I don't understand it but I'll accept it...

slieber

Okay... I well over-ate my points yesterday, although to be fair I didn't overeat by much according to THIS site.

Was at a carnival with a group of children yesterday. Ate all the stuff I like, and a lot of stuff I shouldn't have: 1 and 3/4ths funnel cakes, 2 steaks on a stake (well worth it, I must say - they melted in the mouth!!!), a banana dipped in chocolate with colored sprinkles, lemonade ice, corn on the cob. Later had some carrots and tea. AND, of course, had my standard breakfast beforehand, with my standard coffee. All in all, 52 points where I have been allotted 20 by WW. I did drink loads of water throughout the day, too (sweated a lot).

I walked around the park casually for 2 hours, so I know I burned calories there, and had a dance class that worked for about an hour and 15 minutes.

Went on the scale this morning to see the lowest morning weight I've had in months.

I do work out a lot over the week - 4 hours of dance classes (2 in one evening), including one that's quite a workout for abs and back, 3 days' worth of workouts at the gym which are intensive, and one day off.

Still having trouble balancing the exercise with the eating. When I stay around my points, I appear to not lose any weight, or I gain it. When I over-eat, I appear to lose quite a bit. It's very odd!

Any ideas welcome!

slieber

Okay... I well over-ate my points yesterday, although to be fair I didn't overeat by much according to THIS site.

Was at a carnival with a group of children yesterday. Ate all the stuff I like, and a lot of stuff I shouldn't have: 1 and 3/4ths funnel cakes, 2 steaks on a stake (well worth it, I must say - they melted in the mouth!!!), a banana dipped in chocolate with colored sprinkles, lemonade ice, corn on the cob. Later had some carrots and tea. AND, of course, had my standard breakfast beforehand, with my standard coffee. All in all, 52 points where I have been allotted 20 by WW. I did drink loads of water throughout the day, too (sweated a lot).

I walked around the park casually for 2 hours, so I know I burned calories there, and had a dance class that worked for about an hour and 15 minutes.

Went on the scale this morning to see the lowest morning weight I've had in months.

I do work out a lot over the week - 4 hours of dance classes (2 in one evening), including one that's quite a workout for abs and back, 3 days' worth of workouts at the gym which are intensive, and one day off.

Still having trouble balancing the exercise with the eating. When I stay around my points, I appear to not lose any weight, or I gain it. When I over-eat, I appear to lose quite a bit. It's very odd!

Any ideas welcome!

banks1850

Well, heh, gratz on the loss. Our bodies are complex machines. could be any number of reasons why that happened. I wouldn't read too much into it. One thing to remember is our bodies think long term, so what you put into it or do with it on one day probably won't have that much effect. It is the months of consistancy that have the big impact. My advice is not to think this is the way to go about normal life (sounds obvious but...). Your loss may reflect things you have done for the last few weeks and your body is just catching up to it. Or maybe you have been eating too little and your calorie consumption triggered your body to burn more fat last night. I don't know off hand but I would just take it for what it is...a nice little surprise. :happy:

age1389

Are you enough calories to compensate for all the exercising? If not that may be the problem for not losing more steadily.

bricker06

20 points is the lowest points for ww right? do you use your activity points? sounds like maybe your not eating enough with ww to lose, considering the amount of activity you do.

slieber

18 is the lowest. I tried 18 (since I'm reasonably close to that anyway) but lost NOTHING. Ate more - about 21-22 per day, and lost 2.2 pounds in one week.

I'm having real trouble balancing calorie intake and exercise though. I don't eat a lot of junk, either. Can't, as I have gluten intolerance (yeah, I know the funnel cakes are pure gluten and I DID pay painfully for that yesterday and today, and will continue to pay for some weeks!) and a dairy intolerance/allergy (both).

My exercise regime does cover several hours a week. Even if I did no gym work, I still have four hours of ballet classes - one of conditioning, two regular ballet and one pointe class. In between dance days, I do 25-30 minutes cardio, 30-45 minutes of weights/abs, 15 mins of stretching-type exercise. On one of those gym days, I try to swim for about 20 mins instead of the full workout.

