Hi,

It's been 15 years since I was in WW. A lot of pounds under the bridge since then. Thinking of going back, since nothing else has worked. I remember that when I was going before, once you reached your goal weight, you no longer had to pay for meetings as long as you stayed in a certain range. Is that still true? What if you are doing the online program? Do the same rules apply? Also, if I'm understanding what I've been reading here, with the core program, you are steered towards healthier foods, with the points program you can basically eat anything? I'm really wanting to improve the way my family eats. Going to go to the library today and get the Realage book to see what information it has, nutrition wise.

Thanks for helping,

Terry

Hi there! A few years ago a group of coworkers did WW at work. I joined then but dropped out half way thru the program b/c there was too much pressure for me at work. It felt like being under a microscope, everyone was constantly watching what we ate and how much we lost.

I kept all the material I had, at that point it was "winning points". I started again 7 weeks ago and I got my husband to do it with me. We don't go to meetings, I just follow the material I had from before. There is a ton of information everywhere so it's easy to follow. I know a girl at work is a lifetime member. I believe you only have to weigh in once a month and I don't think you pay for the meetings at that point.

I've heard about both programs now, "flex points" and "the core". Under the core you don't count points as long as you stay with a list of food they give you. If you eat something not on the list you need to count points for it, I guess there is a 35 point allowance per week for things outside the list. With flex you can eat whatever you want as long as it's within you point range, and you also get the 35 pts extra a week for special treats, but you don't have to use them if you don't want to.

Winning points is the same, except it has no extra points per week, but you can bank points within a week. Say your range of points according to your weight is 24-29 per day. You can eat 24 pts all week and have 35 extra at the end. Or you can eat 29 consistently thru the week. So it comes out to the same.

I love WW b/c it gives me a lot of freedom to chose food. I realize now that this is a lifetime change, no temporary thing anymore. I had to pick something I could live with for the rest of my life, and WW seems to be the best for me. Like counting calories too. I like the point system b/c most vegetables are 0 pts, so I don't have to count EVERYTHING.

Best of luck to you, if you need any help you'll find plenty of information here. Or you can ask me, I'm no expert but I'll be happy to give my 2 cents every time you want...lol.

Thanks friendlykat4u. Went and joined today. Now need to sit down and read the ton of info given to me and try to plan dinner Wish me luck.

good luck!
lfm is 2 lbs above goal weight and then its free.

Terry, I'm sure it'll be info overload at first, but then it becomes easier.

There's a great website: www.calorieking.com they have nutritional info on practically any food out there, and what I like about it is that it gives weight of food as well, which makes it easier to calculate. The information looks just like the nutritional labels on products.

I'm a scale freak by the way! I weight EVERYTHING. I have a small digital scale and I can't live w/o it!

Good luck and let me know if you need help.

Thanks guys. I used to know how to work WW, but it's been so long, I've forgotten much of it. And they didn't have points back then. I do have a scale and use it quite a bit. I've been to calorieking.com awhile back, will have to go check it out again. Are there any products (other than WW) which list WW points? Would make shopping so much easier.

Thanks again for the support.

Terry when you go shopping, just bring your point counter with you. Not many products list WW points unless they're WW products. I know Lean Cuisine frozen meals have WW pts listed, but I haven't seen any other that do. But with you point counter handy you can easily figure out points and go from there.

The more you do it, the better it gets. I've learned that 50 calories w/no fat and no fiber is one point, 100 is 2 pts, 150 3 pts, and so on. But when food has fiber or fat I still have to use the pt counter.

But if you tend to buy the same products regularly you'll already know how many points it has.

Love high fiber stuff! Canned beans are great, they're filling, good for you, have tons of fiber... and they're cheap!

Lean Cuisine. I knew I had seen points on something that wasn't WW. Don't really like LC though, so guess I'll keep using the "slider". And, yes, I do tend to use the same products a lot. Like to stay in my rut .

Hey Terry we have the same 4th of July challenge! 15 lbs by then, I hope I can make it! Oh and my name is Karla by the way.

We had a Cinco de Mayo party at work Friday and I blew my points big time, but I'm back on track today.

There's a food section in this forum that is great for figuring out points. The points are listed at the top of the page, I had a hard time finding it! Here it is:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/food-calorie-counts/

BTW, I just posted an Asian Chicken Coleslaw under the recipe section. I threw it together today at lunch and I couldn't believe how good it was. If you like asian type food you should try it. I found low carb pita bread at my local BJ's today (2 pts for 1 whole one), and I had one of those stuffed with 4 pts of the salad, it was very good and filling too!

Hi, I'm new to weight watchers and I just love it! I do the points and you can get such a variety. Good luck to you!

Hi exquisitern! I keep running into you!

