Along the lines of 'Weekly Points"

Noalikachka
Noalikachka Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
I like the concept of Weekly Points that Weight Watchers has as it solves one of the problems that poses a challenge for me in weight loss in that it provides a little buffer and some wiggle room should I need it.

So, is there any way to go about replicating that here in the tracker?

I realize that I can track my food regardless of whether it adds up to what MFP recommends for me, obviously; but it stresses me out too much to see that I've gone over one day and the same goes for when MFP tells me I'm too much under, even though it may all balance out by the week's end.

From another perspective, perhaps it's just ME who needs to learn to NOT let a computer program stress me out ;P Because that sure would simplify things. Now, the million dollar question - how would I go about doing THAT?

Replies

  • RoadsterGirlie
    RoadsterGirlie Posts: 1,195 Member
    This is one of the reasons why I wasn't able to make the successful transition from WW Online to MFP. WW Online costs me $18 a month, while MFP is free, so that's really my only motivation for wishing to switch, since I was very successful on WW.

    I love my weekly points!!!
  • bowbeforethoraxis
    bowbeforethoraxis Posts: 138 Member
    I don't know if you can change anything on MFP to fix that, but you can go to the reports section and view the little graph of your net calories. It might make you feel better if you can just see that all the bars on the graph are pretty close to the red line that is the goal.
  • youdontknowwhatyousaw
    youdontknowwhatyousaw Posts: 221 Member
    I think you're going to have to figure out how to not let a program dictate how you eat. For me, a quick reassurance that I'm doing fine, is to take a look at my MFP phone app in weekly mode to see where I stand fir the week. Weekly, I naturally have 2-3 days where I'm well below my personal (1700) calorie goal, 3-4 days where I'm right around it and 1 day where my goal is blown out of the water. This is my natural eating, paying attention to my body, not a calorie tracker. It all evens out in the end and I'm consistently losing weight.
  • matusmama
    matusmama Posts: 1 Member
    Well here is what I'm trying....I loved wwto help me loose weight with dd2 but after my 3rdbaby (now) I couldn't get to the meetings and didn't want to keep shelling out the money even for online. I fou d some online calculators that are supposedly accurate to calculate my daily points, then converted that to calories (according to sources online 1 pt = 40 cal on pp+). I also know I could have the additionally cal amount per week if I choose to.im new to myfktnesspal so I don't know about using that to track those cals but you could someplace seperately? I just started his yesterday so we'll see how it works out...
  • cappri
    cappri Posts: 1,089 Member
    Well here is what I'm trying....I loved wwto help me loose weight with dd2 but after my 3rdbaby (now) I couldn't get to the meetings and didn't want to keep shelling out the money even for online. I fou d some online calculators that are supposedly accurate to calculate my daily points, then converted that to calories (according to sources online 1 pt = 40 cal on pp+). I also know I could have the additionally cal amount per week if I choose to.im new to myfktnesspal so I don't know about using that to track those cals but you could someplace seperately? I just started his yesterday so we'll see how it works out...

    Just keep in mind when making that conversion that WW figures in your 6-8 servings of fruits and veggies on top of your Daily Points, so your conversion from points to calories will be lower than what you need to eat by at least a couple 100 calories.

    I track with both WW and MFP, I'm Lifetime so my etools with WW are free. If I use a bunch of Weekly Points, I'm just over on my calories in MFP and I don't fret about it.
  • alabbey
    alabbey Posts: 28 Member
    I have also made the switch from WW to MFP. I lost 75 pounds on ww but needed a change. I struggle with the no weekly points thing as well. What I try to do is stick to the calories that MFP tells me but then allow myself one splurge meal. Not a splurge day, just a meal. Example, tonight we went to a local BBQ place. I ordered what I wanted and ate it with no guilt because I have stuck to my daily calorie allowance all week.

    In the end, I didn't even end up really splurging as I wasn't even able to eat half of the meal. Portions were large and eating out just isn't as much of a thrill for me anymore.

    I don't know if this helps or not, but it has been successful for me. I agree about the weekly points. It is a hard adjustment. Good luck!!!
  • Noalikachka
    Noalikachka Posts: 5
    Wow, I was not expecting to get so much great advice that I feel I can actually do something with! So thanks for that, haha :)

    I didn't realize you could do a weekly view and also looking at the net calories, that is a great idea and in a minute I'll be off to play with the settings and features on here so that I can learn the ropes better.

    drunknfreaky, you are 110% correct, I do need to learn how to not let a program dictate how I eat (and how I feel about what I eat)! I'm better about it than I used to be but I've resolved to going to full mile and really standing my ground when faced with the opportunity to let myself be affected by that kind of thing and "just say NO!" ;) The way you described it, it seems like we both naturally have very similar eating patterns.

    It worked very well for me (a little too well), and WW isn't working too well for me. Naturally I am frustrated but I stuck with it for a good 4 months and still am not happy with my progress, which is why I'm cancelling my membership. It was exactly what I needed back when I started it around March (long story), but it no longer suits my needs. I have a lot of success eating significantly less on 6 days of the week and then eating significantly more one day of the week.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,839 Member
    You can replicate it to some degree with how you set up your meals in the food diary.

    Let's say you want to use 2100 calories/week as ersatz bonus points.
    Divide 2100 by 7 = 300 calories.
    Subtract 300 calories from your current daily calorie target. This is your new daily target minus bonus points.

    Make a new "meal" category in your food diary called "Bonus calorie tally" or somesuch. At the end of each day, look to see how many calories, if any, over you were on your daily target. Enter this number in the new category. Strive to bring that number to 2100 by the end of your week.

    I'm doing a similar thing but instead of bonuses, I'm making myself pay for late night snacking. My diary is open for you to look at. Four days ago, I had a 1000+ late night snack. Rather than "fuggedaboutit" the next day, I decided I should work off that overage with exercise and going under a few days. I've only got another 300 to go which may just drive my sedentary butt to exercise today!

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