Those who are counting points...
 

Would you mind sharing with me how many points you are allowed per day (don't include flex/activity) and how many of those you spend on breakfast?

I am allowed 24 daily points and generally try to do 4 for breakfast, 6-8 for lunch, 10-12 on dinner, and about 2 on fresh fruit/veggie snacks. If I go on the low side for my meals, I splurge on a special treat.

I'm just wondering if I'm spending too little at breakfast, like if I should go 6 at breakfast and 6 at lunch. I get pretty hungry in the hour, sometimes two hours, before lunch but just wait it out. It works okay for me because I don't binge/overeat at lunch, but I'd just like to not feel that way.

I'm allowed to have 27 points and I ususally stay close to 6 at breakfast. My favorite breakfast is a toasted sandwhich thin with 1 Tbsp of low fat jiff pb and yoplait light yogurt. I mix up the yogurt flavors so I'm not eating the same thing everyday. That really keeps me full for a couple hours. Lunch varies as does dinner. Lunch is usually around 6 points or so and then what's leftover I use for dinner and a snack later. Oh and I try and have at least one snack in the middle of my day so I'm not over eating at dinner. My favorite snack right now is an apple. There are days I'll eat 2 apples.

i get 38 points and i use 5 on breakfast (i'm more of a night time eater) i have 1 whole egg and 1 egg white omelet style with 1/8 cup low fat shredded cheese in between a high fiber english muffin which is 4 points and 1 point for the creamer in my coffee

I get 20 points a day and usually use 5 on breakfast. Right now my favorite breakfast is a WW smoothie blended with a banana and a whole wheat english muffin with a tbsp. of Better Than Peanut Butter. I do 4-5 pts for lunch, 7-8 for dinner, and 2-3 for dessert.

Argh! I wish I liked yogurt! My 4 point breakfast is a protein shake made with soy milk after I workout. On days I don't workout, sometimes I will still have a protein shake and sometimes I will do a boiled egg and fruit thing.

I use 3 for breakfast, usually a Fibre One bar or a Quaker Oats Fibre bar.

I have 30 points, I spend 4-8 on breakfast. The lower end is dry cereal, the higher end is egg and cheese on an enlgish muffin or small bagel.

I have 31 points and use 7 for breakfast. I'm still working this out. My usual breakfast is a yogurt smoothie that's 5 points (ready made, but with all good ingredients). I usually add a Fiber One bar (2 points) midmorning. Sometimes that lasts until lunch, but sometimes it doesn't.

It's taken me about four years to make breakfast a habit. I was a breakfast skipper for most of my life. I want to experiment to see what foods are the most filling. I've found in the past that having eggs in the morning is the only thing that really works for me, but I don't like cooking in the morning (to me, frying an egg is "cooking."). I've tried a variety of cereals, and most last two hours at most. I want to try oatmeal in the winter.

Thanks for all the ideas!

I am SO picky about breakfast! I don't like to cook for breakfast, either, Bloomer. Cereal is okay except I don't like milk. I don't like oatmeal (unless it comes in a cookie smothered in icing.) I don't like yogurt. I don't like anything hot (i.e. the cooking thing.) Protein shakes are working for me now, but in the winter they are vicious because I get SO cold. (I have even tried to boil a cup of water to sip on to warm up! HA!)

I have 32 points a day and for breakfast I usually eat as little as possible. I usually start out with a Fiber One bar, but I don't eat it in the morning until I absolutely have to, and then usually a couple hours later I am hungry again but a lot of times I can still make it to lunch...it's hard but I like getting to the end of the day and having a lot of points left to have a big dinner. Sometimes I actually have to eat twice at night! :)

@Bloomer: I consider anything that involves more than a paper plate and a microwave to be cooking, plus I can only eat eggs hard-boiled, deviled, or scrambled with more cheese than egg (I really don't like eggs much at all). What I will do sometimes is boil and peel a lot of them at once and just keep them in a baggy in the fridge so I can just grab one. It wouldn't be a hot breakfast but it would be a satisfying one.

EDIT: I am a recovering breakfast skipper as well. I find that if I don't eat breakfast I can last until lunch, but if I do eat breakfast I get hungry at 9:00 or 10:00 am. I hate this feeling and I would much rather just skip but I know only bad little pandas skip breakfast...

