Share What Works for You on P+ (and doesn't)
 

So, we've all been at it a few weeks so and seen some good weeks and bad. I thought that sharing what's been working could help newer folks or those who are having trouble.

1. Set Up Your Environment for Success. This is huge for me. My kitchen does not contain one thing I can over eat on. Trust me, I've searched. I've peered in the cabinets for something yummy to shove in my mouth when I'm hungry. I've opened my freezer hoping to find a wayward piece of Halloween candy. No luck. But there on my table is a bowl of fruit. And my fridge is stocked with what I need to make a great dinner. There's no way I can fail.

2. Keep fruits and veggies on hand. Wash them when you get home, take off those tiny labels and have them accessible so they are easy to eat!

3. Eat enough protein. For me this means having protein (meat or tofu) at lunch. I missed this a couple of days in a row because I was eating a veggie casserole I made, and I ended up using a boatload of points one night on pizza since I was so hungry from lack of protein. Lesson learned.

4. Plan your day. Plan at least 2 meals a day, so you aren't caught with 2 points left at dinner. Or 15.

5. Track Honestly. Both the tracking (the foods, not just the points) and the honesty are key. A week of fuzzy tracking lead to a gain.

6. If Something's Going to Change, Something's Got To Change. I had to change my behaviors to lose weight. Sometimes it's annoying. I cut back on my rice servings. Cut out wine (I still have beer, because it's easier to limit portions with a bottle of beer.) I have to keep track of my food. I have to not eat all the bread and butter I want.

7. It works if you work it. I just keep following the plan. Not trying to game the system. Not complaining or making excuses. Just following the plan one day at a time.

What are your tips for success? And lessons learned?

The fruit bowl...set up on top of my counter and always filled with fruit! In site, in mind...I say! lol

I just don't buy things that man made.Man didn't make a potatoe.Man didn't make spinach. Man didn't make chicken. I try to eat those things and less of the things man made.

But.. as i ate my dinner tonight. I thought, how can each women, no matter her age, we are all eating 29 points. How on earth can this work?

those that have more to lose, no wonder they lose because they are not eating as much. Those that are almost to where it should be, I feel it's keeping us here cause it's still, a lot of food, be it good food or not.

I would think the number should go down so that we eat the calories that we need to lose weight.

I'm not happy with it. sorry, probably wrong place to vent.

I'm losing on my 29 points (more like 35 with my weeklies) so I don't question it! It works for me!

It's working for me, too. I haven't weighed myself in the last 10 days, but I can feel it. Like I'm sharper, more focused.

I think the harsh penalties I get for the carby foods I love are very helpful.

Watch how much sodium is in your diet especially the day before weigh in.

Don't me too stressed out about your weight over a single day, a single week, even a couple of weeks.

Don't overestimate activity points -- be conservative. Be careful about counting activity that isn't really hard physical exercise or truly added activity.

But the most important thing --

Look at how much you lose over, say, a month. If you aren't losing at least a pound to a pound and a half a week -- and you want to lose that much -- then something isn't working. If you are eating all your weekly points and all your activity points then you either aren't counting them right or that is too much food for your body to lose on. The vast majority of the time if you aren't losing at least a pound a week, the issue is eating too much food for your given level of activity -- even if you are eating points within the program. I know this from my personal experience. I was in a rut of losing .2 to .5 pounds a week. I was within my points. But the bottom line was that it was too much food for me.

I don't even count activity points. I did 30 day shred and it shouldn't matter what I do for activity. I know someone who kept saying I didn't even exercise so I don't bother because I don't know how to say it's 2 or 1 and I don't want to eat any more then I already do.

No not a lot of sodium as I'm not working so I cook all my meals

Things that have worked for me (in rereading this, I realize this list might not help others, but is really helpful for me to read)...

1. Little to no processed foods, although I am not a stickler for organic/grain fed/etc.

2. LOTS of water. I used to be a diet soda freak (I love Fresca and Diet Coke), but I have cut it to one-none per day. I do still drink coffee though.