I do take a day off, on someone's recommendation here, usually Thursday or Friday depending on when I'm tutoring a student (varies week to week).

So in all, I'm in some form of exercise 6 days a week, usually pretty intensive. I have taken the activity points, and it's worked but sometimes it's hard to tell what to take and what not to take.

I wonder if I should just divvy up the points and take the full amount of the activity points each day, whether it's my "day off" or not...

It's driving me bats!!!

dulceluva

When I was on Weight Watchers, I was allowed 18 points as well and I loved it. I was losing 2 lbs a week AND I was eating so much. Its a great challenge to see how much you can eat and still remain within such a lower point value.

I tried to not use my daily extra points and I did divulge into my activity points but with smart and healthy options and if I wasn't in the mood for that, I tried to eat the healthiest thing I could but that stopped my craving..whether that be chocolate, salty, greasy or whatever.

And Friday was my "cheat day". The day where I ate my 18 pts plus the 35 extra points and maybe a little bit more if I was good all week.

All in all. I really think its your body. It could be anything. Even though one week you have stayed at your points level, did you really eat the best food to fuel your body??? Or did you just eat to reach your points? Those days that you ate a little more, did you eat a lot of healthy food, enjoyable food, foods that fueled your body to which you absorbed more and increased your metabolism??

Funny thing is all of our bodies are different. One person can lose 3 lbs a week and the 1 lbs a week while they are doing that same program.

cmriverside

With all respect to WW - because it really works for some - try the Myfitnesspal recommended guidelines for one month and see how that works.

Specifically - six small meals a day, every three hours (about)
Use the BMR calculation here on MFP
Always eat the calories (not points) earned by your intensive workouts!

I know WW says you can eat your points or not, but I really believe the "eat the calories earned" theory.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing?page=1#posts-19051

Good luck!

slieber

You know, I saw this but didn't read it fully. I've now printed it out to read more carefully.

Stepped on the scale a few moments ago and still have kept off the weight gained last week while NOT "overeating."

I'll try the calorie rather than points and see what happens. I'll still log on my points thingy, but will use the calorie counts here rather than what the points total is each day.

I have a feeling that my metabolism is very sensitive - if I do go slightly below, it'll shut down and save the fuel, if you know what I mean. I wonder if it's because of the food issues (intolerances and allergies) as well. I can't take in the proper nutrients via food, so I get it via vitamin pills and hope for the best.

Am off to read the article! Thanks!

ohthatbambi

My calories based on the info I put in here was 10 a day. I exercise alot and I decided to up it to 1500 a day and if I exercise extremely hard then I will allow up to 1800. This is working a whole lot better for me. I am seeing results in my measurements and on the scale. I think there is certainly some truth to fueling your body so you don't send it into shock, but it is a hard concept to grasp. I have an eating disorder past and it has taken lots of years and therapy to change my thought process. I can eat and lose weight...what a novel concept!!:drinker:

melathon

You know, I've experienced the exact same thing. I go over on my calories about 1/4 to 1/3 of the time and I am losing weight like crazy.
I think they key here is that you are so active - I don't dance (you wouldn't wanna see that, believe me!) but do pretty intense exercise 6 days a week with regular weight training. My guess is that you are carrying more muscle mass than a typical person of your height and thus your BMR calculation is a little low. I'm almost 100% sure that my BMR is higher than what MFP says but right now everything's working so I'm not questioning!
Last night I was starving and only had 230 calories left before dinner but I ended up going over by about 200 cals (black beans, corn, tomatoes, and a mango - not unhealthy, at least).

I say if you're losing weight, then don't mess with it - in our cases, at least, going over on calories seems to be an ok thing to do. I totally believe that when you rev up your metabolism with exercise you need to feed yourself accordingly, or you'll slow down and feel tired.

Also - something else occurred to me - when you first set up your account, you can choose an activity level that best matches your daily life. The lower level you choose here, the lower MFP says your BMR is. I chose sedentary because I technically have a desk job but probably should have chosen the next level up. Maybe your level is too low? Either way - you say it's working - I wouldn't mess with it!