... I wish they made the old-style books again! It's so cumbersome to carry around that square thing... It doesn't fit into my purse! (so I made my own journal that would fit!)

I was wondering if the stress was affecting anything... But my stresses are never about tracking--if I don't do well today, I'll do well tomorrow :) That mentality has served me well so far!

andreaphilip3--gh's?

And I looked over my points intake when I'm not "onplan" and it's not necessarily that I was "overeating" per-se, it was more that I was eating TONS of salty foods... And I stopped drinking water.. weird.

Alright-- things are slowly getting back to normal in every-day life, so here's hoping for no more craziness before St. Patrick's Day!
~Kat