Pretty much each post I did on this thread explains the 35 FPs. The ranges gave it to you as a range and you ate between min and max and banked what you didn't...the current more flexible plan gives you all you could bank for the week up front.

Some regions will let anyone walk in and buy the starter kit and others you need to be a paying member. You'd have to call the 800 number (in your phone book or on the W/W home page) and ask. They run about $7-10 each depending on the region or the starter kit from $30-40 again depending on the region.

E-bay is buyer be ware because most of the time it is over priced.

You really should pay for at least 1 meeting to get your questions answered and purchase what books you want need. Personally I feel you should attend at least 3 meetings to get the Activity information too. There are also other cheaper ways to do W/W without actually doing meetings.

1) online --- this is like $15 a month and you get all the info you need online including a recipe builder to help you with your own recipes and an online journal

2) at home -- available only in certain regions but it is like $100 and you get all the items you need that we get at meetings.

I did ww online for a good three months last time I was on WW -- I got all the info I needed from that. I was a paying member at one point. I was going to restart my membership, but then my roommate suggested we just do it ourselves with her old materials (she did meetings). I always hated the ww website, so I'm enjoying this method much more...

I bought the Complete Food Companion & Dining out Guide on Ebay for around $40. I didn't want to spend the money & have to commit to meetings so I did it this way. I started about 3 weeks ago & the first week I lost almost 10 lbs!! I think this site & a few others on the internet are great if you have questions.

I personally feel the getting started Week 1 book is the best because it answers your questions and you only commit to 1 meeting of you go during a free registration period it is just the weekly fee for that week. You could have saved yourself some money to the tune of probably $8-10 by just doing the 1 meeting. Just my opinion....take it or leave it....

[quote-astieber25]I think this site & a few others on the internet are great if you have questions.[/QUOTE] The thing is specifics answered on any site that is a copyright infringement can cause problems if W/W finds out so many of us who are paying W/W members (meetings, online or at home kit) tend to watch how we word and say things.

Can I ask at what level is your heart rate that you decide you are inbetween? I use a heart rate monitor and I am usually able to maintain around 145, and then I do intevals where I push it up to over 160 for a few minutes. I usually do this 3-6 times depending on if I am doing 30 minutes or an hour. I usually just figure I am mod intensity since I don't maintain a high intensity for very long.

For me I would not be able to stick to WW without the flex points. I get a lot of joy from knowing that when I have ice cream with a friend or a piece of pizza that I have been craving that I am not cheating. Sometimes they are nice to use a few at the end of the day when I don't have any points left and I really need a WW dessert, then other times they are great for when I have a hot date and I want to splurge a little. (Butter with Lobster is sooo good.)

Because of what I have read here I have just this week started using my activity points. If you do feel like you are cheating maybe you should use them for some thing like olive oil on veggies, so that way you eat more veggies. That is what I have started doing with my daily activity points. I am now finding it easier to get in my 5 a day.

What you need to do if figure you target heart rate. Here is an article that may help you:

YOUR TARGET HEART RATE
You should know your Maximum Heart Rate and your correct training zone to know if you are training at the right pace. Here are a few ways to figure your target heart rate.

You can easily find your Target Heart Rate (thr) with this simple method. Subtract your age from 220 (226 for women) to calculate your Maximum Heart Rate (mhr). Find your training zone below and multiply that number times your maximum rate.

Another, more accurate method is the Karvonen Formula. You must know your resting heart rate to use this method and insert your training zone from below.

Of course the most accurate method is a treadmill stress test administered by a professional. If you are over the age of 35, overweight, have been sedentary for several years, or have a history of heart disease in your family, clinical testing is recommended.



MEASURING YOUR HEART RATE

Wearing a heart rate monitor is an easy, accurate method of checking your heart rate... but you don't have a monitor. Here is another easy way.

