If you are on Weight Watchers and losing weight are you eating all of your points?

[AnnieW625]

I have lost about 3lbs on WW since January (I have been as low as 4.8lbs back in March and it just stopped). I have tested negative for thyroid issues and gluten intolerance (this was back in January), I am not anemic, and I can't seem to lose any more and the points I am able to eat seems like it is just maintaining for me. I am 5'6" and 200lbs pretty much all of the time now (I weighed 198.4 without clothes on this AM) and I have 29 or 30 points and I just can't lose anything. I found the old daily points calculator online I calculated that I should be eating 26 pts. per day and when I was lifetime pre baby 2 and DD2 I ate between 22 and 25 pts. daily and between and had no issues maintaining. I am now thinking that maybe for me to lose I need to lower the amount of points I am eating, but I know people who eat all of their points and some people have 35pts. per week and are still losing weight. For the last month I have also been counting fruits and veggies because when I was counting that those were 0 like the plan wants you to count I was eating more junk to fill up those extra points I had left to make it to 30.

I earn about 50 exercise points per week so it is not like I am sitting on my butt doing nothing (although I do work in an office 40 hrs. per week) and so most weeks I use those before I use the other 49 points.

When I first did WW in 2003-2004 it took me 8 months to lose 10lbs and keep it off so I get this is a slow process, but I now have at least 40lbs to lose (and 50 would probably be more ideal and 60 would be just awesome and my lowest weight of 138 that I haven't seen since I was 22) and it seems like nothing is working right.

[alirebco]

Honestly, calorie counting just doesn't work for some people. Can you tell us what you eat in a typical day?

I definitely recommend trying paleo if you haven't gone that route. It especially works great for people who have hormone issues and who have trouble losing weight on typical plans.

[YouAreTheFocus]

Your post made me think of my stall/plateau post a couple days ago. The general thought was, you need to eat less/exercise more or maybe both. And adding weights was heavily recommended. I do believe that weight loss is simply calories in/calories out so this makes sense to me (tho I dread reducing my calories & increasing my exercise).

I'm doing MFP, not WW, but I don't eat all my calories. I usually have ~300 left at night. It seems like most ppl don't eat all of their exercise calories.

[DietCokeLover]

Have you tried doing the simply filling plan rather than the points? My friend does that part of WW and she is losing. Also, are you drinking all of your water? What about varying what you eat? I have been stalled for a while after losing 30+ pounds, and these were things that were recommended to me.

[happymom]

Also, as far as I know, WW doesn't take into consideration WHEN you eat which foods right? For instance, you're better off eating ur carbs (like rice, bread etc) in the afternoon or morning and having a protein and veggies for dinner. I dieted recently and lost a lot of weight (with a diet center) and that's a big part of it. Besides for balancing how much of each food group you eat, it's important to consider when you're eating them. You may lose weight just by shifting your schedule of foods without even cutting back.

[katerinasmom]

I eat all my daily points and am losing weight - very very slowly but still losing. For me the key is tracking every single thing that goes in my mouth and measuring things out. A serving of the cereal I eat is actually 3/4 cup not the 1 1/4 that I pour out. Everything has to be weighed and tracked otherwise I end up gaining instead of losing because I end up eating way more than I think I am eating.

[fivi2]

I am not currently doing WW, but I tried it a year or two ago (I didn't stick with it). I did lose weight at first. I ate below my points (by just a few points), I did not give myself any credit for exercise points. This was when they were doing their "fruits and veggies are zero points" (no clue if that is still true). I did not treat fruits as free. One serving of a low calorie/sugary fruit *maybe* I treated as zero, but anything over that I assigned one point per serving. Most veggies I treated as free (except for something like avocado).

Last summer I joined MFP. I only tracked for about 6 weeks, but I learned to adjust my serving sizes (WW never helped me with that with their weird point system. mileage varies on that). I ate under my calories and got my appetite to a relatively normal place. I basically learned that I really have to take in a lot fewer calories than I was. I do splurge on occasion (like most weekends!) which I think helps me stick with the "deprivation" and keeps my body from getting used to what I am eating.

I dropped from a size 10-12 to a 4-6 in a relatively short time, and it has stayed off. That didn't happen with WW (or South Beach or my exercise programs).
Good luck!

[lovin2shop]

If I stay within my points, I definitely lose on WW. My problem is staying within my points! If you are having trouble losing, I would talk with one of the counselors and have them review your tracking. Sometimes there are errors in point values that can make a big difference. I had this happen with the Sabra To Go Hummus packs, they were listed really low in points, and I was eating them almost everyday.