29 points is NOT enough!
 

Hello everyone.

I always read about people who have a hard time eating all of their daily points. I have the exact opposite problem, I eat my 29 DP plus my 5 servings of free vegetables and every single one of my WP and AP and I am still starving ALL the time!!

Sooo what happens is this:

I finish all of my DP and I'm still starving so I eat more food anyway and then I feel really guilty and crappy about it . Now I STILL lose about 1 pound a week doing that. So I'm obviously losing weight and eating a lot more that 29 points per day.

I eventually start to go insane with feeling guilty every day and I take a whole week off and eat whatever I want. Needless to say, I gained a pound that week.

To compensate for the guilt of gaining that one pound, I decide to stay exactly on point the next week, and I do. At that weigh in i lost FIVE pounds.

OK so my question is, if I'm losing a pound per week by eating MORE than my daily allowance, and when I follow the plan perfectly, I lose 5 pounds in one week, shouldn't I be eating more than 29 points per day?? I don't know, I'm so confused right now. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

This has been my concern with PP too----I don't think 30 points for me is enough food, and when I went back to counting calories, I realized I was eating at least 300 - 500 too few calories (even when considering a deficit to lose 2 lbs a week!). But if you are losing weight with eating all your APs and WPs, I wouldn't feel guilty! You may have a higher metabolic rate, you may have more muscle mass than the average person, both reasons you might need more calories! I would suggest counting calories for a week, check out some websites to determine how many calories you should eat per week to lose 1-2 lbs (there are tons of them---I use loseit.com right now, I also used self.com in the past, and both gave me similar calorie ranges). Then count calories AND points and see where you are at! Maybe you are someone who can just eat more points each day:) Lucky!

First and foremost, I'd suggest you lose the guilt. It's counterproductive, so counterproductive that you had to take a week vacation from it, and then felt the need to "compensate" for the vacation with more guilt and "penance."

It can make you think that guilt is your motivation, that you require the guilt as motivation. That's B.S. Guilt is a poor motivator, because one you start experiencing decent success, it's hard to maintain the guilt. Even if you experience no success, guilt is exhausting, and when you're tired of the guilt you tend not to just give the guilt up, you also give the succesful behaviors up as well.

Weight Watchers is a business, and there's nothing wrong with that, but you have to understand what kind of business it is.

To use the analogy of retail clothing market. Weight Watcher's is not a couture designer, they're strictly off-the-rack, which means there are several "sizes" available, but if you want a custom-fit, that's up to you. Weight Watchers generally doesn't provide it for you.

That's not necessarily a weakness. If WW were a more custom-fit plan, it would also be more expensive. The advantages to off-the-rack is generally the price.

You have essentially two options. You can accept the slightly uncomfortable fit and hope to get used to it, or you can customize your plan to your needs.

Don't feel that guilt has to accompany or motivate any of your choices, and realize that there is no "right" choice, there may not even be a perfectly "right-for-you" choice.

From experience, I would suggest that you consider looking at what you're eating (not just the point value). Points/calories may not be your problem. I've found for myself that I'm more satisfied on 1200 calories of low-carb than on 3000 calories of high carb eating, especially when the carbs come from processed foods.

Maybe you do need more food, and if you choose to deviate from the official WW plan, and add a few points, or add a few more fruits and vegetables,

Only you can determine whether or not you should add more food. Only you get to decide how hungry you're willing to feel, and how slowly you're willing to lose in order to eat a little more. Only you get to decide how much "tweaking" of the WW plan is appropriate.

I haven't been a WW member since the program change, but my understanding of the plan is that it is more flexible than previous incarnations. And even in past programs, the official plan was always considered a starting point. Customization of the plan was never forbidden.

If you tweak too far from the WW plan, to the point that you can't share your plan in meetings, you may want to consider TOPS (taking off pounds sensibly) because the group allows you to follow any food plan of your choosing.

If you're just tweaking minorly (adding in a couple servings of fruits and vegetables, or giving yourself a couple extra points), then that isn't so much of an issue. You don't have to advertise the fact that you've slightly modified the plan.

Also talk to your leader. You may find that she has suggestions for modifying your plan (either to work within the existing guidelines or to push the guidelines a bit). My mother was on a WW sanctioned modification. Because her knees were so bad, she could barely walk. She also was diabetic and hypothyroid. She gained weight on her point alottment. First her leader suggested that she not use her flex points. She stopped gaining, but wasn't losing. So then her leader suggested, dropping her points. Mom started losing, but was frustrated with the fact that she didn't get any flex points, like everyone else did. So her leader suggested that she drop her daily points even further, and add flex points. This meant though that if you looked at Mom's food plan, you would assume she weighed 100 lbs less than she did.

She didn't break any of WW rules. Nor did she make any modifications on her own (My mom is pretty rigid when it comes to rule-following. It would never dawn on her to make modifications on her own). Modification is built into the WW plans, even if it's not written in any of the booklets. Most people will lose weight on the "off-the-rack" version, but the leaders will help you custom-fit your plan, if you ask them to.

