AIBU to use WeightWatchers like this?!

[CremeEggFan]

So, I've joined weightwatchers. I've been given an allowance of 32 points a day to use. As far as I'm concerned, I can eat whatever I want as long as I stick to the 32 points.

So, for example Breakfast is a 500ml can of sugar free energy drink. 0 Points.

Lunch is a packet of Pom Bears and Two Mini Egg Cakes. 13 Points.

Dinner is Ten Quorn Nuggets and Reduced Sugar Ketchup. 9 Points.

Then after dinner is a packet of french fries crisps, a cadbury caramel cake bar, a mini milk ice lolly and a twister ice lolly. 10 points.

That's my 32 points. Will I loose weight like this as I've stuck to my points allowance?

@ShirleyPhallus

It’s really not snobbish to say that weight watchers and slimming world are a pile of shite.

Any plan that encourages you to cheat but giving “free” foods that definitely are not calorie free is a con. These plans rely on desperate people to join, pay a load of money, lose and gain the same few lbs and never actually leave the programme.

Really not snobbish to point this out.

I totally agree with you. I've tried both SW and WW over the years with various rates of success. Ultimately I became a very boring lunch companion obsessed with points. I hated the SW culture, the happy clappy "journey" and the filling up on shite filled with sweeteners (muller bloody lights and those overpriced cereal bars) I now eat what I want, just less. I exercise 4-5 times a week at the gym too (well I will when they open again) not only am I consistently losing a couple of pounds a week, but my body is toning up. WW and SW don't teach healthy habits at all, they are trying to sell something.

OP, I've put your daily diet into MyFitnessPal and it's only 1044 calories so you'll definitely lose weight on that, but there's very little nutrional value there, you'll likely feel ill and hungry all the time.

Maybe try counting calories instead of points? You could add at least another 600 calories of fruit and veg to that (depending on your starting weight) and still lose weight!

To me it seems like you're approaching this back to front - reducing portions so drastically that you're basically not sustaining yourself and you'll be so very hungry you're much much more likely to eat more than you've stated you will. You won't magically then start having healthier options because you're so hungry - are you? Realistically?

Would it not be better to try some healthier options now, and see if you can find any that you like, or can tolerate. Then move to restricting the junk and replacing most of it (leaving yourself a few treats) with the healthier stuff you've identified? Just doing that, will cut your calories intitially to kick start weight loss, and once you start seeing results you're then far more likely to be motivated to continue and improve your diet further?

[quote mcclucky]@CremeEggFan I haven't totted up the calories in your opening post, and I don't know your age, height, weight and sex, so I can't tell you whether you'll lose weight. However, as long as the calories you eat are less than the calories you burn, yes, you will lose weight.

People on MN have some very strange ideas about weight loss.

I agree with your plan to eat junk, because you are eating more healthily than before (when you had larger portions of junk). This is a great start.

As you get used to the smaller portions, start looking to replace some of the junk with more nutritious food. It can be a ready meal, you don't have to make it yourself from scratch, you're just trying to eat a bit better than before.

As more time goes on, you'll find it increasingly easy to swap things out with better choices. You may find yourself enjoying making most of your food from scratch and incorporating more fruit and veg into your diet. That's where you want to end up.

You can experiment along the way with things that you like that perhaps balance out your energy levels more/help keep you fuller for longer.

But no, you don't have to do any of these things overnight. Don't compare yourself to any other people posting on this thread; compare yourself to the version of you who up until recently was eating even more junk food each day. That's your competition. Eat better than that person.[/quote]
Best comment so far.

Tbh if you continue to eat like this you are effectively eating your way to type 2 diabetes the amount of carbs and sugar in your proposed plan will be shocking.
You seriously need to look at your relationship with food. Food is for fuel eating processed crap & sugar will lead to you feeling awful.

Eating sugar and carbs doesn't lead to type 2 diabetes, no matter how many nanas tried to tell us that. It can lead to weight gain which can lead to it, but that's that.

okay so ill be slated here but i lost a lot of weight by sticking to 1200 calories a day, and my choices during lockdown were not very healthy, so one day id have pizza, garlic bread and nothing else, another day id have bottle of wine and low calorie dinner but nothing else througout the day, this wasnt every day but some days and i lost a lot of weight. I am still doing it but cooking more and trying to eat healhtier, an odd day is okay but not every day.

This is why WW/SW is utter nonsense.

@IggyAce

Tbh if you continue to eat like this you are effectively eating your way to type 2 diabetes the amount of carbs and sugar in your proposed plan will be shocking. You seriously need to look at your relationship with food. Food is for fuel eating processed crap & sugar will lead to you feeling awful.

But she would be with her original diet + much more. Obviously her plan isn't great, but it's an improvement on the original which was junk food, but more of it.

@fairycakes1234

okay so ill be slated here but i lost a lot of weight by sticking to 1200 calories a day, and my choices during lockdown were not very healthy, so one day id have pizza, garlic bread and nothing else, another day id have bottle of wine and low calorie dinner but nothing else througout the day, this wasnt every day but some days and i lost a lot of weight. I am still doing it but cooking more and trying to eat healhtier, an odd day is okay but not every day.

If I want to lose weight I do things like swap the bread in my sandwiches for rice cakes or Ryvita. Losing weight isn't the same thing as eating healthily.

Yes of course you would, but I hope you'd take a multivitamin too.

