Starting WW tomorrow! Does it actually work?

[takeawayandwine]

So I've been trying (and failing) to stick to 1200 calories a day so I've signed up for WW and start tomorrow.

I've planned out my food for tomorrow and have used 19 points so far but it still seems like a lot of food if you factor in zero foods like fruit/veg/protein etc.

Has anyone had good losses with WW? Does it actually work? 😬

I'd love to hear your stories!

I think I'm going to cancel.my Ww. I've been doing it for a month and I've put a pound on 🤦‍♀️ I'm perimenopausal so may be that's why?

I'm also tracking calories on the lose it app.along side because even though fruit is free on ww it still has calories! I eat around 1200 calories a day and the weight just isn't shifting! And I track everything, down to the milk in my coffee.

I'm 5 ft 5 and weigh 10 st 10. I only want to.lose a stone! Why is it so hard?!

I tried it years ago. It didn't work because I was starving all the time. I think slimming world is better but not perfect. The point is there is no magic answer. cutting right down on bread and not eating later at night has helped me.

Are you eating all your daily points and your weeklies too? I've been going over my allowance and I'm still losing 2lb a week. I'm also peri and on HRT. Maybe give it one more week of eating points but not tracking calories and see how you get on?

I started WW last Monday after trying with Slimming World for years. I love the program. I like that you can track steps and earn more points, as I am very active.Have lost 7lb

I joined it for about a year in 1992.

Unfortunately, the weekly public weigh-in put pressure on me to make sure I lost at least a little bit of weight every week and I became bulimic. I was unable to shake the bulimia for another 25 years and only stopped when my teeth began to fall out.

However, that was just my experience!

I love it too! I've lost 10lb since mid-March. I'm doing loads more exercise because I like earning more points and I'm eating SO much better because I'm filling up on zero point foods. The app is fantastic.

But crikey, mentions of WW on these weight loss boards are like tumbleweed! It feels like everyone except us is injecting to lose weight!

@StoatofDisarray So sorry to hear it triggered your bulimia. I was bulimic as a teenager and it took me a long time to recover too. I'm no longer triggered (I'm now in my fifties) but I wouldn't embark on any kind of weight loss programme if I thought I would be.

@Bookworm1111 I’m really amazed how prolific all these injectables are. Doesn’t seem well with me at all. Should be a last resort option for most people but it seems mainstream now.

I can absolutely see why people are turning to them in their millions, because they do work. They silence the food chatter, which for anyone with a weight problem is a huge relief.

My concern is shortages – my godson is T1 and the thought of him not getting his insulin that basically keeps him alive is a worry – and also the long-term implications of regain. Multiple studies have already shown that people do regain weight once they stop – which I know is the same of any WLR – but because of the speed in which they lose in the first place, it's not like gradually piling it back on. Frankly, I'd be too scared of ending up with baggy skin and Ozempic face to risk it!

Yes, I think the major issue for me is that they’re not addressing the root cause of the weight gain in the first place and not helping people change their habits to sustain their weight loss in the longer term.

I agree. It's taken me three decades to unpack the reasons why I overeat and realise that I'm now at a point where it's no longer about aesthetics – I need to be slimmer to live longer, so my knees don't ache, I snore less and sleep better etc! If you don't get to the root of your triggers, you'll just pile the weight back on. That said, I have seen a few people on the many, many, many threads about injectables (they need their own board, frankly!) say the food silence does allow them to make significant changes. But it's very few.

Good luck @Bookworm1111 it sounds like you are doing really well so far. Your post motivated me to take another look at the app. My struggle is that I prefer the full fat versions of dairy products and feel deprived otherwise, which means it’s harder to stick to the points. I have about a stone to lose!

Thank you! I still have full-fat cheese (not big fan of yoghurt) and just fill up on zero point foods to counter it. In fact, I'm still eating lots of my fave foods, including cereal and crisps! Earning lots of exercise points – my Fitbit is synced to the app so it records all my steps – also helps. Definitely check out the app again. Overall I'm finding it really easy to use and I'm not getting tired with counting because I don't bother logging the zero point foods. So the daily process ends up being fairly minimal. I plan to keep using the app long after I reach my goal weight.

