Does what you eat matter
 

as long as you count the points????

this has been aburning question considering my addiction to egg mcmuffins....
a egg mcmuffin and a hash brown is ten points and I find myself stopping twice a week on my way to work..... but to be honest I don't eat for the rest of the day until I get home (am a Professor and teach a full course load on two days so just don'th ave time or stop and grab some fruit)

so does WHAT you eat matter as much as the points???

S

First, I'm not on WW... but it matters because of nutrition. If you eat the same foods everyday, your not getting the nutrition you need.

I am not concerned about that as we generally have very healthy foods the otehr days and a wide variety of various foods .... so nutrition doesnt concern me as much as how to count the points.... and whether or not I am thinking about this accurately

For the most part, when I was on WW, I understood it to be as long as you stayed within your point range you were good.

Your not concerned about nutrition? :?: Points are more important than nutrition? :o WW is confusing...
I dont understand your explanation. But you dont need to explain it anyways, I'm not on WW and you'd prolly be wasting your time :lol: I was just popping in! Sorry! :dizzy:

First, Points & Calories are similar in that as long as you stay within your range, you're "OK". You can eat whatever as long as you count the points.

That being said, it does not mean that you will get all the nutrition you need by eating a whole chocolate cake. Also, a 2 point snack pack is not the same as a 2 point apple in your body. So, we might have to be prepared to change what we eat if we start stalling while within our points range.

WW does promote the "whatever you want" part, and it's great for when we want to go out to eat or have a slice of pizza etc, but it's not quite the whole story, because if we follow the Good Health Guidelines we won't be eating as much of the "filler/not as healthy" stuff. (Of course, there's still room for it, just not as much.)

ETA: From what you're describing, having a 10 point breakfast twice a week is not going to make or break you. Yes, just count the points for them.

I ment to say you dont need to explain it to me because everyone else here is prolly on WW and knows what your talking about. Sorry if that sounded rude!

Faerie said it best but I will say that I have been on WW Flex points a couple different times in the past. I think that having a favorite food whether it is healthy or not once in awhile doesn't hurt. Some people who do have other underlying issues, whether emotional or physical, like diabetes, heart disease or eating disorders, don't have that option. If you can and it doesn't make or break your overall progress, so what. I do think a lot of us are people pleasers to begin with. We want to do this right. If you hang around here long enough, there are about as many ways to do this as there are stars in the sky. (well maybe not that many but at least half a dozen)

One of the healthiest changes I have made in the past year is to quit looking to others for validation of what I was eating or not eating among other choices I have been making. It is very freeing to not worry about what other's think or don't think. On the other side of that is that sometimes you are going to do something that others' won't approve of. Well, you can't please all of the people all of the time.

Enjoy your breakfast from McD's twice a week but then I hope you didn't really need me to tell you that, did you?;)

thanks guys

I dont worry about nutrition because except for this twice a week excursion to McD's I am generally eating good foods with nutritional value and not living exclusively on egg mcmuffins

but I wanted to make sure that I wasn't totally thinking about this incorrectly

thanks for your insight.....

I will continue with my twice weekly egg mcmuffins

appreciate it
s

I always wonder about this because when I'm in the cereal aisle, the "healthy" cereals are usually 200 calories a serving (i.e. Raisin Bran, Shredded Wheat, others). The sugary cereals are 110 calories (Lucky Charms, Cap'n Crunch, etc). I never know which to buy!!!

I'm the worst EVER! I don't like any fruit and will eat very few veggies. I'm relying on V8 most days for that part of my diet. (so sad)

I think that if you are enjoying your egg mcmuffins (and staying w/in your point range) then you should eat them until you are ready to give them up!

I know EXACTLY how you feel. I can't give up my coffee and toast with jam until I'm ready! :)

My name is Carrie, and I am also an Egg McMuffin addict....

I've done well with WW even with this addiction. I usually have McDonald's breakfast 1-2 times a week. I'm not having my old standby of a McGriddle and 2 hash browns, I'm having the better option of the Egg McMuffin. I think that 90% of success comes in making choices with food that you can live with. I also have been known to have ice cream for dinner when the mood hits me...

