Nor do I pretend to be.
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There was a time though, that I was at my goal weight of 68KG or 150lbs, that I went religiously to my meeting every week, brought friends with me, had online “clubs” (remember Yahoo! Clubs?), and supported and cheered on new and old friends as we each worked on our health and fitness goals. There was a time when I had a personal trainer and a fancy schmancy gym and had very low body fat and felt really good about my physical self. There was a time when I “coached” people I through hard times of their own weight loss goals and helped them get through rough patches. And then there was a time that I actually applied to be a Weight Watchers leader, and asked specifically to do a class of Non-Dutch Speaking members as I knew so many in the Expat community I belonged in who would have joined had there only been someone who could explain it in English. My application letter was probably one of the best letters I’ve ever written in my life (in Dutch of course!). It was beautiful. It was clear and specific. It was so good they couldn’t say no. But guess what? They said “no”.
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I have never really understood why. They had a whole other group of people out there they could make a profit from, yet they were not interested, not “at this time”.
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So, OK. I believe in the program. In general. I believe it’s the most realistic and the most flexible. It teaches you how to actually LIVE and make choices for a better life, rather than following a plan that maybe isn’t realistic at all (fasting? juicing? cabbage soup diet anyone?). We all know after trying several different ways of losing weight that short term “dieting” leads to short term success. Am I wrong? How many of you out there have lost then gained then lost then gained then lost? Each time telling yourself “THIS time is different!” “This time I’m really going to do it!”. I like Weight Watchers because I can eat WHATEVER I WANT as long as it fits in the plan.
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Or can I?
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Seems like the new program is telling me, telling us, something different. Seems like the suggestion is out there to choose nutritionally sound foods that are worth more in points to reach your daily targets. Because now it’s not about calories and fat anymore (and fibre? I guess in North America you were counting fibre) Maybe this is my problem? Most of the things I eat are fruit (0), vegetables (0), proteins, superfoods, whole grains, good fat fish, yoghurt, and lean meats. I can tell you right now, I have no problem looking for and eating foods that are really beneficial to me. I like to try new and different foods, different combinations and I’m totally open to suggestions.
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I have 29 ProPoints a day. I can also tell you, it’s not rare at all for me to go OVER that total. I’m eating foods in the right portion sizes, weighing and measuring everything out and as you have heard from me (maybe) before, I’m often hungry. So part of what I’m doing now is accepting and not feeling bad about dipping into my 49 weekly points (which will drop to 42 when I get under 80KG). I’m working on working out for extra points to enjoy my wine and maybe a meal out in the weekend, instead of the letting the guilt and anger fester up and frustrate me.
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But WHY do I always go over my points? How can I get under? I already eat buttloads (literally, people!) of fruit and vegetables, this doesn’t always help me when I’m hungry. I’m working with a dietitian ,who is trying to work out some food combinations and times to eat to help me with this issue I have. More importantly (yes, mother, I know I shouldn’t compare), why is it that others don’t seem to have this same problem?
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I’m not a Weight Watchers Leader. Maybe you shouldn’t listen to me. BUT, I’ve been a Weight Watcher long enough (and I was at my goal for 3 years and I AM a lifetime member) to know that I can help. I can help others, who in turn may just help me!
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What I do know, from ProPoints is to go with the green foods –
potatoes (natural! not french fries, or potato chips/crisps)
heavy/whole grain bread
certain kinds of pasta and rice
starchy veggies, beans (legumes/pulses)
eggs, kwark, yoghurt
tofu, tempeh, quorn, seitan
fish and shellfish (and a focus on the good fats)
lean meats, poultry, organs -kidneys and livers (yeah, not gonna do it)
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I’m of the opinion that you do not have to “eat green” all the time. I mean, I do love my rice and my pasta, but I always try to combine it with something nutritionally sound and use good fats (olive oil, coconut oil) to cook in. I eat oily fish at least once a week. Hubs and I have at least 2 vegetarian dinners per week as well. Moderation, planning, control but also living life. Now if I can just get my points in line, stop my hunger or at least stifle it a bit and work this program like it’s meant to be done, I may even lose some weight too.
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I’m not a Weight Watchers Leader. I don’t even play one on TV. But I can help. So let me help you. Trust me you will be doing me a huge favor as well. We can do this together. We can totally SUCCEED together.
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So happy to have found your blog and thank you for posting about your own experience. So sorry to hear that you are constantly hungry, I hope that your nutritionist can help with this… from my initial trials at the plan and looking at the WW boards on the UK site people seem to be struggling to eat all of their points and are not hungry generally. I hope that I am one of the lucky ones, so far so good.