The easiest place to feel your own heart beat is the carotid artery. Place your index finger on the side of your neck between the middle of your collar bone and your jaw line. (You may also use the radial artery on the under side of your wrist.) You can count the beats for a full 60 seconds or count for 6 seconds and add a zero at the end. If you felt your heart beat 14 times in 6 seconds the number would be 140 for a full 60 seconds. Counting for only six seconds is a convenient method, of course it is more accurate to count for the full 60 seconds. You can use several varieties of this method (30 seconds x 2, 15 seconds x 4, etc.). The longer you count the more accurate your reading. Whatever you choose, be consistent in your method.



TRAINING ZONES

Healthy Heart Zone (Warm up) --- 50 - 60% of maximum heart rate: The easiest zone and probably the best zone for people just starting a fitness program. It can also be used as a warm up for more serious walkers. This zone has been shown to help decrease body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol. It also decreases the risk of degenerative diseases and has a low risk of injury. 85% of calories burned in this zone are fats!

Fitness Zone (Fat Burning) --- 60 - 70% of maximum heart rate: This zone provides the same benefits as the healthy heart zone, but is more intense and burns more total calories. The percent of fat calories is still 85%.

Aerobic Zone (Endurance Training) --- 70 - 80% of maximum heart rate: The aerobic zone will improve your cardiovascular and respiratory system AND increase the size and strength of your heart. This is the preferred zone if you are training for an endurance event. More calories are burned with 50% from fat.

Anaerobic Zone (Performance Training) --- 80 - 90% of maximum heart rate: Benefits of this zone include an improved VO2 maximum (the highest amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise) and thus an improved cardiorespiratory system, and a higher lactate tolerance ability which means your endurance will improve and you'll be able to fight fatigue better. This is a high intensity zone burning more calories, 15 % from fat.

Red Line (Maximum Effort) --- 90 - 100% of maximum heart rate: Although this zone burns the highest number of calories, it is very intense. Most people can only stay in this zone for short periods. You should only train in this zone if you are in very good shape and have been cleared by a physician to do so.

My trainer told me to keep my heart rate between 117-168. (My heart rate monitor also suggested a similar range.) She used my resting heart rate to determine this range. I guess I need to find out from her what % is 167 of my MHR.

If I use the above equation then I would have a MHR of 192, so 70% of that would be around 134. I think for now I will just stick with calculating my points for moderate intensity. Lately I have been striving for more cardio time vs. trying to keep my heart rate supper high. I am pretty happy to have an average HR of 145-150 during an hour of cardio. Reading over the training zones it seems like that is probably what is best for me right now.

Thanks for the information Kelly S.

I try to use some of the flex points but not all of them. I try to keep in a range of using about 15-20 per week. Of course there are weeks when I use all of them - that is what they are for!

honestly, i try as hard as i can not to use all of my flex points. but knowing that they are there should i encounter a tricky situation is a godsend. and sometimes, at the end of the week, i use them on a glass of wine or margarita.

I just started this flex plan but I intend to use the extra 35 points because inevitably there will be days that I will need to go over..days where I am stressed about school or something like that so the extra points should help for then.

Again I'll stress they are NOT JUST for tricky or special occasions but can be used daily and the majority of people (some will have an adjustment period) lose more consistently when they do use them.

I am not trying to force anyone but just want everyone to understand that they are not EXTRA or SPECIAL points but part of the program....an optional part.

i know they're not extra or special. i just choose to use mine that way, because that's what works for me.

It hasn't seemed to make any difference so far. The needle on the scale still isn't budging either way.

As I'm nearing the end of my first week on the plan, I'm finding that having the "spare" 35 points as I call them is AWESOME. At the end of the day, I'll be hungry and know I can use a few extra points...a couple days I stayed at my target. Yesterday, I got a surprise visit at work from my hubby and I could go out to lunch with him at the spur of the moment, and still counted my points and knew I had the "spares" to use. I definitely like this better than having point ranges. I know that if I "blow it" one day, I can still count the points and not feel like I truly blew it because I didn't - I had the spares available.

Today is my last day before weigh-in in the morning, and I've got five left, and very well might use them if I want to.

Naomi