Anybody like smart points?

[CamdenTownie]

I just switched from Slimming World to weight watchers last week, I lost 3 stone on SW but I'd come to a standstill and was finding it quite depressing.

I decided to give WW a go but I'm struggling, my allowance is 30 smart points daily plus 28 weekly points, I generally have oats with water and a splash of milk for breakfast with a cuppa -5sp. With an apple thrown in to keep me going.

Lots of fruit, clementines, grapes, pineapple, mango, plus either soup, crumpets or warburtons thins with ham salad for lunch approx 8sp, a weight watchers yogurt -2sp, special k bar 4sp or 2 Jaffa cakes for 4sp.

It all seems to go well until my evening meal, 4sp for a small portion of meat or fish, 1/2 pouch of microwave rice is 5 sp and it's such a tiny amount! I try to eat lots of veg, today I had a beef casserole with peppers onions mushrooms mange tout and broccoli, but I feel like I'm eating very small amounts and just don't feel full!

Today I'm at 33 smart points and I've had my two Jaffa cakes and 2sp pack of hula hoops puft.

Can anyone point me in the right direction, I do have a big appetite I guess but I wouldn't say I eat tons.

I'm not keen on the no count system as it seems pretty similar to Slimming World.

Just don't know if this is sustainable long term.

I've started this on Friday and actually I'm relieved as it gives me order in my life. I've done WW many times, but not smartpoints. I like that it steers you away from carbs, but as always you can have what you fancy. So no hard and fast 'stay off the alcohol' rules. I don't drink loads but I like a glass or two on a weekend night.

Do any of you use protein powder? I have it for breakfast (I have done for about 18 months as its quick to whizz up in the blender) and its only 1 SP!
I use it as a smoothie just with water although you can do other things if you have the time (mix it with a banana, about 20g ground oats and an egg to make protein pancakes - its 5 SP and they are filling for breakfast - makes 4 little pancakes - you can drizzle honey - haven't checked SP for that yet) I use the PHD diet whey stuff (you can get it in Lidl, Tesco and loads of places online)
I have a snacky tooth. So if I'm only having 1SP in the morning, I can have a snack at work mid-morning or a larger lunch.

@ThespianTendencies weekly points are in addition to daily. You can use them whenever you want, or not use them at all (er, right). They're exactly the same as daily points. If you want to save them all for Saturday night, you can do, or you can spread them throughout the week.
Fitness points. You can sync certain fitness monitors (like fitbit etc) to your ww account and it will automatically update with how many activity points you've earned. You can set your account to either use them, or not use them in addition to daily and weekly points.
I have no idea if you can add them manually if you don't have one of the monitors on their list.

(forgot to say above, use frylight to make pancakes - thats 0 points)

Morning! Fresh back from my HIT class this morning :-) I have a question about Fitpoints. I found a way on the app to transfer my fit points to smart points but does that mean for example, that today, I have 22 SP left and 14 Fitpoints - so can I use 24 fit points as food points? I don't get it!! Thank you

Sorry I meant 14 FP - typo.

Hi Thespian you can 'eat' your fitpoints if you feel you need them- I never do but my daughter does the same as you on the app so if she uses all dailies and weeklies then anything she tracks after that comes off her fitpoints. She doesn't do it often though- just when she has a meal out that she hasn't calculated for or similar.

To be honest, I have been on WW since 28/02/17 and I have lost 1 stone 5lb so far BUT I do struggle sometimes. Not because of the app, i found I got the hang of that and the points pretty quickly (my daughter and partner both struggle with it) but because carbs fill me up and they are hugely high in points. If I had done my research and knew that the new system was pretty much a low carb diet I would never have joined. I also have to be super organised as I am a chef working 12 hours a day for 5 days a week (as is my partner) so if food isn't ready when I walk in the door at 10 the temptation to takeaway is so strong! I'm sticking with it because it is working ish but it is time consuming, at times a bit disheartening and sometimes frustrating.

I won't be renewing when my time is up.

