Just for laughs - freestyle 0 points foods

Pastaprincess1978
Pastaprincess1978 Posts: 371 Member
edited November 26 in Food and Nutrition
I'm going to try to tailor one of my days when I can to include only 0 points freestyle foods and see what I come up with :P I notice that eggs, mangoes and bananas are on there as are chicken breasts and plenty of other fruit and veg. I wonder how much food I can get on 0 points and see if I still feel like eating snacks??

Anyone tried this?? I manage my weight by logging religiously and will continue with this - but I just wanted to see what would happen.

Replies

  • Pastaprincess1978
    Pastaprincess1978 Posts: 371 Member
    I don't think I am either!
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
    I can overeat on just fruit. In a day, I can pack away a kg of apples, followed by a good kg of mangoes and a helping of strawberries without thought.

    So that's ~550kcal for the apples, ~620kcal for the mango and about ~400kcal for the strawberries.

    And I haven't eaten anything else in that day yet and will still be hungry. I love fruits but they don't satiate me for long. Meaning I still need to add protein and fat to that and preferably some veggies and whole wheat grains just because I like those and feel I need them for well-rounded nutrition.
  • kazminchu
    kazminchu Posts: 250 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    I kind of think that if you are going to WW and you try and cheat the system by eating unlimited free point foods you were probably not ready to lose weight. Kind of like people here try and find the cheapest calorie db entry for the food they have eaten so they can eat more.

    This is true, but if they're marketed as "free" foods you can eat as much as you like of them, then surely the point is you should be able to eat as much as you like? Someone who doesn't know better could very easily eat more than their calorie allowance in "free foods" without trying to cheat the system.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    All fish are zero points, I seem to recall. So eggs for breakfast. Chicken for lunch. Salmon for dinner. Plus all free veggies and free fruits as sides. What isn't free, on their new system? Fats, grains, and dairy? It seems like a very silly concept.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    kazminchu wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    I kind of think that if you are going to WW and you try and cheat the system by eating unlimited free point foods you were probably not ready to lose weight. Kind of like people here try and find the cheapest calorie db entry for the food they have eaten so they can eat more.

    This is true, but if they're marketed as "free" foods you can eat as much as you like of them, then surely the point is you should be able to eat as much as you like? Someone who doesn't know better could very easily eat more than their calorie allowance in "free foods" without trying to cheat the system.

    I am not going to try and defend them. I think they have made it more confusing and now newer people will require more support structure when they don't lose weight. I still think if you eat 2lbs of grilled chicken in a meal you are probably not really ready to lose weight. Any diet that requires individual responsibility also requires common sense and a true willingness to lose weight. That is why some people on MFP fail to lose weight too.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    kazminchu wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    I kind of think that if you are going to WW and you try and cheat the system by eating unlimited free point foods you were probably not ready to lose weight. Kind of like people here try and find the cheapest calorie db entry for the food they have eaten so they can eat more.

    This is true, but if they're marketed as "free" foods you can eat as much as you like of them, then surely the point is you should be able to eat as much as you like? Someone who doesn't know better could very easily eat more than their calorie allowance in "free foods" without trying to cheat the system.

    Someone who is more familiar with the program can correct me, but I don't think WW ever claims you can eat as much as you like. You're supposed to eat until you're *satisfied* which is a big difference.

    I'm not convinced this would work for everyone and I think it's a lot more straight-forward to just count calories, but I also think we should be fair to what WW is actually representing about the program.

    https://www.weightwatchers.com/ca/en/article/if-i-can-eat-all-zero-point-foods-i-want-will-i-lose-weight
  • Pastaprincess1978
    Pastaprincess1978 Posts: 371 Member
    Yeah it'd have to work that way - put a little responsibility back on the user to eat reasonable amounts - sounds fair enough :) Also clever marketing :)
  • skelterhelter
    skelterhelter Posts: 803 Member
    I'm a little bitter my grilled chicken isn't free, not gonna lie. LOL
  • zdyb23456
    zdyb23456 Posts: 1,706 Member
    The zero point food list is really trying to guide people’s food choices towards healthier options. If a 100 calorie apple and a 100 calorie cookie are both 4 points, who would choose the apple? Most would probably choose the cookies. Making the apple “free” makes it easier pick since you have limited points. Of course if you really want to have the cookies you can.
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    That doesn't work so well for me. Giving a higher point cost to something with the same calories makes me feel unfairly penalized and triggers the old guilt I used to have about eating "bad" foods. Honestly, recognizing that I have limited calories helps me choose more foods that satiate me AND taste great. And if I choose to have a 90-calorie Fiber One bar for dessert instead of a 90-calorie orange, because (IMO) the Fiber One bar tastes better, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
  • SueSueDio
    SueSueDio Posts: 4,796 Member
    zdyb23456 wrote: »
    The zero point food list is really trying to guide people’s food choices towards healthier options. If a 100 calorie apple and a 100 calorie cookie are both 4 points, who would choose the apple? Most would probably choose the cookies. Making the apple “free” makes it easier pick since you have limited points. Of course if you really want to have the cookies you can.

    Yep - my colleague rejoined WW a few weeks ago and has talked about it a little. (She knows I lost my weight by calorie counting, but she had success with WW in the past and wanted to try it again.) She said that the focus with this new system is on lean meats, fruits and veggies, to encourage healthier options, but that her group leader emphasized people are NOT supposed to stuff themselves silly with nothing but chicken breast or whatever! They expect members to have a little bit of common sense and choose a balanced diet for the majority of their days.