3. A large breakfast, small lunch, lots of snacks, and reasonable dinner.

4. For any treats or things that come in bulk, I automatically divide them into their portion sizes immediately when they come home from the grocery store. If I don't do this, I tend to eat from the package and obviously that hasn't worked for me in the past.

5. Avoiding excessive sodium if I can. I do like Asian cuisine though, so I do eat soy sauce, just much less than before.

6. Microwavable edamame. It isn't free (2pts per serving) BUT it is full of protein and keeps me full for a very long time.

7. Less carbs. In terms of bread-pasta-desserts type carbs (sugar/flour), I try to only have 1-2 items per day.

8. That said, I usually use one of those aforementioned carbs on a lite bagel with cream cheese (5pts total). I am sure many of us have heard the adage "no one got fat eating carrots" (re: how many veggies is too much), but I most certainly got fat eating bagels (love, love, love them). This plan wouldn't work for me if I felt like I was depriving myself, so I let myself have a bagel (that tastes reasonably delicious) everyday or so.

9. Although I excessively weigh myself (bad habit), I have started tracking my daily weight on my tracker so I can look back and see my trend over time.

1. Don't deny myself any food. There are no good or bad foods. Eat what I want when I want it in order to avoid eating too much to try to satisfy or override a craving. If I want chocolate, eat it. Otherwise I could eat 6 other things and still want chocolate.

2. Eat when hungry, stop when starting to feel satisfied. Don't eat because it's "time" or "not time" to eat.

3. Listen more to my body's signals, and not what my head thinks it wants or needs.

4. Accept that sometimes I do eat for comfort, boredom, celebration, etc. And sometimes that is fine and still fits into a healthy lifestyle.

5. What is measured is managed. I weigh daily and it helps me. I don't sweat small fluctuations, they are normal.

1) If I'm hungry, I EAT. This is a huge difference from the last time I did WW - I feel like the P+ system's power foods really are filling, as opposed to the previous "filling foods."

2) I'm focusing more on overall nutrition and not just lower calorie options. I'm okay with something having a higher fat content if it also has a higher protein content.

3) I'm eating to function. I'm training for various events, and I've found that gearing my diet more towards my work outs (more carbs, more protein) really helps my performance.

4) Peanut butter and chocolate milk are my friends. Yes, they're higher in fat, but also high in protein and they work as awesome recovery food after work outs that actually fill me up so I don't over eat. I work out in the morning, so I have chocolate milk on my way to work before breakfast and it really does the trick.

5) Track everything. I try not to use my Weekly Points b/c I use my AP's, but because the point system has changed so much its really easy to under estimate how many points I'm eating.

6)Its totally okay to have one splurge meal a week. When I was CC, it was hard to estimate how much I could go over and not kill my efforts. Its easier on the points system for me to see how much I'm splurging.

i just think it's that they set up ww for a broad general population, based on general assumptions about them. but not everybody fits those problems or solutions. bodies are too different. yes there really is (at least one or more) fat gene, and other things affecting metabolism. i think they set the ww guidelines on the conservative end because if you can follow it, most people can lose. but it isn't going to work for everybody. for my own body, i've learned a few things. i need some intense exercise and consistently to jolt my body into losing weight. i generally don't do low calorie diets very well but i've managed to stay in points for about two weeks. i know i lost at least some water weight in the 4 pounds but i'm hoping i'll still lose by eating so much less than i'm used to.

Everyone isn't on 29 points a day. I'm on 39pts a day, at 230lbs, 22yrs old, 5'9". From what I understand, 29 is the new "low" number, but it does go up based on weight and age.

yes I do understand everyone, I will retract my statement to mean *most* are on 29. The heavier people get more:(

But I wonder when the points change, as in at what weight does it go up?

Thinner, what makes you think WW is low calorie?

Hey, girls, get your own thread! ;) This is our "what's working for you" not the "why do we have 29 points" thread.