From what I understand, and have learned from the meetings that I attend...WW does NOT promote eating whatever you want, as long as you stay in your Points range.

Are we all going to different meetings? :?::?:

Obviously you have your Points allowance and your weekly 35 Points...but they stressed (and there are even places to check these off in your journal) that you get in your 5 servings of fruit/vegetables each day. They also recommend that you get 2 servings of dairy (or the calcium equivalent) each day as well, and at least 6 glasses of water each day. There are the places to check all of these off in the provided trackers and journals.

That equates to 7 food items a day that are recommended, that are based on health...NOT eating whatever you want.

And yes, it DOES matter what you eat. The great thing about WW is that you CAN have a piece of chocolate, or a fast food hamburger if you want it...but the people who are eating junk all day, not eating their fruits and veggies, and living on merengue cookies because they are only 1 Point, are in my opinion, manipulating the system.

I have been wondering this same thing as I have been having one of those "half can" pepsi almost every day now (100 calories) and I feel so guilty, but as long as I'm within my points, is it okay? I mean, I want to try to cut down WAAAAAY down so that i'm only drinking one or two on the weekend if I want.

But during the week it's sooo delicious to just get home late after working out and have one as a treat.

~CGH~

choirgirl-

It's going to depend on what your diet the rest of the day is like. If you are having a Pepsi every day, but the rest of your diet is fruit, veggies, oatmeal, chicken breast, etc. then you are doing just fine...but on the other hand, if you are eating a WW muffin for breakfast, mini 1 Point merengue cookies for a snack, a small cheeseburger for dinner, AND the Pepsi, then it isn't.

A treat should be a treat...and they should not compose most of your calories (or Points) each day. The great thing about WW is that you have the freedom to HAVE a soda or a cheeseburger if you want one...you just shouldn't be having treat foods as half of your diet. Does that make sense?

Yup, totally. And I actually do eat healthy the rest of the day and go to the gym. So why do I feel so guilty? I just keep thinking "would a bodybuilder or hollywood star or someone who is thin drink one every night"? I think the answer is no, so then I feel guilty. Dumb, I know.

Well, I dunno, but my mom was 5'8" and about 125 lbs ... great figure and very healthy (lord knows where *I* came from :)) ... and she had a Coke every day. Not a Diet Coke. A Coke. Sometimes she even (*gasp*) had a Coke FLOAT as her after dinner treat.

I think this all-or-nothing mentality is what drives many people to give up and gain back whatever they lost. If you're eating healthily and within your point range or your calorie range or whatever, then is 1/2 a Coke (or even a once weekly Coke float) going to harm you?

I seriously doubt it. In fact I'm of the mindset that it'll help ... since you won't feel deprived and won't feel the need to binge on something else 3 weeks down the road when you are desperately craving that Coke and telling yourself it's not allowed.

.

You don't know the WW program if you think you can eat anything you want. There are the healthy guidelines that need to be followed. Twice a week with that McDonald's breakfast is too much. Once a month would be more like it. You really need to take nutrition into account when you are young so that you will still be healthy when you are older (like me). WW Exchange plan was far better than the points system at teaching proper eating habits.

I have an "egg mcmuffin" almost every morning but I make it myself at home. 100 cal English muffin toasted, egg "fried" in PAM and a slice of FF American cheese. I skip the Canadian bacon. I just realized what an international breakfast that is - English muffin - American cheese and Canadian bacon :carrot:

While WW does allow you to 'eat whatever you want' as long as you stay within the points range, I think it would be a good idea to remember the long term goal here is to keep it off.

I don't see any harm in the egg mcmuffins we started talking about, but I'm not sure how anyone can expect to maintain any losses for long term while eating all their points of pizza/fast food/fries/cake daily. Not that anyone is really suggesting this, but I wanted to address this idea. It's about moderation and balance. Small treats are a-ok. Depending on them instead of proper nutrition is scary.

WW is about changing our lives and eating right to maintain a healthy weight for life. At least that's my objective.

Not only that, but you can also be thin and have a heart attack. You can be thin and have high blood pressure. You can be thin and have high cholesterol. You can be thin and still be "jiggly" and not have enough muscle, and have too much body fat percentage.

So...you can lose weight eating junk all day, but you aren't getting healthier.