    One thing she's very disappointed about is that potatoes used to be free when she last did a WW plan and now they cost points, so she can't eat as many as she'd like to! It does seem like this new plan is geared towards a high-protein, low-carb and lower-fat style of eating, which since she has PCOS might be good for her anyway but she seems to struggle to stick to it.
  • Cbean08
    Cbean08 Posts: 1,092 Member
    Not too hard to do. For example - this adds up to just over 2000 calories

    breakfast-
    3 egg omelet with spinach and tomato - 250
    1 cup non fat greek yogurt - 130
    1 cup of strawberries - 60

    snack -
    1 banana - 100

    lunch -
    1 cup of beans - 220
    1 cup of corn - 140
    spinach, cucumber and tomato - 20
    6 oz chicken -180
    2 crumbled hard boiled eggs - 160
    salsa - 20

    snack-
    1 cup non fat greek yogurt - 130
    1 cup chopped mango - 100

    dinner-
    1 cup riced cauliflower - 50
    1/2 cup peas - 70
    1/2 cup of corn - 70
    1 whole carrot - 10
    chopped dried seaweed - 10
    shallot
    1/2 cup bean sprouts - 20
    3 oz shrimp - 80
    3 oz pork loin - 90
    2 scrambled eggs - 160
    soy sauce
  • mutantspicy
    mutantspicy Posts: 624 Member
    Well I log eggs and bananas daily and find they can vary a lot in cal count. On other hand, cherries, peas, carrots, black berries, blue berries, spinach I wonder why I even bother weighing them. I use the 21 day fix container plan to gauge my quantities, but I weigh everything because it turns out most meal plans disregard a lot of sneaky little buggers. So yeah I'd say go for it, but definitely continue do what you're doing with logging because there's a lot of sneaky food. Chicken is another one that can vary a lot weight.
  • Pastaprincess1978
    Pastaprincess1978 Posts: 371 Member
    @mutantspicy I find the same thing for bananas for sure - I've pretty much given up eating them they are so calories dense!
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    Cbean08 wrote: »
    Not too hard to do. For example - this adds up to just over 2000 calories

    breakfast-
    3 egg omelet with spinach and tomato - 250
    1 cup non fat greek yogurt - 130
    1 cup of strawberries - 60

    snack -
    1 banana - 100

    lunch -
    1 cup of beans - 220
    1 cup of corn - 140
    spinach, cucumber and tomato - 20
    6 oz chicken -180
    2 crumbled hard boiled eggs - 160
    salsa - 20

    snack-
    1 cup non fat greek yogurt - 130
    1 cup chopped mango - 100

    dinner-
    1 cup riced cauliflower - 50
    1/2 cup peas - 70
    1/2 cup of corn - 70
    1 whole carrot - 10
    chopped dried seaweed - 10
    shallot
    1/2 cup bean sprouts - 20
    3 oz shrimp - 80
    3 oz pork loin - 90
    2 scrambled eggs - 160
    soy sauce

    Exactly - these are very reasonable-seeming portions of healthy foods - in fact many single chicken breasts on the bone are larger than this - and this would have me gaining half a pound a week while feeling deeply sad and deprived. Whereas my MFP calorie counting diet which keeps me healthy (just got my blood work back) and losing half a pound per week involves bacon, peanut butter, chocolate, steak, and French fries when I want them, as well as plenty of healthy veg and fruit, and me feeling satiated.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,302 Member
    Like all diet plans one has to use it as per the plan if it is to work.

    Bit like calorie counting and then eating 20lb of pickles because the label says zero calorie

    or, like many people I know, losing weight by just making their own commitment to cut right back on cake, chips, chocolate, soda, candy.

    For some people that works, since they then bring their calories back to appropriate level.

    if they committed to above but then ate equivalent replacement calories in potatoes, cheese, nuts, whatever, then it wouldnt.

    Of course use a program as it is meant to be used if you want it to work - rather than deliberately misunderstanding it and then saying it wont work.

  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    paperpudding wrote: »
    Like all diet plans one has to use it as per the plan if it is to work.

    Bit like calorie counting and then eating 20lb of pickles because the label says zero calorie

    or, like many people I know, losing weight by just making their own commitment to cut right back on cake, chips, chocolate, soda, candy.

    For some people that works, since they then bring their calories back to appropriate level.

    if they committed to above but then ate equivalent replacement calories in potatoes, cheese, nuts, whatever, then it wouldnt.

    Of course use a program as it is meant to be used if you want it to work - rather than deliberately misunderstanding it and then saying it wont work.

    See, I don't think that's valid in this case. The whole point of this freestyle program is to take the thought out of weight loss - carefully counting portions of chicken and Greek yogurt is defeating the purpose. The example given above is a meal plan that a perfectly reasonable person would consider to be fine - it's not deliberately stuffing yourself on zero point foods, or misunderstanding anything. It's just eating a modest sized amount of the foods Weight Watchers says you don't need to bother to count because if you eat a modest portion of them you will lose weight. Their statement is untruthful.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,302 Member
    I think anyone with common sense would realise it doesn't mean an entire intake eating the zero points food and expecting them not to count.

    And WW own information, as linked upthread, clearly dispels that.
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