[BigSky]

My starting points allowance is 59. Needless to say I am a man and very overweight. I'm almost through my first day. Absolutely hunger free. But then 59 points is a lotta food! I'm actually rounding it off to 55 just to make it simple. I'm probably eating more food, and consuming a bit more calories - than I was when I was struggling with my 1500 calorie plan. But that's ok.
I am weighing everything and using a marker to write points on canned goods, dry goods, frozen entrees, etc. Naturally I understand my allowance drops as my weight does. But if my points get lower than I think I want, I'll just add activity points to them.
I was wondering what anyone's starting points allowance was, and what is it now. Do you feel deprived, or do your points satisfy you for the day?

[TripSwitch]

I just started WW a few weeks ago because my Mom asked me to join with her for some moral support.... I get 26 pts a day... and I blow through those pretty quickly... Lol... Not hard to do at ALL... I've been using all of my weekly's and a lot of AP's too... Although I don't dip into those until I've earned at least 4 every day... so that means I have to have more than 28 for the week before I can even think about touching those... I run a lot... about 40 miles a week.... So I definitely get hungry... But the good news is that it forces me to eat more fruits and veggies, since those are zero pts... But actually, the best part about it is that it's given me a real reality check on just how much I'm going to have to cut calories to get to my goal...

[straightahead]

I am a short girl so I started with 31 points and am down to 27 It is plenty of points as long as I dip into my weekly allowance when I am hungry and I choose filling, low point foods (some of my satisfying staples are green giant veggies with cheese sauce, bananas, string cheese, 1/2 serving of peanut butter, and greek yogurt). I also try to fill half my plate with vegetables. I find that I am most satisfied when I eat more like 31 points a day, so I often use my weekly allowance for that. I think the biggest thing is keeping in mind thing like a burger in a restaurant can be 24 points....remembering a foot long sub is double the points of a 6 inch sub (which would mean you eat much fewer points than a footlong if you pair the 6-inch with a salad)....etc.....if you choose smartly, your allowance should be enough

As an aside, in the past, I never put thought into how height and gender feed into how much food you can eat (I just checked and, if I were a guy at my current weight and height, I would get 37 points...kind of a big difference!)...I kind of gauged normal eating as how much people around me were eating..if they were eating it and were not fat, I thought it was reasonable for me to eat too...I think lack of thinking is one contributor to me becoming overweight.

[BigSky]

thanks for answering! My weight goal is 180. That would bring my points allowance to 31, a big difference from my starting points of 59. That means I will need to earn LOTS of activity points every day to keep me from feeling deprived. Thats ok.
I'm kind of wary of the weekly point thing for now. Reading the threads, it seems lots of people stall or even gain when they use those points.

[straightahead]

I think it varies person to person with weekly points...I am not sure why people don't lose on weekly points (differences in metabolism? Not tracking accurately?) because this well-researched program has found that people should still lose when they eat them. I actually feel like I lose more when I dip into activity points and vary my usage day to day. I feel like starting with eating many of my weekly points and then decreasing my usage if I start to not lose makes the most sense for me. I earn about 35 activity points a week and I don't use those though, so I that might offset any problems using my weekly points would cause.

[BigSky]

@Straightahead
Oh I just realized you can "bank" activity points? I thought you had to use them the same day you earn them. I guess I was wrong on that. But I see that any "banked" AP do expire in seven days. Am I right on this?

[TripSwitch]

Originally Posted by BigSky

thanks for answering! My weight goal is 180. That would bring my points allowance to 31, a big difference from my starting points of 59. That means I will need to earn LOTS of activity points every day to keep me from feeling deprived. Thats ok.
I'm kind of wary of the weekly point thing for now. Reading the threads, it seems lots of people stall or even gain when they use those points.

I've been counting calories as well as pts. and for me depending on what I'm eating 1 pt averages out to between 35 and 50 calories... So needless to say its been a big adjustment so far... I did actually, manage to lose about a half a pound even with eating all my pts , my weekly's, and AP's... But now at least I have more realistic idea of how many calories I'll be able to eat to lose the rest of this weight...