I love WW too, I love the freedom you have with it.

Good luck to you too, I'm sure we'll keep running into each other here!

Hi Karla!
Yes, we do. I'm a bit lonely today. I'm at work, but it is very slow and boring. Which is good, but I've been hanging on this site off and on most of the day. I did get up and walk for 1 hour.
I really love the weight watchers and I find so much support here.
I love to read the messages and the replies.
By the way, my name is Donna. Nice to meet you!

Hi Donna! You work on Sundays? What kind of work do you do?

I'm in the mortgage buisness, I work Mon-Fri. Weekends are usually for house work, laundry, cooking, food shopping. And I go to 3 different stores for food shopping...lol. I go to a regular supermarket, to a wholesale club, and to a health food store. I love to cook so I enjoy the food shopping part a lot. I know some people hate it.

I had a bad day Fri with food, Cinco de Mayo party at work and I blew my points that day. Sunday is my day off. A lot of people say you shouldn't do that and that you have to count your points for everything you eat, even if you're eating way more than you should. But I think that's what's helping me too, to have a day off. It's not like I'm going to devour a gallon of ice cream or eat an entire pizza, or a whole chocolate cake...lol. But I do enjoy my food and I don't worry about counting anything.

I find that I tend to get fuller quicker now so even if I'm having say pizza, I'll only have 3 slices, before I'd have eaten 6 or 7!

For example yesterday I had a reduced fat blueberry muffin & a medium coffee with cream no sugar. Lunch we went to Chili's restaurant and had buffalo chicken tenders, like 6 or them, also 2 breaded chicken strips, then I had half a chicken sandwich and a few french fries. I brought the other half of my sandwich with the fries home and gave it to my mom, she ate it. For dinner I had a turkey wrap and a low fat chocolate milk. I know that I had at least 50 pts if I start counting... But like I said, it was my day off. Plus I'm really good during the week, I stay on the low end of my point range. I don't have flex points b/c I'm doing an older WW program (winning points), but so far it has worked well.

I weigh myself Fri mornings, I'm a little worried right now b/c I blew it Friday and then I had my "free" day yesterday, so the combo of 2 days may not be good, we'll see.

I read the other post and you lost almost 4 lbs last week didn't you? That's awesome!

I'm also trying to work out 5 days a week, I was doing my elliptical machine at home for 20 minutes daily but it broke last week! BUT I just got Turbo Jam DVD's from QVC and I like it so far. Still doing 20 minutes. I'm not really a workout lover but it's something that I need to do if I want this to work. I read about Turbo Jam on a post here and I liked what I read and ended up buying it. It's a set of 2 DVD's with several different work outs. I'm still doing the beginner one where you learn the basic moves.

Whew.... sorry for the long post! I got a little carried away! Hope you have another big week this week! When's your weigh in day?

Hi Karla!
I work as a registered nurse with mentally ******ed adults in the West Tennessee area. Usually I work Mon-Fri but I do part-time work at the Developmental Center where I used to work as the Grounds Nursing Supervisor. Usually it's pretty quiet there on the weekends.
During the week I work as a part of two teams, one team I assist people with movement from an institution to the community and the other team I assess physically comprimised individuals or individuals declining in health and make recommendations based on my finding. I love my work, I have worked with these individuals for many years.
Thanks for the support! I lost 2.8 lbs last week and a total of 10 since I started. I'm doing the points, which I really like, because of the flexibility that you have.
I understand about having a day off, I think that whatever works for you is great. I know that Saturday night I had a few things, that I didn't need either. I had gone to a wedding and they had a really nice buffet. But I have been walking 3 miles for the last 3 days and hope to get 3 in today.
I weigh in on Thursday afternoons, when I go to my meetings. I have been doing really well tracking my points and maybe going over 1-2 a day, but stay below total flex points allowed.
I'm 48 year old single mother and I have a 7 year old daughter, who has been really helpful getting me up and walking. Of course that means she gets to go to the park to ride her bike!
Anyway, I look forward to talking to you further.

Good luck to all on your weight loss journey. May we all support and accept each other in our goals!

I admire people who are in the nursing field, it's not an easy job. It takes a lot of dedication and patience to do that job.

Me, I just push paper and get mad at people...lol. I've been in the finance world for over 12 yrs. I'm 34 married for a little over 3 yrs and no kids. You must have so much fun with your daughter. My best friend also has a daughter and she's 10 yrs old, she's always saying her daughter is her best buddy.

I love the point system, oh and I found this posted on another thread:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/kreider/Points.htm

It's a little program where you enter calories, fat, and fiber and it calculates the points for you. I saved the link already, it comes in handy if you don't have your slider with you.

Good luck this week, I'll let you know how I do!