Week 4 = Stress
 

I have been doing so great with my plan this time and had lost 11 lbs in the first three weeks and then I hit week 4 and the next thing I know I'm stressing about counting, what I can eat and what I can't and on weigh in day Friday I was up by one pound. Geez

So I took the weekend off from counting to think about whether or not I want to keep doing this on my own, join meetings or quit altogther. Ultimately I decided that my food choices last week were probably what was bothering me, eating too many snacky foods, chips, turkey hot dogs, skinny cows, etc instead of make healthier choices. So I went to the store this weekend and bought salad makings, chicken breasts, yogurt, fruit and some frozen dinners.

My question is this, do any of you reach a point a few weeks into this and start stressing and obsessing over having to count everything? Any suggestions of how to get past this would be greatly appreciated!

I already know that about myself, I could never count calories. I won't do weight watchers because you have to count points. I don't want to count any darn thing. I am moving my body more and reducing my portions. I still eat what I want but I am trying to make more of an effort to pick more fruits and veggies and less crap. I have to live my life and I refuse to spend any huge protion of it obessing over what I put in my mouth. I have lost 7 pounds in ten days, but still eat chocolate, ice cream cake and hamburgers. When I get smaller I may have to put more thought into my eating to keep losing and I will have to up my exercise intensity but for now this is working.

Thank you Jen. I know that I'm eating better than I was before even if I was eating chips (the light kind made with Olean) and skinny cows. Guess I was just frustrated that I had gained and not lost and it's already a struggle for me to count this stuff anyway. I'm going to give it another week or two for sure.

By week 4, I pretty much have the counting down. I still journal everything and keep up with the points. For me - I begin to get bored eating the same combinations that I have been eating the weeks before. So instead of falling off the wagon, I start looking on blogs and the WW website for new ideas. This usually helps me find more options until I hit another 4 weeks, then again, I look for more recipes and options.

With WW, since everything having to do with food is about points, I think you have to keep thinking about points. Another thing that heklps me not to focus on the all day is that I pre plan the food that I will eat for the day. Then I have a "menu", have tracked the points, and don't have to worry about anything except measuring the right portion.

I am on my 3rd week of WW, and it seems wayyy longer than that. At the end of week 2 I just about had a nervous breakdown in the middle of the grocery store because I was panicking about what to pick up for a lunch on the go with my boyfriend.

In the end, I felt so nervous I thought he was impatient with me, so I grabbed an asian chicken salad off the counter... and promptly dropped it all over myself. So fighting back tears I bought what was left of the salad and went home dragging my feet. I spent the rest of the day just terrified of what I could put in my mouth and didnt even want to open the cupboards in my house.

I suppose what Im getting at here is that every now and then, it'll feel hard. But after a bit it feels okay again...until its a little hard. I mean, it was easy to put on weight. I don't ever think it'll be easy all the time to get it back off.

Maybe try rotating a meal plan every 2 weeks or even more. Leave yourself one free day that you have to calculate points for along the way but the others are already pre-calculated for you.

I lost my **** once when trying to figure out the points in Domino's hot wings. Why? Because first, to just say "1 serving" doesn't tell me crap. Second, when I go to look up regular baked chicken wings, skin on, at online nutrition sites, they say a serving is "1 wing". Well....what's one wing?!?! One WHOLE wing as it sits on the chicken? Or one piece of a chopped up wing? In the end, when I compared a wing to a thigh or drumstick and saw those calories...I realized they meant the whole entire wing, tip to shoulder. And that Domino's was giving off invalid nutrition info. They have to be. I know what's in a wing; I know what's in their sauce, and I know how little sauce is on the mild wings I get.

Anyways, yes. We all have a melt down. I'm lucky, I have my husband supporting this and he does the shopping and he helps me with calculating and tracking (I do the online version).

My best friend, full of his logic and wisdom, is assuring me ten-fold that a loss a loss and then nothing/small gain is 100% normal. Our bodies are confused right now. Keep at it, ok? Baby steps. For petes sake the way I'm lookng at it is that not everyone succeeds at diets that make you change everything all at once. I know I can eat too many snacky foods to bring up my daily points. But guess what? It's a **** of a lot more healthy than what i WAS eating. Same with you. Baby steppin, Bob. We're baby steppin. Be ok with what you're sacrificing for your health. Get your body into a pattern with what you're eating. Then make small more-healthy changes each week. And after 6-8 weeks of being on the plan, go for it one day, have something from the old you. Me? that's shrimp lo mein or some hot wings. Keeps your metabolism on its toes.