Another thing that works for me is small changes - today I went to the natural burger place that has baked fries. I got a turkey burger and decided to wait on the fries. I figured I'd have my burger and then if I wanted fries I could get them later.

Well, I ate my burger (10 points) and when I was done I was satisfied. No need for the 8 point fries. :carrot: And since I had given myself the choice to get them if I really wanted them, I didn't feel deprived at all!

so we can't bring up points here?

you just want to say oh this is great. I ate salad and bean cassarole and it's working great? It does say share what does and what DOESN'T.

doesn't that mean that 29 points might not work for everyone?

Two other things I just thought of...

1. I do not eat in my car. Not particularly points-plus specific but really has been helpful.

2. I update my weight loss ticker in my signature every week... not sure why, but I get so much satisfaction from reporting a loss.

Tracking without guestimating. Because I've been on weight watchers numerous times (which says nothing bad about the program...just about me), I have a hard time not just fudging it.

That almost never results in a loss though.

Whereas exact tracking ALWAYS results in a loss for me. It might be -.02 lbs...but it will be a loss.

I meant that the thread is about what actions and behaviors of ours are working, or not working. Not the design of the plan itself. There are other threads on that. :D

Having multiple choices of 0 point foods and/or 1 point foods to snack on, and learning what a 1 or 2 point portion of some of the foods I really like is what is working for me.

Also, taking a bag of salad and several pieces of fruit to work. Plus a cinnamon shaker. When others are eating muffins or cookies, I am having a sliced pear or apple with cinnamon--yum.

At my current weight I have a 34 point per day allowance. I weigh much more than duckyfeet above, but get less points, due to age and activity level, I believe. Yesterday I ate all of my points, plus 2 weekly points, with 9 servings of 0 point foods, as well. Just to know, I entered into spark people to see what my calories were. Yesterday I ate 1421 calories. And I was stuffed, and afraid I had binged, as I had 3 of those 0 point foods, and the 2 point dairy serving after dinner, and felt so full. (2 bananas, 1 pear- not all at once, but throughout the evening)

So for me, the fact that the 0 point option leads me away from junk is a huge factor to sticking to plan. If I had eliminated the two point dairy serving, I would have eaten 1345 calories. I am not going to double track points and calories all the time, but was interested. For some reason the points steer me in a better direction than straight calorie counting- away from my addiction foods of starches and commercial baked goods.

WW is generally considered to be a low calorie diet. While they try to use points to encourage eating of certain types of food, they base their program on trying to aim for a 1.5 to 2 pound weight loss a week based upon cutting calories. If you look at their formula (which is in their patent application) while at the basis of it is calorie restriction. That is, the program is based upon eating fewer calories that are being burned up through our metabolism.

WW is not generally considered low fat, low carb, low protein, etc. because all of those food styles can be accomodated on WW even now. The new program certainly encourages a somewhat lower carb/higher protein diet than before. Nonetheless, it is also not a mandatory part of the program to choose that and you could also eat a high carb diet with low fat for example.

Koska- you only have 6 pounds to g??? That is a vision for sure.

You said a lot there. I know I can't digest that so I'll say what works for me is|
fruit. Eating it everyday
Vegetables. At every meal or the fruit
Counting the PP with each meal
Waking up knowing I have another day to do it right

I lost around 90 pounds on WW in 2003 on the points system. I restarted WW this past December with an 11 pound gain and excited to learn the new points+ system.

I lost 2+ the first week, 5+ the second and 3 even the third week.

Pretty much everything is working for me. I get 33 points a day and I exercise every day.

PS: Hi from a new member :)

Gotta say that I love the "free" fruit and veg. It makes it far less onerous to track what I'm eating if I have fewer items to look up/keep track of.

Speaking of looking up ... I'm doing the online and I really don't like the "food look-up" feature in the Points Tracker. It seems to be an uphill battle finding the point values of simple plain food -- there are so many variations and boxed meals, brand names, etc cluttering up the results.