SilentBob - thank you - so the points can be added to remaining food allowance then. That's good as I am finding I am getting hungry between meals and the only thing I can really eat is fruit! I think I must be taking in far fewer calories - which is good - but i don't want a diet that causes hunger. I think I will use the app as a guide and follow as much as possible but if I feel hungry and want a couple of biscuits or a bit of toast etc. I will use my Fit points for that.

You should be able to set the app to use FitPoints before your weeklies, or use them after your weeklies, I use them after my weeklies. If you earn say 14 fitpoints in one day, you won't have all 14 available to eat though. It depends on how much you have to lose, so varies, but you will likely have 10 or 11 of those fitpoints actually available to eat. If you are set to use the fitpoints after your weeklies, then once your last weekly point is used, the app will then show how many fitpoints you have available for eating. It is somewhere between the first 3-6 fitpoints that you earn each day that won't be available to eat.

I eat quite a lot of carbs but am trying to increase my protein. I am trying to stick more of the No Count foods which I find help to keep me feeling fuller for longer and I snack much less. Although is did some no count days on holiday, I mostly prefer to stick with pointing to make sure my portions are in control!

Blardy hell! It's very confusing . So today I have racked up 25 fit points. Can I eat them?' I mean not all of them as I've had dinner etc. But if I wanted to have a pudding one day then I could use them for that?

Mostly. It is different for different people. You may find you can't use the first 3, 4 or 5 fitpoints as they are deducted from your 'eatable' allowance each day, I was initially losing 6 FPs a day. I now only lose the first 4sp, but I have to do much more activity now to earn the same amount of points. So if you have 3 fitpoints that you can't eat a day, then in theory, yes you could eat up to 22 of those fitpoints from today. If your deduction is the first 4 fitpoints each day, then in theory you could eat up to 21 fitpoints from today, or eat them later in the week. Some people find they don't seems to do as well, if they eat fitpoints, so don't touch them, others who are very active find they eat some of their fitpoints and lose regularly. I didn't really touch mine for the first six stone I lost and then hit a bit of a plateau. I ended up having a not so good week, polishing off my weeklies and using quite a chunk of my fitpoints. I had a great loss that week, so have continued to use some of my fitpoints. I don't use them all, but find I cope better using some. I am earning around 120-140 fitpoints a week.

sez thank you - I am fairly active - an hours brisk dog walk per day and 4 days in the gym per week on average so I will rack up the points I hope! I do like a wine now and then and find the amount of food I can eat within my food allowance is leaving me peckish in-between meals. There is not much food that fills you up that is low in points! It is more restrictive than I anticipated but I feel sure I have lost this week. I'll weigh myself Sat or Sun and see how I have done :) thanks for you help btw.

I've done 3 weeks now - lost 1.5lbs each week.
I find it quite hard but I guess that's why it's working, because it's really changing what I eat. Other diets felt easier but didn't work so well for me.
I have been earning about 100 fit points a week but not eating them. However I am probably going a bit over each week as I'm not accurately measuring milk every time I have some tea with milk at work.

I've posted this on another thread but maybe I should have asked on here - I did WW years ago but seem to remember being given a much smaller daily points allowance, this smart points seems very generous...is this completely different to their old points system and what's changed?

Hi, your best bet is to track the weights of your food before you cook it, it'll be much easier to calculate and strangely I feel like I'm getting more food this way (the mind games we play!) On a pointed day I will have 2 Weetabix with fruit 4sp, 1/2 pint skimmed milk for 4sp, lunch might be a 2 egg omelette made with spring onion and 2 bacon medallions with a tin of tomatoes 6sp and dinners tend to be things like either fish and new pots and veg or a spaghetti. If you use 5% mince, I can make a full sauce using tinned tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms etc and that's only 3sp so gives plenty of points left over for pasta. For a snack I'll have sugar free jelly or 0% greek yoghurt missed with frozen berries. In between that normally leaves wiggle room for a ww choc bar or biscuit. My weeklies are then saved for alcohol at the weekend. If you check out the app and go to discover recipes, you can search what food you've got and the recipes come up with that ingredient. It is a bit of trial and error to start off with but if you start off with good portions of lean meat and fish, you can build the veg and carbs around it.

Is there any way of knowing when you will reach your goal weight assuming you stick to the plan religiously?