You may lose weight but you’ll be constantly hungry and very unhealthy

The old “SW promotes chemical food evil mullerlights” bullshit is just boring. SW promotes filling up on fruit and veg and lean protein. Some people choose to focus on sweetener and fry light but it’s not obligatory.

The old “SW promotes chemical food evil mullerlights” bullshit is just boring. SW promotes filling up on fruit and veg and lean protein

Isn't it amazing how so many people miss that this is the whole basis of the SW plan in their eagerness to shout 'muller lights muller lights muller lights'.

SW is a low fat plan though yes? Hence the zero fat mullerlights etc..

So your planned diet is better than your previous diet, amd you will lose weight at first but...

You may find yourself very hungry. The point of the foods recommended by SW/WW is that they contain the nutrients you need to run your body well, without too much additional stuff.

If you are hungry, you'll struggle to stick to it.

Try and replace one of the meals with something nutritious- the egg sandwich for example. Eat lots of filling but low calorie stuff around the edges- raw veg is good.

It sounds as though you have a very restricted diet, and it may be worth focussing on increasing the variety of foods you eat first.

What foods do you like? We can help you reorganise them into healthier alternatives.

You can lose weight eating Mars bars if you want. As long as there is a calorie deficit which is what the points are, they are just a calculation of the calories you can eat.

This might be effective initially to see the scales change which can be really motivating.

But long term you will need to switch your relationship with food.

A piece of chicken with broccoli and peas and carrots and some mash potato with mustard for flavour, and some fruit or a little bit of chocolate for pudding will fill you up more and be healthier than a mini egg cake bar and crisps for dinner.

If you are not a person who benefits from a group meeting (I'm not) I don't think SW and WW do anything you couldn't do yourself. The principles aren't difficult to work out - eat as much as you like of foods low in sugar and fat; and moderate everything else.

The points/Syns/Healthy Extras are just differently worded and organised calorie values which you have to limit in order to lose weight. Some people might find it easier to have this done for them instead of checking the nutritional values of food.

In the main they seem to promote good habits - cooking from scratch, big portions of fruit and veg. They do endorse some foods I'd consider not very good choices such as their own ready meals and the infamous low-fat yoghurts - you are far better off allowing for the fat in an unsweetened natural yoghurt without additives - but on the other hand if these are occasional foods and not the whole basis of your diet, I don't think it's a major problem.

People often regain weight after any diet for reasons too numerous to mention, it's not something unique to SW/WW.

I have days where I eat like that, but I do find I get hungry if I don't have the free/ low point protein foods and some veg and fruit.

If I have chicken nuggets, I will have some salad on the side, or some pickled onions and gherkins at least. Or I might have some fishfingers, with mushy peas or garden peas, and a small scoop of mash instead of lots of oily chips. It's those little swaps that make the weight loss with WW, like Trimming the fat off your meat and generally reducing your calorie and sugar intake

@MadeOfStarStuff

You may lose weight but you’ll be constantly hungry and very unhealthy

The old “SW promotes chemical food evil mullerlights” bullshit is just boring. SW promotes filling up on fruit and veg and lean protein. Some people choose to focus on sweetener and fry light but it’s not obligatory.

I've lost 4 stones so far on slimming world.

Food yesterday (I'm vegetarian)
Breakfast - Omelette made with onions, peppers and spinach. Some cherry tomatoes and a satsuma.
Lunch - Homemade soup, random veg and lentils. Two slices of wholemeal bread.
Dinner - Pasta with homemade sauce.

Packet of crisps and a funsize Mars bar. Milk was used in coffees.

No frylight, no bars, no Mullerlight. (although I do sometimes eat them since they became vegetarian)

Given your current size, yes.

I'm average and sometimes I eat cake for one meal and a massive, and I mean massive, portion of nuggets, sausages wedges and beans. But because it's all I eat it doesn't exceed my allowance.

I tend to allow myself one junk food thing per day, like an icecream after dinner, and promise myself that if I don't have it that night then I can have 2 the next day, then 3 the next day if I haven't had any and so on. By the time it gets to Friday I don't really want five ice creams! But I will usually eat a couple in one evening if I want to. Good luck on your journey.

I used to use my points similarly in my younger years The amount of Chomps and Curly Wurlies I ate!

slashlover Well done on your 4st loss, that's brilliant.

Your SW meals sound like a textbook healthy eating plan, with fresh home-made food, so I'm not surprised it has worked for you.

@An0n0n0n this makes sense to me. When I'm trying to lose weight I might still eat a big slice of cake but it'll be my lunch, instead of being a snack on top of lunch.

I'm a bit bamboozled by the idea of a sugar free energy drink, it sounds like a contradiction in terms but I guess it's just like diet cola really.

If you need to lose weight, why not follow the plan properly instead of cheating?

So, I've planned my food today being a bit more sensible and still had room for snacks! Yesterday didn't go well, I was hungry so ate loads more additional snacks.

Today:

Breakfast is 2 Weetabix with Whole Milk and 2 Teaspoons of Halfspoon Sugar. 7 Points.

Lunch is 1 Boiled Egg, small amount of butter and 1 slice of toast. 5 points.

Dinner is a small jacket potato with beans and cheese. 8 Points.

Then snacks are a carrot and an apple if I get hungry during the day. Plus my evening snacks of 1 twister ice cream, 1 mini milk ice cream, a pack of pom bears, a sugar free lolly and a caramel cake bar. 11 Points with 1 point to spare. So, still not great but better. Let's see how I do!