FAO Charlie

Philtex

I'm in a maintenance phase of my weight management, currently a little under both my 'official' goal (WW goal from many years ago) and what I set as my personal target. I'm curious about your Green, Yellow, and Red Zones strategy. If you care to share, can I get a primer on how (and maybe why) it works? Thanks.

Flintwinch

I'm also interested in Charlie's Zones strategy

crewahl

@philtex @Flintwinch sorry for the delayed response. Below is something I’ve posted on WW's Connect site about the approach. Feel free to raise questions.


An important first step is to position yourself not to overreact and not to live your life in dread of every random one pound blip. By now, you’ve probably realized that your weight varies from day to day in seemingly inexplicable ways. That’s not gonna go away just because you’re at goal, so getting comfortable with a normal range of variance is an important step. Note - I don’t have an answer for you about what or where that range should be, because it’s about your own comfort level.

The second point after you accept the concept of ranges is to create some warning flags that tell you when it is, in fact, time to react. I refer to these ranges as zones - Green for when I’m in my normal range of variance, Yellow for when my weight is above what I reasonably expect, and Red when I’m putting my free Lifetime status at risk. I traditionally have used my weekly weigh-in as the measure for what zone I’m in.

The key, apart from some peace of mind, is that each zone has a set of actions (or reactions) attached to it. In Green, I eat as normal and that may include indulgences that take me outside the healthy eating range - in other words, more than ten points over daily points. If I weigh in at Yellow, I stay within the healthy eating range until back to Green. If Red, I stay within my daily points.

Knowing that I have an acceptable range of variance means I don’t have to stress over each minor change. Also, knowing I have a plan in place that will correct any issues in a timely fashion means even less stress. The key, of course, is a disciplined adherence to the actions associated with each zone.

Everyone sets their own zones and reactions, but here are mine for reference. With an official goal of 180 I'm currently operating on:

Green - if I’m under 178 per WW scale, normal life with occasional indulgences;
Yellow - if I’m between 178 and 180, stay within healthy eating range;
Red - if I’m over my goal weight of 180#, limit myself to daily points.

I’ve also recently added my fourteen day average to the mix. The reason? I’ve been indulging more than occasionally, and then “diving” back to Green. Lately, that’s been more of a challenge, so if my fourteen day daily average result is Yellow, then I’ll operate on that basis until that is back to Green. In essence,I’ve got a two-pronged test - where am I officially, and where have I been hanging out - and the higher score is what I need to do. I’m hopeful this will push me to be more consistently in a healthy range, and keep my indulgences as exceptions rather than routine.

Hope this long-winded narrative helps.

Philtex

Thanks Charlie! Just what I was wanting to learn. You've given me lots to think about.

"The key, of course, is a disciplined adherence to the actions associated with each zone." Key indeed!

crewahl

Philtex wrote: »

"The key, of course, is a disciplined adherence to the actions associated with each zone." Key indeed!

Anything else is just a bluff. 😊

Flintwinch

An excellent explanation of what seems a sensible approach. "Diving back to green" is difficult on our metabolism vs staying consistently in the healthy range. I suspect that not a few dieters institute last-day severe food restrictions before a regular weigh-in, which can't be healthy.