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?

The problem with this (and WW/SW on the whole) Is that you won’t learn a new way of eating.

Of course if you only eat 500-1000 calories a day of junk you will loose weight. But you will not feel satisfied, and when you’ve lost so much you’ll give in and go back to your old way of eating.

Learning to eat healthy balanced meals will do you much better in the long run, and you will feel better eating 1500 calories of healthy balanced stuff than 1500 of junk food. Junk food is seriously addictive.

Goady

Why would you want to put all that crap in your body though?

That sounds much better OP. Well done - progress. Baked beans is one of your 5 a day.

@BarbaraofSeville

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'.

Because the sessions are only asg good as the consultant running it. Most of them push this chemical shite. It's a lazy approach.

Well done, OP! Great fresh start. It will get easier as time goes on.

Those people bashing slimming world and weight watchers, every method of losing weight has issues. People put weight back on after losing it on pretty much every diet/healthy eating plan. The plan isn't the issue, it's the lifetime of previous bad habits and the difficulty of the task which is the problem!

@LibrariesGiveUsPower45321

The problem with this (and WW/SW on the whole) Is that you won’t learn a new way of eating.

Of course if you only eat 500-1000 calories a day of junk you will loose weight. But you will not feel satisfied, and when you’ve lost so much you’ll give in and go back to your old way of eating.

Learning to eat healthy balanced meals will do you much better in the long run, and you will feel better eating 1500 calories of healthy balanced stuff than 1500 of junk food. Junk food is seriously addictive.

I learned a new way of eating by following WW, if you're serious about losing weight any diet will work, it's when you do your own interpretation of a diet then it can fail.

As posted above I lost 9 stone by following WW, I didn't follow points though, I followed the other plan where you have a list of foods and don't have to point unless you have something not on the list. I eat lean meat/fish/poultry, all veg including potatoes, fresh fruit, natural Greek yogurt, beans & pulses, rice and pasta. I've kept it off for 2 years and counting

I obviously have other things, the odd takeaway, the odd bar of chocolate etc. as I'm now maintaining. Works for me

That honestly sounds disgusting! I know the struggles of weight loss but that's not the right way and you know it, you need to feed your body nutrition not sugary crap but you do you.

Well done @FuckyouCovid21, that's a great achievement!
@CremeEggFan - sounds like today's plan is better than yesterday's. You are best to tackle this in the way that best suits you, small changes to improve your diet rather than one big change that will fail.

@LibrariesGiveUsPower45321

The problem with this (and WW/SW on the whole) Is that you won’t learn a new way of eating.

Of course if you only eat 500-1000 calories a day of junk you will loose weight. But you will not feel satisfied, and when you’ve lost so much you’ll give in and go back to your old way of eating.

Learning to eat healthy balanced meals will do you much better in the long run, and you will feel better eating 1500 calories of healthy balanced stuff than 1500 of junk food. Junk food is seriously addictive.

But SW does encourage you to eat healthy balanced meals

What unbalanced and unbranded about (for example)
A mushroom omelette for breakfast
a grilled chicken salad for lunch with a small wholemeal roll
Dinner if salmon, noodles and stir-fry veg.

Snacks of an apple and carrot sticks with hummus?

That's all "on plan" with SW.

Your plan today sounds much healthier, OP.

Definitely prioritise the carrot and apple in your snack order, and then you can move on to the more sugary ones if you still feel you need them.

That's amazing, Fuckyojcovid.

I do similar with slimming world. Loads of free foods, only count foods that are calorifically very dense.

I'm about a third of the way to my target weight. 5 stone still to lose, and then a life time of maintenance.
There are several target members in my group, which I find helpful and inspiring! I know that I will need to keep going back to help me stay on track.

@CremeEggFan keep going. It will be hard to change from your old eating habits but every small change you make will help. You shouldn't feel hungry on plan and if you keep having days where you are feeling hungry just keep tinkering with you plan, adding in more healthier food and you'll get there.

People shoul feel hungry though. That's a natural indicator of "need to eat". You absolutely should be hungry before your meal.

While it's a total myth that people who lose weight almost certainly put it back on (and then some), if you lost weight that way you would be essentially guaranteed to put it back on as soon as you stopped 'dieting.' You wouldn't be eating enough to actually be healthy and feel good. If (and it's a fucking big if) you even stuck at that awful 'diet' long enough to get to whatever your goal weight is. You wouldn't, and shouldn't, stick with it. You very, very quickly go back to your previous habits and be back where you started in very short order.

@SchrodingersImmigrant

People shoul feel hungry though. That's a natural indicator of "need to eat". You absolutely should be hungry before your meal.