I’m really glad you like it so far Sarah. I think it’s kind of trial and error. You may find that especially with the holidays coming up. Glad I found you as well :)
So let me see… if you take those 42 weekly points and divide them by 7 you get an extra 6 points a day.
So that really your daily allowance is 35 points, right? Is that an easier way to live with it?
I have tried that way of thinking, yes. My leader suggested it. I think it’s still seeing those “free points” numbers decrease so rapidly. Damnit, why can’t they just GIVE ME 35 points a day? You know?
After trying many “diets” in my life, including the phen/fen craze, I have to agree that WW provides a balanced road map to a lifestyle change that one can use to both lose weight and maintain weight loss life long.
There are 18 more days until ProPoints (or PointsPlus) hits the states so I will be interested to compare apples to apples once it does.
On the current plan, 1 pt = 50 cals (or thereabouts depending on fiber/fat). have you been able to decipher what 1 ProPoint = calorie-wise? Since weight loss is actually about burning more calories than one consumes, I just can’t see any reasonable plan NOT including calories as a factor. Do your 29 pts = 1,500 cals or 1,250 or who knows?
I have definitely NOT been able to figure out the logic behind the ProPoint… and I really don’t know how many cals I eat a day on average. I have tried to use SparkPeople for that but I get so annoyed having to type in all my food into the database (it’s not got a lot of food in there outside of the US).
Keep us posted how you get on!
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tiff south and morley, Renée aka Pinky. Renée aka Pinky said: I'm not a Weight Watchers Leader http://wp.me/pYtEO-fy #weightwatchers #propoints […]
My friend. I just wanted to say hi and check in on you. I’m finally, FINALLY ready to lose some more weight. I’ve been playing for 3 months, I think it’s time to at last get under 200. I just want to say….wow, this is hard. It never ends, does it? It’s sort of like being an alcoholic or a drug addict. Every day, every meal. It sucketh. Big time. I suppose that being thinner and fit is SO MUCH better than fat and unfit. In truth, I know it is. But some days? It just sucks to even have to keep doing this. I feel like a clown, juggling all those balls in the air…balancing, balancing, balancing. So tiring! I guess I’m glad it’s not just me. Sorry, but it’s true! :)
OH Katie!! I’ve missed you! I made green chili enchiladas on Monday night in your honor (thanks again for the chili!!!).
It never ever ends. That’s probably the hardest thing to accept. It’s not just you. It’s good to know that others are in this same boat. I’m sure even the people that say it doesn’t suck and this is just a way of life for them are not 100% truthful about that. Even those who have maintained their loss for 10, 15 years… they still have bad food days or bad self image days, but hopefully fewer and farther in between as time goes on.
Truly inspirational :) I have been a weight watchers member for a few years now and I’m not even a lifetime member! I agree with the macro-nutrients approach – I can see what they are doing with it but I’m still finding myself eating too many points each day and underestimating things that I used to “know” the points value of. I know they are still updating our database and I have been travelling since Tuesday so I hope I can have a better week next week.
Thanks Emilie! I think the program does work for most people! But just like anything, you can’t make something that will work 100% of the time for 100% of the people. I can be really diligent and still go over points and this is what drives me mental. I tried the intuitive eating thing too but I still just maintained. I don’t want to just maintain, I want to lose weight!! Arg!
Lots of luck and if you need to talk about anything, let me know! It takes time getting used to!
Hi Renée, I’m a WW here in the USA. We haven’t started the Pro-point Plan yet, but I can already hear them groaning in my class when they do. I hope it works, is all I can say right now.
I reached my goal and Lifetime 2 years ago and all was well. I eventually applied for a job with WW and was also turned down. Not sure why, but….
Then I got hit with menopause. Crap! Like life wasn’t already a challenge!
I kept going the entire time to class, and even though I gained, I kept going. Now I am finally taking my mid-life addition off. And my class is the best thing ever for me. Not so much the class (although I love my Leader), but the group of women who have been with me from the start!
Hi! I AM a WeightWatchers leader. It’s so interesting to see the different (and international) perspectives on this.
I run two meetings a week over here in the UK and just launched ProPoints in them last week, so can’t wait to hear feedback this week.
I started “living the plan” in September, and have lost a stone since then, which I thought would be hard to do since I have been back at my goal weight for over a year (after having my second baby). I had a couple of pounds of holiday weight to get rid of then I wanted to (FINALLY) get my half stone below goal buffer zone and I got it. I am thoroughly amazed and eating more than ever, though I don’t think I’ve ever felt hungry on WeightWatchers!
But I won’t lie and say I haven’t had weeks where I’ve struggled… I think we all do that – it’s about getting back on the proverbial horse I guess!
Anyway, nice to meet you on Twitter, will enjoy reading your blog too :)