I usually use 5 for breakfast, i.e. bran cereal (2pts), fat free milk 1 cup (2pts), 1tbsp sliced almonds (1pts) or 1 egg (2pts), 1 bread (1pt) boca sausage links (2pts).

31 daily points for me

I don't consciously think about dividing mine up by meals that often. I generally eat as many as I need to feel satisfied. But I guess if I was going to do that I'd probably dedicate 6-7 per meal and a couple points toward snacks. Give or take.

This morning I ate 9 pts:
can of peaches - 4
2 whole grain english muffins - 2
2 tps butter - 2
1 tsp sugar + cinnamon - 1

The trick I've found to staying full is to eat A LOT of low point foods. Like before I ate a real meal last night, I ate a whole raw zucchini for 0. I try to fill with low point foods first, and then satisfy those cravings in the end with higher point foods. By the time I finish my small portions of yummy foods, I'm usually full. I kinda trick my body haha.

I like that. That's kinda how I do my snacks at work, too. I will start if I'm hungry between meals getting something 0-1 points like applesauce or a fruit cup. And after 20 minutes if I'm still hungry I will move up and actually eat a sandwich or a fiber bar...something slightly higher in points but also higher in substance.

This is advice from my leader and for those of us who have incorporated it, it works well. Your points should be allocated roughly as follows:

Divide your daily points by 2. I have 18 so that's 9.

Use 1/2 for breakfast and lunch. I use 3 for breakfast, 1 for a WW yogurt for a snack, and 5 for lunch.

Use the other half for dinner and afternoon snacks. I use 8 points for dinner and 3 of my WAPs, giving me 4 for snacks.

It is not good to eat sparingly in the morning and at lunch so you have a ton of points for night. Your blood sugar levels need to be kep level. Eating too little during the day can lead to binging at night.

The other thing she told us that I find works amazingly well is to have protein for every meal and snack. I might have an apple and 1 T. of peanut butter, or a pear and a Laughing Cow Light cheese wedge, veggies and hummus for a snack. Protein is what keeps you feeling satisfied. Carbs, expecially the simple carbs simply do not fill you up for long.

Ooh I like the idea of eating protein at every meal and snack. Don't forget about that fat free cottage cheese, too. It's great protein and you can mix just about anything you like into it! :) I gotta go get some pears and I need to find those laughing cow cheese snacks too. Aw man I'm getting hungry!

I get 26 daily points.

I tend to eat 4-5 points for breakfast. Here are a couple examples of the things I eat most frequently:

- high-fiber multigrain english muffin with 1 1/2 TBSP peanut butter (my favorite is Naturally More) and a banana = 5 points

- 1/2 cup Uncle Sam cereal topped with 1/2 cup of 0% Fage greek yogurt and 1 cup of blueberries = 4 points

- high-fiber multi-grain english muffin with 1 Morningstar Farms 'sausage' patty, 1 slice ff cheese and cooked egg white = 5 points

I like my breakfasts to have a combination of fiber, protein, fat and carbs. I find that helps me stay full longer and I don't need to snack between breakfast and lunch. I used to never eat breakfast but now I can't imagine starting my day without it!

Yeah, it's really the only way I can think of to actually feel physically full. That or drink a lot of liquid. I try to approach my meals with the idea that "i'm eating to live" first and foremost, not just to enjoy them. So nutrition first, taste later haha. Your plan to wait a bit after snacks and meals has helped me too. Sometimes I'll think I'm still hungry, and wait and then I'm good. Or I'll think I'm hungry, drink some water, and feel better because it was really thirst. I'm working on trying to listen to my body and not just eat for comfort (which is a big problem for me haha).

I have 21 points a day. I usually use 2-4 for breakfast, maybe 1-2 for a snack, then 5 for lunch, 1-2 for a snack, then the rest for dinner and dessert.

I get 34 points and I usually only spend 3-4 on breakfast. I eat 5-6 times a day.

