I was undecided on whether or not it was important to eat all of one's daily points. However, on Tuesday, it started with being under 2 points. I figured, hey, i was satisfied, and it's only two points.
But the next morning, i woke up, weighed myself and saw a small loss and secretly, i felt proud of myself. Last night rolled around, and I was under by 10 points. My stomach hurt, slightly, and i felt a little weak and decided to wait until the next day to eat.
I've been down this road before. I'm on a plan, and it's working, and I start starving myself to make it work faster. In a way, i go out of control in the other direction, until i break and binge and forget everything.
Also, every time i greatly restrict myself, i lose slower and slower, less and less, which leads me to feel hopeless and give up.
If i am going to be a weight watcher, i need to follow the plan the way it is designed, no more, and no LESS. It was designed that way for a reason, and I should stick with it.
This morning, i woke up and tracked everything i had packed for lunch and what small breakfast i had had--- for today, i only had planned to eat 7 points.
On the way to work, i stopped by mcdonald's and made myself order something and ate most of it-- one hash brown, and half a mcgriddle-- not the most healthy thing, but I am proud of myself for letting myself eat.
Thus, for today, I am at 19 points so far, and will have 10 points left for when i go home after work and eat.
I hope I let myself eat the last 10 points.
Thus, i think people need to be careful what they say, because maybe they have the self control to only be under by a couple points, but there are people like me listening.
I think that it's important to know yourself and how you personally need to eat through the day. When I was first on my calorie counting plan, I would have an average of 100 or so calories left at the end of the day out of 1800. I was full and satisfied through the day so it wasn't a big deal to me. Some days in the past month though, I've almost been trying to 'beat the system' as you described by going under my calories by 300 or more points.
I had to remind myself that I allowed 1800 calories for consistency, and that is I had some left over at the end of the day that was fine. But I need to have it NOT be my objective to undercut myself on calories, I should stay within the plan and eat until I am at an adequate fullness instead of starving for an hour or two before bed to save 200 calories. I think the same could be true for you too - let yourself eat those points if your body is saying it needs some fuel. I don't think that having 1 or 2 points at the end of a day where you're full and happy is a crime, though.
I know that when I don't reach my full points...it's not because I'm undercutting the system...it's not because I'm trying to lose weight more quickly...it's because I'm already satisfied...and I don't want to eat just to eat...That's why I got here.
BUT...there's a difference between having 4 points left over in a day out of 44 and cutting yourself down on purpose. that's what people have been talking about...not eating them all because they really are satisfied...not for the point of starvation.
OP, it seems like you might have other eating disorder tendencies---so I think the difference between people who just don't eat all their points because they are truly not hungry is quite different than trying to gain a sense of control by eating less and less. That is a sign of anorexic tendencies....I'm not saying you are anorexic, but it is definitely an eating disorder tendency to withhold food to gain a sense of power. Good luck to you, and what is most important is that you know what works (and what doesn't) for you.
I can relate. I have noticed similar patterns in myself in the past. The thing is, I feel like it's completely sustainable if I do it the way it's recommended. Limiting myself and being hungry at any point is what will backfire on me every single time. But it's a definite struggle for me to get on board with losing slowly, even though I know it's for the best. So yes... I totally agree.
my leader at WW said that they recommend that you eat all your daily points and your weekly points. They said by doing this you have a better chance of keeping the weight off because you are teaching yourself how to eat and have a healthy lifestyle.
Location: Near the OK/TX line- I travel between two different homes.
Posts: 25
S/C/G: 270/see ticker/135
Height: 5'1"
I learned a valuable lesson this week. While being a few points under everyday is okay for me, if I am under points more than that I end up going over points later in the week and not with necessarily healthy choices.
I also learned that if I more than 5 points or so I feel really terrible; I feel shakey and nauseated. I know for me that those are signs that my blood sugar is fluctuating a lot. I didn't intentionally go under by as many points as I did, I just didn't take the time to plan most of my points for the day and ended up missing a lot of them. I am taking what I learned this last week and I am making sure that I use most of my points. I am also making sure that I achieve all of the healthy guidelines everyday. I do have problems getting all the healthy oils- I am not sure if I am not good at counting or if I am just good recognizing them.
I just wanted share my recent experience. Good luck with you journey to a healthy life- the more the learn the better will do to be healthy for life.
der at WW said that they recommend that you eat all your daily points and your weekly points.
Well, there written materials recommend that you eat your daily points although they do say it is a target. They say that Weekly Points you can eat or not eat. I'm not going to eat them just to eat them. Since the new program came out I eat way less weekly points. Some weeks zero, most weeks less than 5 of them. On the other hand, this week I've eaten 18 of them. I've met my daily points on most days (and way exceeded on a few since I did eat weekly points). But there have been a couple of days where I was a few points under (i.e. 2 to 4 points under, not more). I find that for me if I eat when I'm hungry and don't just mindlessly eat and don't eat out more than a couple of times a week that I find it easy to stick with the program and am not hungry even when I don't eat weekly points (the large weekly points this week was eating out more than usual and in one case choosing to eat what I wanted without taking much care on points.
This morning, i woke up and tracked everything i had packed for lunch and what small breakfast i had had--- for today, i only had planned to eat 7 points.
...
Thus, i think people need to be careful what they say, because maybe they have the self control to only be under by a couple points, but there are people like me listening.
I hope this doesn't come across as too harsh, but what you are doing is nothing like the WW plan. Allowing youself 7 points is no different from doing calorie counting and allowing yourself 500 calories, etc. Your last comment concerns me, that people like you are listening when other people try to stay within a couple of points from the daily total. We/they are just trying to follow the plan as it's intended.
Have you been diagnosed with an eating disorder? If so, WW asks you to not follow their program, as it's not set up to meet the needs of individuals that need a different approach. If you don't think you have an eating disorder, just try to keep remembering what you said here:
Quote:
If i am going to be a weight watcher, i need to follow the plan the way it is designed, no more, and no LESS. It was designed that way for a reason, and I should stick with it.
Your body needs fuel. Don't be hard on yourself for eating the full allowance. You need a certain amount of calories to get in all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, sugars etc that your body needs to keep chugging along.
Last edited by Jennifer 3FC; 02-19-2011 at 10:07 AM.
i disagree with not having to eat all your dp's
