Questions about weight watchers

sean23 · January 2010

My wife has been doing weight watchers for a couple of months now with pretty good results. She had lost very consistently after being stuck for a couple of years. I think her metabolism had been in starvation mode from working out a lot and not eating enough for a long time. She had to reallly increase her intake to get her metabolism started again, as a result she gained a few pounds. Then she started Weight watchers online and had lost 14 pounds. Over the holidays she gained a few back and now has been kind of stuck 3 pounds heavier than what she was before Thanksgiving. I told her to stick to it. But , we are a little worried that her metabolism is starting to slow down again. Also, she is not going to the bathroom much at all again which is a problem she'd had in the past, which can't help weight loss. What should we do? Do you think eating what weight watchers tells her to do could be sending her into starvation mode. I think she gets like 23 or 24 points. We are thinking about trying to have her eat her extra calories she' s given for the week a little every day. If she starts working out does she need to eat those extra calories too. What does she need to do besides eat fiber to help her go to the bathroom?
Thanks

suemayRN · January 2010

your daily points increase for when you work out, depending on how hard you work out. make sure she is doing her fitness counter to increase her points and she will need to eat those extra daily points, maybe with a lean protein and drinking the water. Is she getting in her daily requirements? hope this helps

fitmommy1 · January 2010

If she is following what they tell you about eating filling foods (fruits and veg, whole wheat and grain, beans, etc) she shouldn't be going into starving mode. You really do have to eat filling foods so you don't get hungry. Even though she is following her points she might be eating the wrong types of food. As for going to the bathroom she might need to see a doctor just to see if there is another issue going on. I hope this helps.

kiffypooh · January 2010

I agree with the other two posts. WW is considered one of the best in the industry ( just read that the other day) because they are based on science. I've been doing WW off and on for years and I've felt hungry at times, but that's because I was eating high point foods with little or no nutritional value. She could try tracking on here for a week and see how much fat, sodium, etc she's getting. I got bored with WW after doing it this time for about 8 months so I started tracking on here and find it something new and exciting. I feel like you get the same thing from here to then WW and if she's not going to the meetings she should stop paying and join here. Just my 2 cents.

sean23 · January 2010

Thanks for the advice. She has been going to the bathroom more regularly up until the last month or so. She is following everything she is supposed to and eating the same as she did to lose the weight. She doesn't have trouble being too hungry or anything. She gets extra points every week and usually only dips into them one day when we eat out on the weekend. She is going to try eating more of those extra weekly points and see if that helps cause eating less isn't the solution. Thanks

FireMonkey · January 2010

WW wants you to eat the extra points as well as your exercise points. The extra points are part of the meal plan, and are only "extra" to give you some flexibility. I find the MFP plan very similar to WW, except you count calories instead of points.

For going to the bathroom, fiber is good but you also need lots of water. :drinker:

mhotch · January 2010

I lost 43 lbs on WW. I have successfully kept it off for 11 months so far. During my journey, my weight loss slowed down . My leader and I went over my tracker and work out routine. She felt I needed to eat more. She advised me to eat my 35 points in addition to my daily points. It worked and my weight loss started up again. What I did learn was that it is, calorie in/out, but also the healthy, calorie in/out was more successful. It does make a difference in what I choose to eat.

sean23 · January 2010

Thank you. The only time my wife eats her extra calories she's given is usually the one day we eat out on the weekend. And usually she probably doesn't use too many ot them. She has been very happy with WW, but is worried she is going to be stuck again like she was in the past. She is going to try eating the extra weekly calories and hope that jumpstarts her weight loss again. Thanks for the advice

Bthack · January 2010

I too had this problem. I do WW on my own (no membership but a friend told me how many points I get) and I get about 23-24 pts a day. I was working out a lot, not eating many of my flex & exercise points. I started to gain, or not loose any at all. Then I started this page and noticed that after exercise, I was only taking in 900 net calories!!!! So she really should try using this tool in accordance with her WW to keep better track. When i was way under my calories I was having a difficult time going to the bathroom (which has never been a problem for me, I drink lots of water, consume lots of fruits, veggies, fiber & I'm a vegetarian so it usually just flies through me lol) but since I've upped my calories I've gone everyday. After I would log in my calories here, I'd log in my WW points and it would equal 26-28 for the day (due to my exercise). Have her try this for a couple of weeks and see if it helps. At first she might gain because her body is readjusting but then it should go back down. Hope this helps!

kiffypooh · January 2010

Has she lost weight and not adjusted her points? Every 10 lbs you lose you go down a point. The extra points she should be eating, but what i do is eat within my points all week and on weigh in day I eat one meal of whatever I want. I assume I'm eating my extra points in that one meal. I'm also treat myself to a mocha that day, it's kind of my free day. Back in the day they use to give you a point range rather then the 35 extra points. She could try that, which I use to do because I liked it. So it would be 25-30 points a day.
Another issue with the weight loss is she may be doing it to herself. I know when I get close to a goal or something I loss motivation and I think it's to sabotage myself.
One last thought that has to do with the bathroom and weight loss issues is this. Does she only eat healthy? Low fats, etc? Sometimes they body needs a little grease to get things moving both ways. My sister was becoming a really clean eater, fruits, veggies, beans, lean meats, etc. Not a lot of extra stuff. Once she went out and ate a bunch of crap she dropped about 5 lbs and she started "moving" again

just some thoughts for you.

sean23 · January 2010

Thanks for all the advice. She is going to try upping her weekly intake by eating most or all of her extra weekly points. I am sure she will probably gain at first since her body will have to adjust, but I am pretty sure its the right thing to do, and after all the reading I have done on the subject and all the good advice I have received from all of you, I am hoping it works for her. Its just funny how she was going along so smoothly losing weight averaging 1 to 1.5 lbs per week and then all of a sudden its stopped and she is actually almost 5 lbs above where she was before Thanksgiving. Now she is eating the same stuff she was exactly when she was losing weight and has gained 2 of the last 3 weeks. Its just hard to explain sometimes. I know the only time she used any of her extra points were once a week when we eat out and then she used only 5 or 10 extra ones. We are going to up that and try to use most of them and have faith in the system that eating more will help her lose more because eating less definitely isn't the answer. She has added some yogurt and the eating out once on the weekend and not just eating very healthy things all the time has helped her start going to the bathroom again.
Thanks!

sean23 · February 2010

Just to update. We had to eat out twice this weekend and my wife has started eating her extra weekly calories, which she wasn't using much of before. She had previously gained 2 of the last 3 weeks and was expecting to gain a little since she bumped up her intake. Much to her surprise she weighed herself this morning halfway through the week and was excited to see she actually lost 1.5 pounds by eating more. I just wanted to say thanks for the good advice. We think she just wasn't eating enough and her metabolism was slowing down. Thanks to all that replied.

Questions about weight watchers

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