Activity points- to use or not to use?
 

I have been in WW for 5 weeks now and in the first few weeks lost 1-2 pounds each week. Since then, I have really kicked up my activity. I now do cardio 45 minutes 6 days a week plus 20-30 minutes of resistance training.
I earn about 55-75 activity points a week, but I feel guilty using them. My daily points allowance is 28.

Problem is, I stopped losing weight :\
Should I be eating more?

A typical day in my food life looks like:

Breakfast-
Feta scrambled eggs w/ veggies 5 pts
-or- Oatmeal with banana 4 pts

Lunch-
Chicken breast without skin/bone 5 pts
+ side of vegetables, usually prepared with olive oil 1 pts

Snacks-
1 cup Kefir sweetened with fruit 3 pts
+ assorted fruit or berries 0 pts
Skinny sugar free latte 2 pts

Post workout- Banana 0 pts

Dinner- Usually end up at 10-12 pts with a combo of 1 serving of protein, 1 serving of starch like rice or potato, 2 servings of vegetable and sometimes a dairy serving.

Any advice would be welcome :)

I find APs to be kinda touchy.

Without the ActiveLink it's hard to actually calculate them correctly. Unfortunately, people tend to WAY over estimate the APs they are actually earning. WW makes an assumption that you are actually meeting a "baseline" of activity on a daily basis.

Honestly, 55-75 APs is most likely way over estimated. I'm in training and do 20+ mile bike rides, 6 mile runs, 1 mile long swims, etc. through out the week and work out for over an hour on a daily basis and earn around 50 APs a week and weigh more than you, but I also have an ActiveLink that calculates my points. I usually don't reach my baseline til about 30 minutes into my workout, as well.

Before I had an Activeline and I went by the WW guidelines I was earning 16APs for doing a one hour spin class, now with my ActiveLink I earn about 6-8APs for an hour long spin class.

I say all of this, not to sell you on the ActiveLink (though I love mine) but if you were to eat back some of your APs I would not eat 55-75.

I eat back either my APs or my weeklies, but rarely both. I also eat them back by adding extra protein to my meals - not on cr*p (for the most part.)

I don't think I am overestimating. I aim for 80% max heart rate in my workouts and reach that intensity pretty quickly since I warm up with resistance training and power walking. At this point I sustain my target HR for 35-40 minutes, regardless how long it takes to get there, then cool down. I don't know much about the active link though, what does it count?

This is what I discussed with my leader this morning. I use barely any extra points, last week I used 3 AP and none of the weeklies. I think adding more protein is a good idea, but not exactly sure how much to add. Even using up the 49 weekly points seems like way too much to me, so I would not even try to eat back all of my AP whether they are perfectly accurate or not.

Yeah, I didn't think I was overestimating either and then I got the ActiveLink and went "WHOA." It tracks all of your movement, your intensity, speed, etc. Most people don't think they're overestimating, but in reality, we are. Like I said, even if I bike 20miles at 18-20mph on a real bike (not a seated, recumbent, stationary, spin, etc.) I also track my heart rate, but I will only earn about 6-7 APs and even less if it's not on a real bike. I'm just saying from my personal experience, 55-75 seems really high.


The best way is trial and error, in my opinion. Personally, looking at your sample menu - I'd gain weight on that because of the high sugar fruit. A lot of WW/weight loss in general is trial and error.

I agree with everything SoMuchFattitude said especially the last part about WW and weight loss in general is trial and error.

Ok, this is unhelpful. I am quite certain about what activity I am performing and at what level, and I do have personal guidance, but thank you.

This helps, I think next week's batch of kefir will have cucumber and dill instead of fruit, and I'll try swapping out a fruit serving for a veg. The banana has got to stay though :)

I think it is best to leave the Activity points alone but make sure you eat your weekly points. I plan a day or 2 a week where I plan to eat my wps and then stick to my dps the rest of the week. If I spread out my wps over the week I do not lose as much/any weight.

I know people sometimes would rather eat their aps and leave their wps, becuase they feel they have earned them. But by eating your wps, you take the guess work out of your AP calculations. I take the high AP numbers as a award in itself.

This has really worked for me! I earn between 30-50 APs a week and eat all my WPs in 1-2 planned days and I continue to lose 1.5-2lbs a week.

You do have to play with it a bit but it is worth a try.

Another vote for the trial and error part.

The only thing I was going to add is that it looks like you are eating more servings of fruit than of veggies and that sometimes can be an issue. I know it is for me. Thanks to the tracking I learned that too much fruit is a trigger for me (I want to eat other sweet stuff) and it slows my weight loss.

Try cutting back on the fruit, say no more than 2 servings a day and add at least that amount in veggies and see what happens over the next couple of weeks.

Are you eating your weekly points? They are there to be used, so use them. And check in with yourself a couple of weeks down the road.

You could also plug your food and your exercise calories into a calorie counter to get a feel for what you are doing in terms of calories and see if that gives you any insight.

In my past diet lives, I remember that once I got the hang of the food, I would start to exercise. This ALWAYS stalled my weight loss. EVERY TIME.

One theory is that you are switching out muscle for fat - have you taken your measurements? You might be leaner.

I think also once you get more active, you might have to increase your water intake, even if you are already drinking a lot of water. Maybe that will help?

The last theory is that you eat more because you are more active, but it doesn't sound like that's the case.

Sorry, I can't remember what I did with prior diets (actually, this is probably about the time that I gave up LOL)

If you are truly earning 55-75 AP a week, only eating your DP and not touching your WP, I have no idea how you can even function. So if you're not completely exhausted and dragging, then something is being figured incorrectly (either AP, DP or both).

Thanks! This is a good idea. I probably won't mess with the settings on my app but I will be sure to keep any additional points I use under 49. I really hope to not add anywhere near that, maybe an extra egg or small bit of meat or beans a day is all I think I would need.

I think I'll try reducing the fruit for a week or so before I increase points, and give a little more thought to protein and veggies and how I use them :)

Yes, I am a reformed Atkins dieter so I had to know that the promise of fruit was too good to be true lol

I will try cutting it down for a bit and see if that helps.

No, I haven't been using more than a few extra points here and there over my daily 28. My group leader gave me the impression that they were more for a special dinner out or occasion, rather than every day/week use. I'll read up on what the official stance is on it though.

That's also a great idea. I can plug them into the food counter on my fit bit app and see what it looks like. Thanks!

I keep meaning to take my measurements but I haven't. I think that will at least help me feel better since I can actually feel less bulge in my sides and butt. I'll take some time to do that.

I started exercising about 4 weeks before starting WW, but right about that time I decided it was time to kick it into full gear, so there might be a connection of some sort. I think I drink tons of water but I'll keep an eye on that too.