[MrsD2008]

Originally Posted by BigSky

@Straightahead
Oh I just realized you can "bank" activity points? I thought you had to use them the same day you earn them. I guess I was wrong on that. But I see that any "banked" AP do expire in seven days. Am I right on this?

You can collect your AP through the week, but they don't roll over into your next week.

IE: I weigh in on Tuesday mornings and this is my first day in my week. When I was doing WW before I was earning about 24-30AP a week. I would use those before my weeklies, it made more sense to me because I earned those points. So say I earn 4AP on Tuesday, I can use them or save them, let's say I save them. Say I earn 2AP on Wednesday and 4PP on Thursday, I can use or save. On Friday I go out with my husband and I eat dinner and dessert. I have 10AP, plus whatever points I have left in my day and my WP. I can use all of it in one night if I want, as long as I don't go over my points!

And don't use AP you haven't earned yet! That's what gets people in trouble ("Oh, I'll have to work out extra tomorrow because I ate that hot fudge sundae tonight!").

[TripSwitch]

Originally Posted by BigSky

@Straightahead
Oh I just realized you can "bank" activity points? I thought you had to use them the same day you earn them. I guess I was wrong on that. But I see that any "banked" AP do expire in seven days. Am I right on this?

I do WW online and it uses my daily's... Then it dips into my weekly's and they have to be all used up before it starts dipping into my AP's... Which I've have done and still managed to lose a half pound.... So I'm hoping once I start to get the hang of things I'll hopefully lose more... But my dream goal is to get back down to 127lbs which is what I weighed through my late 20's... and I'm 5'9".... But I'm being realistic and shooting for 135lb... And I've decided that 150lb is my absolute "line in the sand" and that I'm going to do whatever I have to to never go above that again...

[MrsD2008]

Originally Posted by TripSwitch

I do WW online and it uses my daily's... Then it dips into my weekly's and they have to be all used up before it starts dipping into my AP's... Which I've have done and still managed to lose a half pound.... So I'm hoping once I start to get the hang of things I'll hopefully lose more... But my dream goal is to get back down to 127lbs which is what I weighed through my late 20's... and I'm 5'9".... But I'm being realistic and shooting for 135lb... And I've decided that 150lb is my absolute "line in the sand" and that I'm going to do whatever I have to to never go above that again...

You can choose to have your on-line account take from your AP or WP first, completely up to you. I had it take my AP first.

[BigSky]

Originally Posted by TripSwitch

I do WW online and it uses my daily's... Then it dips into my weekly's and they have to be all used up before it starts dipping into my AP's... Which I've have done and still managed to lose a half pound.... So I'm hoping once I start to get the hang of things I'll hopefully lose more... But my dream goal is to get back down to 127lbs which is what I weighed through my late 20's... and I'm 5'9".... But I'm being realistic and shooting for 135lb... And I've decided that 150lb is my absolute "line in the sand" and that I'm going to do whatever I have to to never go above that again...

So then the online app forces you to use the weeklies? I don't like that. I want to be encouraged to earn activity points only. I don't think I want to mess with weekly points - at least not at this stage.

never mind. Mrs. D2008 just answered my question. hahaha

[Dixiemom]

Do not worry about feeling too deprived at 31 PPs a day. By that time your body will be use to eating less food and you will be better at making choices that fill you up. So it will get easier.

[TripSwitch]

Originally Posted by MrsD2008

You can choose to have your on-line account take from your AP or WP first, completely up to you. I had it take my AP first.

Thanks... I didn't know that... I haven't really spent to much time exploring the site... Just been using it to track pts... How do you change that in your settings if you don't mind me asking ?

[Lorna F]

Started at 33, but was on the edge of 32, into which I've since switched. What works for me is planning ahead, even planning what EPs I'll use. Somedays are harder than others. Stick with it Bigsky, your body will adjust. Good for you taking this first step!

[MrsD2008]

Originally Posted by TripSwitch

Thanks... I didn't know that... I haven't really spent to much time exploring the site... Just been using it to track pts... How do you change that in your settings if you don't mind me asking ?

I don't have access to eTools since I cancelled my monthly pass. Maybe another on-line user can help. Sorry I can't remember off the top of my head! (It's been a year!)