There are different types of hungry. When I didn't eat well when I was 'hungry' I was actually having blood sugar crashes. I used to get the worst headaches if I was late taking a lunch break at work or something delayed me having dinner. I couldn't think straight, my head hurt, I was dizzy, would start to feel nauseated etc. I remember wondering how the hell people managed in any sort of food scarcity because within just a few hours of a missed/late meal my brain function felt so impaired.

My diet is great now and I never ever feel like that. I experience hunger as a gradual feeling and the strongest it ever gets is having me at a point where I'm really, really looking forward to eating. I don't get headaches or dizziness. The hunger is kind of enjoyable. And I don't mean that in a disordered way, just that knowing that I'm really and truly ready for my next meal makes nearly everything more enjoyable to eat. And I can now use my hunger to judge what I should eat. Like last night I was thinking of making a supper of stewed fruit, greek yoghurt and granola but by early evening I knew I needed more than that and made red pesto tuna melts instead. (Other times it can also be the opposite, I thought I'd have something more substantial but don't feel so hungry so have something smaller.)

So there is a good healthy hunger that you should feel. And shitty blood sugar crashes and brain fogs that really shouldn't be a regular part of your life.

@JesusHRooseveltChristAgain

Well done *@FuckyouCovid21*, that's a great achievement! *@CremeEggFan* - sounds like today's plan is better than yesterday's. You are best to tackle this in the way that best suits you, small changes to improve your diet rather than one big change that will fail.

Thank you

@picklemewalnuts

That's amazing, Fuckyojcovid.

I do similar with slimming world. Loads of free foods, only count foods that are calorifically very dense.

I'm about a third of the way to my target weight. 5 stone still to lose, and then a life time of maintenance.
There are several target members in my group, which I find helpful and inspiring! I know that I will need to keep going back to help me stay on track.

Thank you, it was a hard slog but I got there and I'm not finding maintenance too hard as I just stick to what I was eating all the way through anyway. I don't eat any WW products and I think that what some people think we do, just eat WW branded ready meals and snacks but it's not the case. I've learned to cook healthy and nutritious meals that everyone will eat - tonight is spaghetti Bolognese with lean beef mince and wholewheat spaghetti - I just have a little more now I'm maintaining i.e. a slice or 2 of garlic bread. I'll snack on fruit/veg if needed and I might have a yogurt after lunch or a small chocolate bar tonight if I feel like it

Tomorrow's food is poached eggs on wholemeal toast for breakfast, tuna jacket potato and salad for lunch and Chinese style salt and pepper chicken, homemade chips and loads of roasted veg

I do similar with slimming world. Loads of free foods, only count foods that are calorifically very dense.

I have to admit that on some days when I was feeling like crap I have cut a Curly Wurly in half because I had 3 syns left.

There are some people in my group who take the piss but I think there's people like that in every diet. I like that I measure my milk in the morning, know how many slices of bread I can have and then pretty much eat whatever I want from a huge variety, while still being able to have a packet of crisps and a bit of chocolate or a glass of alcohol.

I can still have meals out (pre covid) with the minimum of planning, I can still have nights out by sticking to spirits. If I'm out shopping and want to nip somewhere for lunch then a Subway salad with dressing is less than 3 syns, a Wetherspoons jacket potato with chilli is fine. I can have a takeaway if I fancy it by making better choices. Slimming World fits in with my life brilliantly whereas something like MyFitnessPal is far too much effort for me.

@SchrodingersImmigrant

People shoul feel hungry though. That's a natural indicator of "need to eat". You absolutely should be hungry before your meal.

Yes, but as @alittleprivacy explains, there is a very different feeling of hunger when you are eating crappily compared to a gradual hunger. For the OP, at the moment, as she adjusted to healthier foods, it's not a good idea to be hungry, because 1) it's more likely a sugar crash and 2) she's more likely to reach for junk food. So for someone in her situation, it's better not to let herself get hungry until she is on a better eating plan.

I understand there are different levels of hunger, obviously. I didn't say they aren't I was reacting to "you shouldn't feel hungry on the plan".

I have actually failed and left Weightwatchers. I just don't think I'm quite ready yet.

Maybe just start with small changes like exchanging one sweet for an apple. Just small things

if you eat decently under your TDEE you will lose weight yes no matter what the calories are made of (except very salty/msg laden things can increase water weight which makes it appear you didn't lose fat)

Anyway - yes, but that food list doesn't contain much nutrition and doesn't seem very filling/satisfying.

You absolutely must get enough protein, iron, vit d, b12, calcium and it's very helpful to weightloss to feel fuller. On small portions having lots of veg is a good way to feel full. If you feel tired, crappy and starving from tiny amounts of very sugary things you're far more likely to give up

Your diet needs to be both sustainable long term, increasing just slightly when you get to maintenance levels and it must provide a decent amount of protein and nutrition or you'll end up with (or make worse) bad sleep, aches, pains, pins and needles, depression, dizziness, lethargy, binge eating etc