I am still on the plan and have picked up some food tips! What a great idea to not log everything only pointed food. I am tending to feel hungry and a bit light headed at times which I know isn’t good.I have low point pop corn and Skinny bars in the car for emergencies… !

I just joined a couple of days ago as there was a special offer on.

So far, I like it. I would rather eat cakes and pastries washed down with creamy sweetened coffee all day, but doing that made me fat.

Counting calories and weighing food will drive me crazy and make me obsess. I can fill up on zero points stuff and just track the extras. It's easier.

@JustGettingStarted Welcome! The not having to count zero foods and being able to fill up on them has been a game changer for me. Meal planning is now become background noise rather than something I obsess continually about, as it did when I calorie-counted and had to account for every morsel.

That's exactly what I like about it.

If I think about not being able to have a meat pie, that's not fun. But I do think there's a lot of yummy stuff I can make with eggs, prawns, fish, chicken breast, and veggies. Using some oils or sauces on them is no big deal because I really only have to think about those.

Last night I had trout fillets cooked in parcels of seasonings, green beans and a surprisingly generous portion of penne pasta. It was tasty, filling and only 4 points!

And it's a fun game rather than a chore to look for ways to trim down the points to save for later. I plan on enjoying a slice of carrot cake and a coffee at café Nero this weekend.

I'm saving mine for Father's Day lunch! Totally agree that there's an element of fun in it. I'm walking so much more because I like adding to my weeklies!

I started WW a month ago and have lost 9lb. I love it, it’s so easy x

I was already doing a lot of walking, as I recently got a dog, but I was eating crap and not losing weight. I suppose I stopped gaining is all.

I do track my dog walking and I also do exercise at home. I do 30 minutes of a combination of yoga and calisthenics, with a bit of weights mixed in, and I get two points for that plus it's good for my mobility.

I get about 8 points a day from my exercise.

That's a brilliant start @bossybloss, well done!

@JustGettingStarted I love adding on exercise points. It makes all the difference when you do want to eat a bit more at the weekend or have a special occasion/celebration.

WW has had a bad press in the past few years as a programme that doesn't work and is old-fashioned, but this latest variation is brilliant.

I've lost 1st 3lb in 8 weeks, I honestly don't feel like I'm on a diet and I'm not hungry. I've tried SW and all the others but seem to stick to WW.

I think it's possible for some people to overeat on the plan, but I don't think I could binge on eggs, vegetables and fruit enough to do it.

I just made my own frozen yogurt with frozen mango chunks, no-fat yogurt, a bit of artificial sweetener and a dash of vanilla syrup. It came out to 2 points (because of the syrup) and was really lovely. It was also about 200 calories.

Depending on how much you're otherwise eating and your BMR, that might not be a wise thing to eat every night.

I have lost 5lbs in 4 days! Obviously this is water weight, but it's an encouraging start.

I signed up under a special deal of 8 months for £8 a month. So 34 weeks. I would like to average 1.5 lbs a week, and that would get me down 50lbs and back into a size 12.

It worked for all of the women I know that have done it. Although the weight loss seems quite slow.

Aside from me. It was too lax. I'd be having a bit of food " to taste" before dinner, a load of low points snacks that added up to lots of calories and was just focused on eating all the time in how many points is this way.

The fast 800 worked much better for me in that you have to focus on not eating. It's a revelation for a " clean your plate", "eat healthy snacks all day to stop feeling hungry" mentality.

I'm going into the weekend with 61 weekly points! I indulged in a 10-point breakfast of wholemeal toast with butter and jam and coffee with semi skimmed milk.

I have craved sweets so I think I'll have a lovely big chocolate chip cookie from Subway with my 6-point chicken tikka sub for lunch.

I think it helps to think about these splurges and only eat stuff you really love. I would hate to eat 3-4 custard creams or something that I'm not actually crazy about - it's so easy to do that at an AA meeting.