My key to low point breakfast is egg beaters. You get 1/2 cup of egg beaters (equal to 2 eggs) for 1 point. I add mushrooms (but could also add other zero point veggies) for bulk. I use 14g shredded cheese for 1 pt (to make an omlete) and have 2 pieces of toast sprayed with a few squirts of butter spray (1 pt).

This can last me several hours.

Hmmm...this question and the responses really make me think. I realized that I don't really eat meals. Lately I eat ALL DAY. Like...once every hour or two. I do most of my eating in the morning, and there are parts in the day that I eat something larger...but for instance today I didn't eat lunch at all. I ate before my lunch hour, and after, but not during the part of my day set aside for lunch. I have been eating bananas, nectarines, raw carrots, yogurt, cereal, tuna lunch kits, soup, quinoa, lean pockets, and cereal. Last night I didn't eat "dinner" but was hungry before bed and had a bowl of fiber cereal. This seems to be working for me, as I eat when I am hungry, and dont actually plan meals. This works for me as a person without children, and a school teacher who allows her students to snack. I never get really hungry, because I eat all day. Also, I eat what I feel like (but I only stock things low in points values). I feel pretty fortunate to have this much freedom, I know that in the past I have always planned the three main meals with snacks, but for me, snakcing all day on small point things with one or two larger things (5 pts or so) thrown in really helps.

my day starts at 5:30 am (and I usually am rushing to get out of the house) so what's been working for me is that while I'm getting ready for work I have a vita top which is 1 point - just so I have something in my tummy before I get to work - my office keeps all kinds of crackers out in the lunch room and I'm a cracker addict - so if I have something in my tummy when I get to work I'm not tempted to scarf down the crackers... anyways then usually by 8 I am ready for something else to eat so this week I made a big batch of scrambled eggs with all sorts of veggies tossed in. I leave this in the fridge at work and bring a high fibre wrap and some shredded cheese with me and have a breakfast wrap when I get hungry.

1 point for the wrap (and they are quite big - la tortialla high fibre wraps - yummy) 4 pt for the eggs/veggies and 1 point for the cheese...

so my wrap and vita top run me about 6 points for my morning meal and I get 24 points a day... I find that the egg protein really keeps me full until lunch....and I don't need a snack... that way I each lunch, have a snack before I head home to pick up the kids - otherwise I am starving while I'm trying to make dinner and I snack while cooking... agh...

I've also been trying to have protein in all my meals/snacks and I find it makes a big difference in my hunger level.

I currently have 36 points per day. I tend to switch up my breakfasts, and sometimes will use 7 points or so, and sometimes I use less.

However, my favorite breakfast lately is 3 points. It is: a bagel thin (1pt), 1/2tbs light butter (1pt), 1tbs strawberry cream cheese (1pt), and 1 boiled egg white (0pt).

Like someone else mentioned, egg beaters are also a great low-point breakfast food. And if you like breakfast meats, the Jimmy Dean ready-cooked turkey sausage (red box, usually found by lunch meats) is 3 points for 2 good size patties. And 2 strips of lower fat bacon (if it's gwaltney, it's found in the green package) equal 1 point. you could put either on a bagel thin with a scrambled egg white or egg beaters and have a 2-4pt breakfast (add another point or 2, depending on brand, if you like to add cheese)

I do drink coffee in the morning, but I count the (fat free) creamer in my coffee as part of my "anytime" foods vs. part of breakfast, because I drink coffee about 30mins to 1hr after I eat breakfast.

I do about 3 in the am, bagel with wwcream cheese and then bring a boiled egg for snack in the morning 2 with an egg. Load up on veg throughout the day and at lunch will spend about 5. I am a night eater and therefore try to leave as reasonalble enough for at night. HOWEVER, for me it is about changing my habits and therefore am trying to walk/run at night as opposed to eating.

I get 25 points and use anywhere from 4 to 7 for breakfast. Usually fruit (1), egg + egg white (3) with zero pt veg and laughing cow cheese (1) as an omelet. Sometimes a starch if I'm really hungry. I don't find I need a morning snack with this combo. I think the protein is the key to staying satisfied longer.

I'm allowed 35 Points at the moment, but I spend the least of them on breakfast. I use most of my Points on lunch because I get the afternoon munchies if I don't eat a decent lunch.