What types of foods are you eating. NOt all points are as satiating as others. HOw much protein do you eat? You will often find it more satiating than carbs for example. I can eat 25 points some days and be entirely satisfied and eat 35 on another and be hungry and it is usually because of what I ate.

Can you post a sample menu?

Currently, I get 31 pts daily pts and I tend to eat between 31-37 depending on the day. When I first started WW, I had the same problem. I was ALWAYS hungry and I didn't understand why. But, eventually I learned that I have a much more balanced appetite when I focus on protein in the mornings. Now, I make sure that I either eat greek yogurt with fruit, scrambled eggs with salsa, or an egg sandwich every morning. Any of those keeps me satisfied until lunch and I find myself snack much less often.

tl/dr: From personal experience, I recommend examining what you are eating and when. You might find that eating certain foods will satisfy you more than eating other foods. Learn your hunger patterns and modify the plan to fit around them.

Plan out your daily menus and points each day, fill in with snacks. If you stick to the plan and eat every 3 hours your body will adjust. Overeating is what got us to the point of needing to diet so your body needs to get used to something new. When I am hungry I eat grapes, WW string cheese (1 point), an apple, drink water, chew gum, put on teeth whitening strips, etc...so that the time passes.

5'7" and 135#
WW Lifetime

Thanks everyone, I definitely need to re evaluate what I'm doing.

I don't normally stay within my 29 p+ but the following is a day that I actually did (and went to bed starving):

Morning

Fiber One bar (2p+)

Lunch

Smart Ones (6p+)
2 cups green beans
Melba Snacks (3p+)

Dinner

Grilled Tilapia (4p+)
2/3 cup mixed vegetables (1p+)
1/2 cup Steamfresh rice (2p+)
salad with olive oil and vinegar (2p+)

Snacks

1 apple
WW yogurt (2p+)
cereal consisting of:

• 1 cup Puffed Wheat (2p+)
• 1 cup Special K Original (3p+)
• 1/4 cup Fiber One Original (1p+)
• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (1p+)

I know I don't eat very much for breakfast. I've tried that before thinking I wouldn't be as hungry during the day but I was still just as hungry during the day and then I would just end up eating things that I didn't have points for.

You're spending 7 PP a day on 2.25 cups of cereal with milk. For that, you could have an entire meal of something with protein and fat that would keep you satisfied longer. Your "snack" is almost as many points as your lunch, but without the macronutrients that will make you feel full. I'd cut out that cereal mix and replace it with whole foods with fat and calories. Eat some cheese, or fruit with peanut butter, or hummus and veggies, or greek yogurt, or a can of tuna. Something with some protein and fat will keep you more satisfied for much longer.

In defense of my cereal lol, I know that its up there in points (but it's actually a lot more volume for the same point value as a typical bowl of cereal). I have always eaten cereal in the evening and although I don't eat that EVERY night, it's just one of those things I wasn't willing to give up for good!

I LOVE peanut butter, but I must say that I'm not crazy about the volume to points ratio. Would you just use a small amount on toast or something like that?

I have never tried hummus so I might just do that. Do you recommend any specific kind? I have seen several different varieties/flavors.

I used to eat Fiber One Bars in the morning and they did nothing to curve my hunger. I liked that they were sweet and crunchy, but I would be reaching for a snack an hour later!

Just to give you an example of my normal eating, here is my log from yesterday:

Mini-Breakfast @ 6:30am:
Mocha 'Power' Smoothie - 2pp (Chocolate GreenFoods Powder, Cold unsweetened coffee, 1 c Light Chocolate soymilk, small squirt of Hershey's sugar free syrup, ice).

Real Breakfast @ 9AM:
Egg Beaters Omelet - 4pp (1/2 cup egg beaters, 2 slices of bacon crumbled, fresh veggies)

Lunch @ 1pm:
Chicken and Blackbean Tamale Casserole - 8pp (Leftovers from dinner. Recipe from Danicasdaily.com. SO GOOD!)

Afternoon Snack @4pm:
2 Squares dark chocolate - 4PP

Dinner @ 7:30pm:
Panera Bread - 15pp (This was an impromptu dinner out and I didn't calculate beforehand... bad me! 1/2 Fiji Apple Chicken Salad, Cup of Chicken Noodle Soup, Side Whole Wheat baguette)

Evening Dessert @ 9PM:
Choclate Vitatop with sliced strawberries and dollap of lite cool whip - 4PP

Total: 37PP. This is a high day for me, normally I try to stay around 31-35.

Honestly, it wasn't my best day, but I definitely wasn't hungry all day. The omelet in the morning and the casserole at lunch kept me satisfied all day!

You need more protene...that's the major issue here, I think. I know that when I was on plan...if I didn't eat enough protene...I was STARVING all the time.

Ditch the smart ones...they're loaded with sodium and not very satisfying.


You could have had a chicken breast and salad for those 6pts.


Instead of the fiber one bar...try a hardboiled egg and some fruit.


Those bars tend to not fill you up all the well.